Short Stories of Apocalypse

by Alexis Wright (Foreword), Lydia Millet, Sjón

209 pages, Unknown Binding

About the author

Alexis Wright is from the Waanji people from the highlands of the southern Gulf of Carpentaria. Her acclaimed first novel Plains of Promise was published in 1997 by University of Queensland Press and was shortlisted in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, The Age Book of the Year, and the NSW Premier's Awards. The novel has been translated into French.

Alexis has published award-winning short stories and her other books are the anthology Take Power (Jukurrpa Books, l998), celebrating 20 years of land rights in Central Australia; and Grog War (Magabala,1997), an examination of the alcohol restrictions in Tennant Creek.

Her latest novel, Carpentaria was published by Giramondo in 2006. An epic set in the Gulf country of north-western Queensland, from where her people come, the novel tells of life in the precariously settled coastal town of Desperance. In 2007 Carpentaria won the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Best Fiction Book, and the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA), Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year.

Biographical information from the Australia Council website.

Reviews

[Ryan]

In a poem titled “If You Want It” I wrote, “Apocalypse means an uncovering. / The way, in poetry, form / can hold what feels formless. The way, / in prayer, we ask, Oh, God, shut up / and let me love you.” Apocalypse, as in: revelation, dramatic disclosure, manifestation of divine truth. But also, this apocalypse: disaster, cataclysmic event, global destruction. Short Stories of Apocalypse, a collection of four short stories published by Emergence Magazine, explores the nature and meaning of the word across its spectrum, across cultures, and, even, across time and space.

In his 2016 book The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, Amitav Ghosh argued that we need better stories to confront the climate crisis. Lydia Millet, Sjón, Paul Kingsnorth, and Ben Okri, alongside forward author Alexis Wright, hailing from such diverse locales as America, Iceland, Ireland, Nigeria, and Australia, are doing just that.

From a reinvention of the true story of the death of the last Tasmanian Tiger in Hobart, Australia, in 1935, to a child with the gift of second sight in 1950s London, from a present-day grandfather watching his granddaughter slip into a virtual (online) abyss to an expedition to the Earth 20,000 years after the end of civilization, these stores, as Wright writes in her preface, “… tell what ail us.” Each story is moving, and illuminating, and compelling in its own right. It’s hard to pick a favorite, in part because one builds upon the last, refracting and reflecting their truths brilliantly, radiantly, synchronously, like facets of cut crystal.

[Joe]

Like listening to Leoš Janáček. Mournful, exhilarating, and awake.

[Schuyler]

A worthwhile collection of meditations on the self-destructive tendencies of humans. The first story by Lydia Millet is an absolute gem, strange and touching. The second, by Icelandic poet Sjon, began promisingly eerie, but did not really come together for me in the end. The third, a story in an exchange of letters, by Paul Kingsnorth of the Dark Mountain Project, was a solid conversation-starting provocation. And the final "story", really a collection of imagined remnants of humanity, by Ben Okri, was heartbreaking in its honest expression of our collective commitment to denial.

Side note: this collection is also just a very beautiful object. Emergence Magazine pays attention to the details. When reading, you feel that you are holding something precious.

[Paricha duangtaweesub]

An imaginative set of short stories that alludes to the end of the world in some ways, and the expanse of human capabilities in others. For stories that exist to talk about the end of things, these were surprisingly warm and oddly relatable. I enjoyed the mystery and possibilities of a beyond-human way of existing in the stories of Ink and The Basilisk. The latter in particular is quite spiritual.

[sarah w]

I especially liked the first story. Overall, I think there could have been a bit more nuance or contrast included in the collection. Apocalypse is a topic I find full of life and possibility: the end of linear time and extractive philosophy. What new words could be created! I do appreciate the deep grief present and think there is certainly catharsis in the stories.

[Elio]

First story is quite nice

[Elaine]

Four short stories, each describing an apocalypse of sorts. Such an intriguing venture, and very well played. The authors include Lydia Millet, Sjon, Paul Kingsnorth and Ben Okri. The forward is by Alexis Wright. If you can get your hands on a copy, this is worth a read. Very quick going and while I don’t normally go for short stories, these were worth the time. The stories describe apocalypse through extinction, second sight, the temptation of technology and post-apocalypse notes of human history. To the best of my knowledge, only available through Emergence Magazine.

[Rory Weeks]

3 stars, decent collection of fiction from Emergence Magazine, although their yearly magazine publication is superior. The first of the four stories, "Thylacine", is exceptional.