Picked this one up and ended up reading it in one sitting! Nothing quite like getting on board with the writer’s vision. I was curious enough to see what the worlds he’d created was made of, enough to apparently keep plowing on!

The stories often have a speculative bent, veering into the dark and surreal. They are worlds unto their own, also drawing on beliefs of first peoples and the impact of colonisation from first contact to urban realities. Displacement, gentrification, poverty, racism, disconnection, and lateral violence. A pervading sense of horror and persecution. But also just going wild and giving print space to imaginative fantasies that stretch the boundaries of space and time. I really enjoyed the ones that return to the power of country itself, forces of life and death merely different planes of existence, spirits and dreams another way of being.

Also enjoyed the gentle subversion in the stories, right from the meta opening story where a writer talks through his process of writing a first co tact story, discussing what it might mean to lean into and go against tropes, all the while contrasting against his own day to day urban experiences of racism and relative powerlessness. Some stories explored both violence that came from contact with White Australia and the legacy of colonisation and Christianity, alongside that which can occur between one’s own people. Because ultimately people are people, capable of all the things humans can do, but the land bears witness, the ancestors haven’t gone anywhere, and spirits will remember.

Normally love a short story collection but unfortunately, I just wasn't a big fan of the writing style - if a story has to start with 'I had an idea for a story' it's going to take a lot to prove itself as a strong story for me.

This is a short story collection that I will be thinking about for a while. I didn’t know much going in and I was very pleasantly surprised. Characters were beautifully written and each story felt like it had so much work and thought put into it and it immersed you right in. I’d love to see some longer fiction from this author and will be keeping my eye out!