Hostilities: Nine Bizarre Stories

by Caroline MacDonald

Presents nine tales with such themes as a haunted greenhouse, a book whose plot unfolds into real life, and a nightmare that mysteriously comes true.

Genres: Young Adult, Short Stories, Paranormal

131 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Born in New Zealand, Caroline Macdonald moved to Australia in 1982 and passed away in Adelaide, South Australia.

She wrote mostly fantasy and science fiction for older children and young adults and her stories were often set in New Zealand or Australia.

Reviews

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting to discover (after I finished it) that the author counts as South Australian! This book was a lot better than average in the children's or teens age-group (it's an easy read for high school students but looks at themes of growing up, sibling and parent conflict, blended families, shoplifting, work and poverty (not all in the same story) all in the lives of teens so there is some serious stuff in there, though the book moves quickly and almos lightly through it (not trivialisingly).

I much prefer the way this book constructs childhood and life in general to most things written for this age-group currently which are wither vapidly consumerist and treat teens as if nothing other than pleasure, shopping and romance appeal to them or features "the feels" in heavyhanded, melodramatic ways.

This book on the other hand avoids both shallowness and melodrama to deliver several short stories, each surprising in some way, none intending to "change your life" but there is something here to enjoy, relate to and think about. I also like that MacDonald's teenagers are neither innocent nor demonised. There's a humanity here.

The setting was also recognisably Australian. I haven't been to You Yangs for example, but I've been places like it and the country towns in some of the other stories. Mostly the settings are rural, or move through rural areas. This allows the "hostilities" of the book to be partly environmental.

[Sarah Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, the vibes of this books are on point, each story fitting in with the theme of the unsettling and vaguely threatening landscape of Australia from city to country. It's rare to recall each individual short story from an anthology but these stayed with me long after reading them - I only allowed myself one story a day as a treat, and they were gone all too soon.
I will be hunting down as many of her other books as still exist, and hope they will be digitised for prosperity.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were a real mixed bag. I thought some were fairly rubbish, while others were genuinely unsettling. My favourites in the set were The Greenhouse, Hostilities, and At the old Roxy.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some original, unsettling stories! My favorite was the titular story, “Hostilities”. Some of the stories fell flat but overall most were pretty great!

[Donald Krage · Rating 3 out of 5]

found this at my local library book shop thought it would be interesting but the stories they just weren't scary

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wannabe Paul Jennings