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'A man wakes up one morning to find an unknown woman in bed beside him. A failed writer devises an ingenious method of plagiarizing the work of others. Whole properties in a suburban neighbourhood begin vanishing overnight. An ancient grand piano is purchased by a mysterious young customer with an old secret. A spontaneous experiment in the paranormal produces an unexpected result...
'This collection of 14 short stories is Alex Skovron's second book of fiction, after his novella The Poet (2005) introduces an eclectic range of protagonists, predicaments, voices, and narrative styles - playful, earnest, speculative, ironic, intimate, bittersweet, surreal. Between them, the characters' stories highlight the untoward in the everyday, the transformative in the mundane, the twists and turning-points that can challenge us - and the games we play with others, and with ourselves.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: for Clara, Mietta and Marlow
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Books My Friends Have Sent Me
2018
single work
review
— Appears in: SF Commentary , April no. 96 2018; (p. 14-27)
— Review of Dreaming in the Dark 2016 anthology short story ; The Man Who Took to His Bed 2017 selected work short story ; The Loyalty of Chickens 2017 selected work poetry ; Warriors of the Tao : David Lake's Xuma Novels 1984 single work criticism ; Nil by Mouth 2014 single work novel ; The Wizardry of Jewish Women 2016 single work novel -
Alienated from Themselves
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 399 2018; (p. 39)'This is a playful, intelligent, unsettling series of stories, fourteen of them, collected from publications going back a few decades from 1987 until 2012 as well as, presumably, unpublished work. Due in part to this long span, the book traces back and forth through time. There is even a Sydney pre-Opera House (just) in one story, and various social and cultural artefacts and processes come and go.' (Introduction)
-
Books My Friends Have Sent Me
2018
single work
review
— Appears in: SF Commentary , April no. 96 2018; (p. 14-27)
— Review of Dreaming in the Dark 2016 anthology short story ; The Man Who Took to His Bed 2017 selected work short story ; The Loyalty of Chickens 2017 selected work poetry ; Warriors of the Tao : David Lake's Xuma Novels 1984 single work criticism ; Nil by Mouth 2014 single work novel ; The Wizardry of Jewish Women 2016 single work novel -
Alienated from Themselves
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 399 2018; (p. 39)'This is a playful, intelligent, unsettling series of stories, fourteen of them, collected from publications going back a few decades from 1987 until 2012 as well as, presumably, unpublished work. Due in part to this long span, the book traces back and forth through time. There is even a Sydney pre-Opera House (just) in one story, and various social and cultural artefacts and processes come and go.' (Introduction)
