This intriguing and eminently readable collection was selected by the editorial department of Black Inc. from stories previously published in Best Australian Stories between 2003 and 2013. As the full title suggests, these twenty stories have been picked because they were deemed outstanding, and this is undoubtedly so. Consequently, avid readers might find themselves being reacquainted with an old favourite, or puzzle over why something so good had previously passed them by.
DBC Pierre gives us a street boy grown into a man of many parts. Nam Le deals with loyalty and the relationship between two very different brothers. Rodney Hall, in a one-page short, short story, captures the stupidity of war. JM Coetzee delicately balances duty and independence. AS Patric explores the fantasies of an impatient coffee-lover. Somehow, Murray Bail takes us back to World War II and explores its effect on a lonely man. Tony Birch recounts a sensitive love story that wrings the heart. In the longest of the stories, David Malouf reveals how the young see the old and how the old see themselves. And an old tale is brought to new life by Shane Maloney.
Tim Winton brings suburbia and regrets to life. Patrick Cullen shows us a reluctant handyman. What might have been is the theme of Alex Miller’s story. Kim Scott takes us to outback Australia through aboriginal eyes. Liam Davison has a new spin on the relationship to the person next door. Ryan O’Neil, perhaps the only author in this collection who solely writes short stories, writes about regret. James Bradly uses the fantasy genre to underscore the importance of the present. Patrick Holland leaves us with a sense of regret of what might have been. For lovers of working dogs, Peter Goldsworthy says it all. While the last story in the book, titled ‘Where There’s Smoke’ – an appropriate title for this story by Chris Womersley – is about deception.
Do such one-line descriptions do justice to these stories? Of course not. Do they spoil them for the reader? The opposite is intended. Sometimes the end of a short story comes as a shock, sometimes as a revelation, sometimes as a return to the beginning and sometimes the end is not the end. These endings are well represented here. What these stories have in common is their quality and that the authors are Australian men; there is no other relationship between them. As has been said many times, including by this reviewer, the stories in such a collection should be savoured one at a time, not devoured at once.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Where There’s Smoke: Outstanding Short Stories by Australian Men
Black Inc.
September 2015
