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y separately published work icon The Best Australian Stories 2008 anthology   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 2008... 2008 The Best Australian Stories 2008
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Australian short fiction is where the action is: outward-looking, exciting, filled with surprises and joyful life. Delia Falconer In The Best Australian Stories 2008, Delia Falconer brings together the year's most exciting short fiction. Featuring established masters as well as fresh new voices, this is a perfect book for summer and an ideal introduction to Australia's best contemporary writing. 'As a reader,' Delia Falconer writes, 'I crave what the short story is most suited to deliver: a glimpse into the unpredictability of life, a quick burst of tone and voice, a bittersweet balance of surprising layers.' By turns global and domestic, subversively funny and wrenchingly sad, this year's Best Australian Stories delivers this, and more.' (Publication summary)

Contents

* Contents derived from the Melbourne, Victoria,:Black Inc. , 2008 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
His Blue Period, Deborah Robertson , single work short story

'Every seasoned player in the mating game claims to have their own type, and the narrator of this story about the uses and abuses of contemporary love and sex wants to tell you about his. But even in the most casual of encounters, it seems, something may be left behind...' (Storycuts abstract)

(p. 1-9)
The Aquarium at Night, Robert Drewe , single work short story (p. 10-24)
The Poetics of Space, Karen Hitchcock , single work short story (p. 25-32)
Natural History (World-Swimming), Patrick West , single work short story (p. 33-38)
Jap Floral, Claire Aman , single work short story (p. 39-45)
On the Splice, Emily Ballou , single work short story (p. 46-58)
The White Hole of Bombay, Nicholas Shakespeare , single work short story (p. 59-72)
Crackers, Rudi Soman , single work autobiography (p. 73-81)
Distracted by Children, Ellen Rodger , single work short story (p. 82-88)
The Valley of Grace : A Novella, Marion Halligan , extract novel (p. 89-111)
Gardening For Pleasure, Tony Birch , single work short story (p. 112-121)
Every Cure, Julie Milland , single work short story (p. 122-129)
Turning off the Lights, Anna Krien , single work short story (p. 130-136)
Music for Airports, Patrick Holland , single work short story (p. 137-148)
The Patient's Letter, Will Elliott , single work short story (p. 149-161)
As Green as Blue, Isabelle Li , single work short story (p. 162-173)
Nine Days, Laura Jean McKay , single work short story (p. 174-183)
Note: Written as Laura Jean McKay
Isnis, Tim Richards , single work short story (p. 184-199)
Two Wrecks, Dorothy Johnston , single work short story (p. 200-209)
All the Things You Couldn't Say, Davina Bell , single work short story

The narrator is a speech and behavioural therapist who works with a young autistic boy, Wilbur. Wilbur seems to point out the narrator's self-harm scars, naming a burn 'hot'. The narrator works with Wilbur for a long time, though with little hope, until one day they find Wilbur having beaten the side of his own head.

(p. 210-223)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Black Inc. , 2008 .
      image of person or book cover 4467090900773575038.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: xiii, 293p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Includes Publication Details and Notes on Contributors (p.287-293).
      ISBN: 9781863952958
      Series: y separately published work icon The Best Australian Stories Black Inc. (publisher), Melbourne : Bookman Press , 1999 Z1845180 1999 series - publisher short story extract

      The second of the three Best of collections, Best Australian Stories was inaugurated in 1999, under the guidance of executive chair Morry Schwartz. In 2004, publisher Chris Feik took over the series. In March 2018, Black Inc. announced the cancellation of all three series, replaced by Best Summer Stories.

      Number in series: 9

Other Formats

Works about this Work

A Hundred Baby Birds : Three Anthologies Bruce L. Russell , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Indigo , Spring no. 4 2009; (p. 135-136)

— Review of First Page 2008 anthology ; New Australian Stories 2009 anthology short story ; The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
A Garden of Forking Paths Jeffrey Poacher , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 34-35)

— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
Stories of Cultural Clashes Replace Class Conflict Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29-30 November 2008; (p. 32-33)

— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
Take Three Ian McFarlane , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Times , 30 November 2008; (p. 22)

— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
Take Three Ian McFarlane , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Times , 30 November 2008; (p. 22)

— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
Stories of Cultural Clashes Replace Class Conflict Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29-30 November 2008; (p. 32-33)

— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
A Garden of Forking Paths Jeffrey Poacher , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 34-35)

— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
A Hundred Baby Birds : Three Anthologies Bruce L. Russell , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Indigo , Spring no. 4 2009; (p. 135-136)

— Review of First Page 2008 anthology ; New Australian Stories 2009 anthology short story ; The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
Last amended 18 Jun 2020 15:45:06
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