U Want It Darker

by Murray Middleton

A true artist transforms suffering into beauty. But sometimes, all you've got is the suffering. . .

U Want It Darker is a bold and darkly humorous short story collection about artists struggling with their egos, facing their failures and redeeming their bad behaviour.

With each exhilarating tale, Murray Middleton draws us deeper into the absurdities of creative life, inhabiting dingy painters' studios, anarchic movie sets, depraved pizza restaurants and grimy comedy clubs, as he tries not to plunge into the abyss himself.

Daring, original and shot through with pathos, these stories are a gulp of fresh air from a Vogel Award-winning literary talent.


Praise for U Want it Darker

'Beautifully observed through an idiosyncratic and witty lens, these stories are beguilingly strange and deeply human adventures into the getting of wisdom.' - JOANNA MURRAY-SMITH

'The odds are so stacked against any creative work that it's a wonder this book exists at all. Middleton's portraits of struggling artists are uncomfortably familiar, bitterly funny, and cut with honest truth.' - JENNIFER MILLS

Genres: Short Stories

246 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 29, 2025

About the author

Murray Middleton was born with fractured hips in 1983. He spent the first three months of his life in plaster and has broken most bones since.

He won The Age Short Story Award in 2010 with ‘The Fields of Early Sorrow’. When There’s Nowhere Else to Run is his first published collection of short stories.

He currently lives in Melbourne and won’t publish a second collection of stories until the Saints win a second premiership.

Reviews

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection, particularly the character writing and natural tone of the stories. I also appreciated the variations in form, which kept things fresh. I think the first half is stronger than the second - the opening story 'Warm Love' is probably my favourite - but there aren't any 'bad' stories.

I wouldn't call this collection 'comedic' or 'exhilarating' - more quiet, grounded and contemplative. Middleton explores the themes of disappointment and failure, of artistic urges never fulfilled and dreams never reached, with empathy and pathos. Would recommend.

[Simon Bate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two and a half stars.I heard MM spruiking this on the radio and thought this was something for me, having known quite a few artist friends in such despair that it lead to suicide and mental institutions...so I was rather disappointed...most of these stories are more about basic failure and perceived underachievement .. I quite liked the clipped form of some of the stories; a bit prose poemish...but artists in real despair?...really?..meh.
PS Hate the cover

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In u want it darker, struggling artists are let loose in an interesting compilation of short stories.

I really enjoyed the variety of stories and the characters within them. The realness came through strongly.

The book cover definitely raised some eyebrows when reading it in the train. In my opinion it didn’t do the stories any favours.

[Chelsea Roles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the different forms of storytelling that this collection presented. 'How Cannibals Exist' was by far my favourite. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed 'House with White Fence' as I have never read a short story in the form of restaurant reviews before! A few of the stories fell flat for me unfortunately, and left me wanting a more thoughtful conclusion.

[Felicity · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Bon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Struggled to read this being from Melbourne and living here - something felt very try hard about it all