AustLit
Latest Issues
Notes
-
Dedication: Dedicated to Mum, Dad, Sandra, James ... and Graham, because I said I would.
-
The Grinding House was republished in 2007 as The Glass Woman. The latter publication contains one additional story, 'In the Drawback,' but does not include Donna Marie Hanson's introductory essay.
Contents
- Introduction, single work essay (p. 1-2)
-
Fresh Young Widow,
single work
short story
horror
A recently bereaved widow 'holds a revered position in a mythical village: her all-important task is to sheath the newly dead in clay, so that they can be built into the wall that surrounds the village. This morbid but honourable task is reflected in Warren’s own writing: she’s taken a potentially gruesome topic and rendered it in such beautifully crafted prose that it becomes a work of art. Her juxtaposition of the villagers — with their religious fervour and long-held traditions — and her grieving central character’s budding cynicism, creates a poignant, melancholy dichotomy' (Tim Kroenert, Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus).
- The Glass Woman, single work short story horror (p. 20-27)
- The Blue Stream, single work short story fantasy (p. 28-45)
- The Hanging People, single work short story horror (p. 46-54)
- Smoko, single work short story fantasy (p. 55-60)
- A Positive, single work short story horror (p. 61-69)
- The Missing Children, single work short story horror (p. 70-74)
-
Al's Iso Bar,
single work
short story
horror
A story about a woman who, when pregnant, is endowed with a peculiar gift, and about her sequence of husbands whose only assignment is to impregnate her.
-
The Left Behind,
single work
short story
horror
Following an ecological disaster on Earth, humans take to space in rockets. Plutonium has left many people disabled; these 'misfits' are all left behind on Earth, where they attempt to rebuild society.
The protagonist, a pregnant woman with a blind cobbler husband, works with the judge. A series of infanticides sweeps their community: mothers are killing their 'perfect' children because of the growing arrogance of older, able-bodied children. After the protagonist's husband is assaulted at the school, the protagonist shifts the crime of the infanticides to the judge, who loved the children and wanted them to be perfect, thus protecting the actual murderers.
- Tiger Kill, single work short story horror (p. 100-105)
- The Wrong Seat, single work short story horror (p. 106-110)
- Skin Holes, single work short story horror (p. 111-117)
- The Sameness of Birthdays, single work short story horror (p. 118-125)
- The Speaker of Heaven, single work short story fantasy (p. 126-135)
-
The Smell of Mice,
single work
short story
horror
The protagonist comes from a family with angioedema: her father is bed-bound and her younger sister will die in ten years. The protagonist meets a witch who teaches her how to find and steal life from recently dead bodies by burning fetuses, which send up a purple smoke visible only to her.
Years on, the protagonist is running an illegal abortion clinic with her partner, Dr Matthews. They play on pregnant women's fears that their children will be born 'imperfect', with intellectual or physical disabilities, and so convince them to have an abortion instead. The protagonist takes fetuses from these operations and uses them to continue living. Her sister dies as she refuses to help.
- The Grinding House, single work novella horror (p. 148-196)
- Survival of the Last, single work short story fantasy (p. 197-204)
- Salamander, single work short story horror (p. 205-208)
- Working for the God of the Love of Money, single work short story horror (p. 209-215)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Enjoy a Good Short Story : Bruce Gillespie’s Favourite Short Fiction (SF and Fantasy) Published 1977-2006
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Steam Engine Time , October no. 7 2007; (p. 28-29)
— Review of The Battle of Acosta Nu 1985 single work short story ; Looking Forward to the Harvest 1991 single work short story ; Inhabiting the Interspaces 1979 single work short story ; Pie Row Joe 1978 single work short story ; The Caress 1990 single work short story ; The Fittest 1985 single work short story ; A Map of the Mines of Barnath 1995 single work short story ; On the Turn 1986 single work short story ; The Bone Ship 2003 single work short story ; Angel Thing 1995 single work short story ; Not with Love 1995 single work short story ; A Man and His Dreams 1996 single work short story ; Wooden Bride 2004 single work short story ; The Dove Game 2003 single work short story ; White Time 2003 single work short story ; The Gloaming 2000 single work short story ; Number 3 Raw Place 2004 single work short story ; Singing My Sister Down 2004 single work short story ; The Grinding House 2005 selected work short story novella ; Basic Black 1978 single work short story ; One Thing About the Night 2005 single work short story ; Fresh Young Widow 2005 single work short story ; Bones 2004 single work short story ; Re-Deem the Time 1978 single work short story -
Introduction
2005
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Grinding House 2005; (p. 1-2) -
Sf Files
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 13 -14 August 2005; (p. 8) -
Dark Fantasy
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 23 July 2005; (p. 9)
— Review of The Grinding House 2005 selected work short story novella -
Take Three : Horror
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 3 July 2005; (p. 14)
— Review of The Grinding House 2005 selected work short story novella
-
Cover Notes
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 12 June 2005; (p. 27)
— Review of Sandman in Siberia 2005 single work autobiography ; The Grinding House 2005 selected work short story novella ; Horse Mad Summer 2005 single work children's fiction -
Take Three : Horror
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 3 July 2005; (p. 14)
— Review of The Grinding House 2005 selected work short story novella -
Dark Fantasy
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 23 July 2005; (p. 9)
— Review of The Grinding House 2005 selected work short story novella -
Enjoy a Good Short Story : Bruce Gillespie’s Favourite Short Fiction (SF and Fantasy) Published 1977-2006
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Steam Engine Time , October no. 7 2007; (p. 28-29)
— Review of The Battle of Acosta Nu 1985 single work short story ; Looking Forward to the Harvest 1991 single work short story ; Inhabiting the Interspaces 1979 single work short story ; Pie Row Joe 1978 single work short story ; The Caress 1990 single work short story ; The Fittest 1985 single work short story ; A Map of the Mines of Barnath 1995 single work short story ; On the Turn 1986 single work short story ; The Bone Ship 2003 single work short story ; Angel Thing 1995 single work short story ; Not with Love 1995 single work short story ; A Man and His Dreams 1996 single work short story ; Wooden Bride 2004 single work short story ; The Dove Game 2003 single work short story ; White Time 2003 single work short story ; The Gloaming 2000 single work short story ; Number 3 Raw Place 2004 single work short story ; Singing My Sister Down 2004 single work short story ; The Grinding House 2005 selected work short story novella ; Basic Black 1978 single work short story ; One Thing About the Night 2005 single work short story ; Fresh Young Widow 2005 single work short story ; Bones 2004 single work short story ; Re-Deem the Time 1978 single work short story -
Sf Files
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 13 -14 August 2005; (p. 8) -
Introduction
2005
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Grinding House 2005; (p. 1-2)
Awards
- 2006 shortlisted Ditmar Awards — Best Collected Work
- 2006 winner ACT Writing and Publishing Awards — Fiction
- 2005 nominated Australian Shadows Award