AustLit

'When reading a critically acclaimed collection of short stories penned by an author "with the support of the Australia Council Grant [that] includes [an] award-winning novella," one has to ask who decides that this particular writer or that this particular set of short stories is worthy of such magnanimous support. Who, in other words, decided that the short novella "Quarry" should win an award, and which award? (It is never mentioned anywhere in or on the book which award "Quarry" won or when). Though the cover blurbs—and there are three of them: two on the back cover, one on the front—use such complimentary phrases as "intense," "visceral" (which is used twice), as well as "surprising," "brilliant," "earthly," and "eloquently," these stories are—according to a blurb on the back cover—simultaneously "unsettling" and "macabre," so much so that a second reading of this collection will not likely be forthcoming.' (Introduction)