A LITERARY JOURNAL FOR DIVERSE VOICES: Issue Thirteen.
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The Haters: Novel Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: Robyn Harding Publisher: Simon & Schuster RRP: $32.99 Release Date: 3 July 2024 “My first novel, Burnt Orchid, has been out in the world for two days. The manuscript I poured my soul into for almost three years now sits on bookstore shelves, and it’s the achievement of my life.”…
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Every Single Day
By Les Wicks. It takes a certain bravery or blindness perhaps. I gave so much away but still the clutter. When I said there was this fear my lover listened. Growth grows on one. On an empty day with storm & vehemence I had plenty. But wanted so much more…
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Sense and Insensibility.
by Jane Downing. The traffic was as unremitting as the winter damp. Ellie missed the turn-off, forcing the technology into a hiccoughing insistence it was recalculating. Eventually their rental filtered off the motorway, where the roads were quickly narrow, countrified, and quiet. As far from the sunburnt country of dusty plains they were visiting…
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The Glass House: Novel Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion Publisher: Hachette RRP: $32.99 Release Date: 27 March 2024 “If I’d wanted an image to sum up everything that’s disturbed me in my first three weeks of acute psychiatry at Menzies Hospital – and, in a strange way, what I’ve loved about it – I…
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Love From Scratch: Novel Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: Amy Hutton Publisher: Simon & Schuster RRP: $32.99 Release Date: 5 June 2024 “It was like he was in one of those videos that freeze-frame at the exact moment of disaster, while a voice brightly states, ‘Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.’” Can…
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Thanks For Having Me: Novel Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: Emma Darragh Publisher: Joan (Allen & Unwin) RRP: $32.99 Release Date: 27 February 2024 “If she could help it, this year would be different.” Every now and then, a novel comes along that dares to be different and push conventional structure out the window. Emma Darragh’s debut, Thanks For Having…
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All The Golden Light: Novel Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: Siobhan O’Brien Publisher: HarperCollins RRP: $32.99 Release Date: 31 January 2024 “A vision projected itself onto the black screen of her memory, and she saw a time when the cottage was tranquil and filled with joy.” How do you find hope, love or chase your dreams when a life you…
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Heavenly Morsel
by Vanity Conroy I have met my God and I fear He does not look favourably upon me. I met him in 1954, when I was eighteen and wearing my mother’s old clothes. I was helping my father at the farmers market when he approached my stall. The sun shined a halo in his…
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Good With Money: Non-Fiction Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: Emma Edwards Publisher: Allen & Unwin RRP: $34.99 Release Date: 27 February 2024 “Good With Money is a label we all want to wear.” Are you in complete control of your finances? Do you struggle to break old and bad financial habits? Emma Edwards, founder of The Broke Generation, wants…
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A Dance With Murder: Novel Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: Elizabeth Coleman Publisher: Pantera Press RRP: $32.99 Release Date: 3 January 2024 “Ted looked down at her miniature schnauzer, Miss Marple, who was sprawled at her feet, and she could’ve sworn she saw her eyes roll.” What do a private investigator, a miniature schnauzer called Miss Marple, a ballerina, a…
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In the Eye of Jupiter
By Kris Loilo It’d be a much smarter idea to just walk up to the door, knock and ask to be let inside, but the thing about that is that I’m not smart. So instead of taking the stairwell, I’m scaling the fire escape on the side of the complex and tiptoeing on ledges…
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Tree Dwellers
By Abhishek Udaykumar It wasn’t till that evening that the Coca-Colas were back on the shelf and we had a reason to walk up the slope. A litchi[1] tree hung from the sky and a woman washed vessels in the thicket. The occasional pickup trucks surprised me like sudden glyphs appearing inside a familiar…
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Tim Augier,
I’m a media student, and aspiring set builder. I build and design sets for theatre shows at Melbourne Uni and RMIT, and I’ve also written and directed (and acted in) stage shows at RMIT (La Commedia Del Latte). Whilst my main line of ideation has been theatre and film, as well as sculpture, they are…
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Past Lives
Review by Jilliean Sioson Directed by Celine Song | English-Korean There is a conversation that takes place in Men Without Women (2014) written by Haruki Murakami that goes like this: “But Mr. Kafuku, can any of us ever perfectly understand another person? However much we may love them?” “We lived together for nearly twenty…
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Black As.
By Keren Heenan She’s all sharp angles and dark and heavy brooding, anyone can see that. As soon as she opens the door and thumps herself down on the seat, turns to the window and scowls out at the landscape as if she holds it responsible. For something. Anyone can see. She’s a mood…
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Sanctuary: Novel Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: Garry Disher Publisher: Text Publishing RRP: $32.99 Release Date: 3 April 2024 “Found the bitch” A rural antiques store is not where you would normally expect to see an Australian crime-thriller set. Yet, in Australian crime writer Garry Disher’s latest stand-alone novel, Sanctuary, his protagonist finds a safe place in…
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The Next Big Thing: Novel Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: James Colley Publisher: Pantera Press RRP: $32.99 Release Date: 30 January 2024 “Norm has just had a big idea. The biggest idea of his life, in fact. Norm is not used to having ideas, particularly not big ones.” If you could build a Big Thing in your town, what would…
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Taj Martin
Taj is a undergrad psychology student at Swinburne University who likes writing sad stories in his spare time. His other interests include all forms of media consumption and things creative.
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Run For Your Life: Non-Fiction Review
Review by Stacey O’Carroll Author: Sue Williams Publisher: Simon & Schuster RRP: $32.99 Release Date: 3 April 2024 “On a rugged beach of fiery red sand, shark-infested waters and patrolling crocodiles somewhere in the remote reaches of Australia’s far northwest, a little family are fighting the battle of their lives.” Would you go into hiding…
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Ruairi Walsh
Raised in the rural town of Smythes Creek, Ruairi Walsh is a filmmaker and creative writer based in Melbourne. Engaged with the creative practice as a whole, his disciplines change and grow with each new endeavour. He has worked in documentary, narrative short fiction, experimental art show curation, collage and set construction, and hopes to…
When are we open for submissions?