Ourselves: 100 Micro Memoirs
I am lucky enough to have a non-fiction piece, ‘Helicopter Parents’, in this new release from Night Parrot Press, Ourselves: 100 Micro Memoirs. This is the first ever collection of micro memoirs (750 words or fewer) by WA writers. Night Parrot Press have been doing amazing work over the past few years and really presenting new publishing opportunities for WA writers, so I am really grateful to editors Laura Keenan, Linda Martin and Casey Mulder. I never really wrote a lot of flash fiction in the past but the publishing opportunities offered by Night Parrot encouraged me to start. The book is launching on April 20th but you can order your copy right here on the publisher’s website.
‘The Noble Salvidge’ in conversation with Will Yeoman at York Writers’ Festival
On April 13th I will be attending the York Writers’ Festival and appearing in conversation with WritingWA’s Will Yeoman. It looks like a really interesting program across the whole weekend and I am looking forward to meeting all who attend. The winners of the Wheatbelt Short Story Competition will also be announced on the 13th. I’m intrigued by the thought of finding out about York’s Dark Corners too!
‘The Off-Site Program’ in Teacher, Teacher anthology
My non-fiction piece ‘The Off-Site Program’ will shortly appear in this anthology from Affirm Press – see blurb below.
An anthology about the power of teachers and their capacity to shape lives, edited by award-winning teacher-librarian Megan Daley of Children’s Book Daily and the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. Featuring contributions from Jessie Tu, Tony Birch, Rick Morton, Jacqueline Harvey + many more. The power of an exceptional teacher cannot be overestimated. Sometimes it is not about what they taught you, but about how they made you feel as a person. Teacher, Teacher is an anthology of stories showcasing those brilliant educators who have nurtured, inspired, championed or created change – in one student or in a community.
You can preorder the Teacher, Teacher anthology here.
Finalist in Van Diemen History Prize
As part of my PhD studies, I have been researching the lives of early Vandemonian sealers with a particular emphasis on George Briggs, an important but mostly elusive figure in this history. I’m pleased to report that my piece “Pardoned to serve His Majesty by sea: The Life of George Briggs” has been chosen as a finalist in the Van Diemen History Prize and thus will be published in the resultant anthology, to be launched at the Hobart Writers Festival in 2023. I’m looking forward to attending the festival and hopefully meeting some of the prizewinners and finalists. Congratulations to Phillipa Moore and Terry Mulhern for taking out this year’s prize!
You can read more about the prizewinners and finalists on the Forty South website.
Book Review – T by Alan Fyfe
Alan Fyfe’s debut novel T is an endearing, off-beat, and ultimately moving caper. Set in and around Mandurah, Western Australia, the narrative punctures numerous stereotypes associated with the ‘drug hijinx’ genre, presenting T for the selfish fuck-up he is. Fyfe offers us an eclectic grab-bag of humorous characters and situations such as the ghost of dead Gulp, crank-addled Cardo and his obeisance to a certain notorious West Australian football player (“Jim Levy”), dead men falling from the sky, and yes, a Shetland pony. In this regard T recalls that zany masterwork A Confederacy of Dunces.
But there’s more to T than this. It’s also a hard-nosed drug narrative that shows us again and again the nature of addiction and the way it warps people’s ability to make sensible decisions. Any thought of a romantic (and redemptive) ending for T and his some-time girlfriend Lori-Bird is thus flushed down the toilet. T manages to avoid romanticizing drug use while humanising drug addicts in a manner not dissimilar to Junky.
And more: weaved into T is the story of the Binjareb people, of Thomas Peel and the misdeeds (and massacre) perpetrated by the British invaders. Fyfe tells this story obliquely and in fragments that work as a counterpoint to the main narrative. There’s a character, Old Stone, who meets T for a drug deal but becomes uneasy at the choice of meeting place. He says to T: “Thought you were a local, you should know, you should own up.” T replies: “Own up to what?” (p164).
This is a powerful book and, just as importantly, an original one.
Published by Transit Lounge, T is available in bookstores and from worthy online retailers.
Humans of the Wheatbelt 2 is out now!
This is the second volume of Humans of the Wheatbelt, featuring some amazing and amazingly inspirational interviews with people from all over the Wheatbelt. I had the honour and pleasure of writing up these interviews and co-editing the book, so any typos are on me!
Head over to the Humans of the Wheatbelt site to find out more.
‘The Empire Never Ended’ in The Saltbush Review
I have a piece of Tassie nonfiction, ‘The Empire Never Ended’, in the latest issue of The Saltbush Review. This is a new mag out from the University of Adelaide. Lots of really interesting work here, all free to read!
‘New Year Island’ Highly Commended in Stringybark Stories Short Story Award 2022
‘New Year Island’, which is the first chapter of my work-in-progress Diemens, recently received a Highly Commended certificate in the Stringybark Short Story Award 2022. The winning and highly commended stories appear in Fruitcake Frenzy from Stringybark Publishing.
Meanwhile ‘The Empire Never Ended’, my latest nonfiction piece related to Tasmania, has been accepted to appear in an upcoming issue of The Saltbush Review.
‘In lutruwita’ published in Traces and Backstory Journal
My non-fiction piece ‘In lutriwita‘ recently appeared in Issue 16 of Traces, which is available in newsagencies. It is also available to read free online over here at Backstory Journal. This is my first piece of Tasmanian writing to see publication and there will be more like it over the next few years as I work on my PhD in Tasmanian Fiction at Curtin University.
Complicity City is out now!
Complicity City is a domestic noir in the style of Megan Abbott’s The End of Everything. The book is set in Perth, Western Australia. It is the story of one woman’s quest for justice for her slain friend Klara, and the dark deeds and secret men’s business she uncovers along the way.
Complicity City is available via Amazon.
Guy Salvidge 