New Australian Fiction 2019

by Rebecca Starford (Editor), Tony Birch (Contributor), Zoe Bradley (Contributor)

Brilliant new fiction from some of Australia’s most exciting storytellers.

A childless couple find an abandoned baby on the beach. A twilight car accident has a man lost in the bush. Two men on the coast share an unspoken love. A father is prosecuted by his small-town community. A young woman has a threatening first date. A writer is terrorised by the ghosts of his fiction. Drugs drive childhood friends apart. City folk visit a room for crying.

New Australian Fiction features brilliant writers with distinct experiences, voices and styles from across Australia. Together they showcase the strength and diversity of Australian short fiction at its best.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Australia

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

Rebecca Starford is the author of Bad Behaviour, a memoir about boarding school and bullying. The book was optioned for television by Matchbox Pictures and aired in Australia on STAN, as well as streamed through more than 20 other countries across the world.  Rebecca's first novel, The Imitator, was published in Australia, and in the United States, Canada, the UK and South Africa under the title An Unlikely Spy.  

She is also the co-founder and publishing director of Kill Your Darlings, and has previously worked for Text Publishing and Australian Book Review. Originally from Melbourne, Rebecca currently lives in France.

Reviews

[Michael Livingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bloody love these books - not every story completely wowed me, but there's such a breadth of work included so that's hardly surprising. I especially loved Laura Elvery's story (which turns up in her fantastic new collection Ordinary Matter, plus stories from Zoë Bradley, Khalid Warsame, Gretchen Shirm and Andrea Gillum.

Hopefully KYD keeps putting these out year after year, they're a great snapshot of Australia's literary scene.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice collection of brief, eclectic tales with lots of familiar Australian flavour. The stories are all quite short, good to dip in and out of for a quick reading session, but they can still pack a punch. There's a lot of interesting variety in theme, voice and structure. Plus, they're all really good! It's easy for an anthology to have a few stories that fall flat (according to personal taste) but I didn't find that here. The ones that particularly shone for me were Julie Koh's dry ghost story, Workers of All Lands Unite, the quietly painful The Crying Room by Gretchen Shirm, and Mould by Zoë Bradley, which made me have to put the book down for a while before I could start the next story.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cracking collection featuring some favourite Australian short fiction writers and introducing me to some new ones. My favourite stories were by Julie Koh, Laura Elvery, Wayne Marshall, Allee Richards and Laura Elizabeth Woollett.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolute joy to read samples of stories from some of the best current writers in New Australian Fiction 2019 published by Kill Your Darlings (2019). This brilliant selection is an outstanding collection of the creativity of our writers in the world of fiction, introduced by Editor Rebecca Starford who talks about the range of emotions and subjects featured (‘cruelty to romance, death to humour, pathos to madness, love to betrayal to rejection to light and new life’). As with all collections, some stories will appeal more to some readers than others. My personal favourites (in no particular order) are: A Still Thing Shaken by Jack Kirne (‘This is the howl of a still thing shaken’); the always weird and wonderful Julie Koh with Workers of All Lands Unite; the unsettling and rather creepy tale of A Trick of the Light by Andrea Gillum; the brilliant craft of Tony Birch with his short story Flight, which explores the shifting boundaries of relationships between the young and the old; This Version of Her by Allee Richards; and the extraordinary exploration of motherhood, hope and grief with a touch of magical realism in Laura Elvery’s story Something Close to Gold (‘Everything looked different now that we were frightened.’) The other contributors – all with an amazing variety of stories and styles – include Zoe Bradley, Mikaella Clements, Craig Cormick, Anne Hotta, Joshua Kemp, Wayne Marshall, Chloe Michele, A.S. Patric, Melanie Seward, Gretchen Shirm, Khalid Warsame and Laura Elizabeth Woollett. This is the perfect holiday read – a sample of everything and everyone – or would make a great gift for someone interested in what’s happening in the current world of the best of Aussie fiction.

[Win · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was hit & miss for me. Some stories were more interesting than others.

[Tamika Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this anthology so much. Particularly opening story Raven by Chloe Michelle - a story that I could really relate to as a woman where things start out a little bit creepy and you aren’t too sure how creepy they might get. A Still Thing Shaken by Jack Kirne was a favourite - capturing vividly a small Australian town with a tense romance - really great characterisation, story telling and imagery. I enjoyed Workers of All Lands Unite by Julie Koh, particularly her light-hearted take on a haunting, the family’s belief system around this and the natural way to deal with one - it was a refreshing perspective. A Trick of the Light by Andrea Gillum was good at leaving the reader with a ‘but wait, what was that?’ feeling. The Weather by Khalid Warsome was a very well told story and beautifully written. Another favourite was Bug Spray by Melanie Seward which spoke of how trauma can ruin so much but also how healing can happen with a new start and by nurturing a new life.
All stories in this book were a pleasure to read - I enjoyed the short form and plunging into different worlds with each new title.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great collection. Not all of the stories were winners for me, but that's pretty standard in a short story collection. My favourite stories were by Chloe Michele, Julie Koh, Laura Elizabeth Woollett, Khalid Warsame, Laura Elvery, and Gretchen Shrim.

[Tayla Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favourites: Raven - Chloe Michele, A Trick of The Light - Andrea Gillum, Fight - Tony Birch, Physical Education - Laura Elizabeth Woollett, Spiral - Joshua Kemp, This Version of Her - Allee Richards, Bug Spray - Melanie Saward.

[Lenin_lover_69 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a gorge collection, I think I prefer short stories in collection form, the more obvious changes in tone, subject matter etc keep my interest piqued and wanting more

[Noelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars as an average rating.

My favourites were:
- All The Workers of the Land Unite
- Physical Education
- Museum Piece.

Very happy to read some contemporary Australian writers.

[Rachael Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The thing with short stories is that you love some and you don’t love some. Overall, really liked most stories!

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting set of short stories - a little uneven in quality but a wide cross section of emerging talent.

[Acciodaydreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Australian Fiction 2019 contains 18 short stories from Australian writers, and an introduction from the editor, Rebecca Starford. The short stories explore a range of human experiences, from drought stricken communities and grief to drug addiction and mental health.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I'll start off with my dislikes because there isn't really any. As in most short story collections, there were some short stories I didn't like as much as others. I wasn't particularly engaged with a couple and at times, I was confused about exactly what the story was about. However, even the ones I didn't enjoy as much were still beautifully written, and all had a well developed voice that readers can connect to.

Three stories stood out to me the most: A Still Thing Shaken by Jack Kirne, The Crying Room by Gretchen Shirm, and The Hearing by Wayne Marshall.

My mind still wanders back to Kirne's A Still Thing Shaken whenever I think about this book. The entire time I was reading, I felt like I was in a dreamlike state (which is such a hippy thing to say), lost in the main character's voice, and surprised by the magical nature of Tan's visit and departure. A Still Thing Shaken balances on the line between realism and the magical. The story is also one Australia's can relate to where a drought stricken community begs for rain. Definitely my favourite.

I value the power a first sentence can hold in gripping the reader and Shirm's first sentence in The Crying Room does exactly that: "I cried during the interview." The second sentence is just as intriguing, solidifying the power of the first: "I think that's why they gave me the job."

And then there is Marshall's, The Hearing, which doesn't have an intriguing first sentence but intrigues the reader with a question: "What did Noel Burfitt do on Saturday?" I also enjoyed how Marshall took a cultural problem in today's society and amplified it.

New Australian Fiction 2019 was a very enjoyable read. There is at least one story everyone can enjoy in this collection.

[Dani Ringrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed going through this looking for examples to show my students. Loved Craig Cormick’s the most; really enjoyed AS Patric, Andrea Gillum, Laura Elvery, Gretchen Schirm, and Wayne Marshall’s stories. To me, Elvery’s story was better than anything in her published collection - it absolutely shimmered the lines between the real and the unreal.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read! Stories were short but captivating and had me hooked on the plot and characters until even after I turned the very last page. A collection of shorts for anyone who are looking to read stories that are unique, commentary, looking to fill up the time whilst travelling on public transport, in a waiting room or would just like to hit off another book for their summer reading list! Recommended!