The short story is so not dead

by LES EVERETT

I HAD a little nightmare last night. It was sparked by Jenny Sinclair's story 'John F. Kennedy is Very Surprised' from Black Inc.'s 'The Best Australian Stories 2006'.

The story, the second last in the collection edited by Robert Drewe, is set on Resurrection Day when God is making good on His promise.

Every dead person in history is coming back to life and coming back home - and things are getting a bit crowded.

The final story 'Requiem' by Shane Strange contains bad dreams too. It's about a man blown to pieces in the Madrid bombing in 2004.

I didn't slavishly read the collection from start to finish though I did begin with Drewe's introduction. He thankfully didn't bemoan the "death" of the short story - not much anyway. The short story is, Drewe wrote, "...a powerful thing" but it was a while before one of these stories reached out and really grabbed me and drew me in.

It was Frank Moorhouse's "I So Do Not Want To Be Having this Conversation" - I mean like hell-oo imagine going out for dinner with this like old guy and he starts to talk about some like totally so not-out-loud stuff like I mean excuuuuse me.

Peter Goldsworthy's 'Shooting the Dog' was, I thought, devastating. However I am the doting father, I mean owner, of a dog. Actually I'm surprised no nightmares followed that one.

A short-lived love affair is described in an appealing naive voice in Gavin Carter's 'Loved Her More than Lettuce'. The hero puts in a bit of an effort. "She was funny and made me feel sexy a lot, especially when we were tongue kissing and I was playing with her melons. I told her I liked her melons and she blushed, but I was glad I said melons instead of tits because that would have been ungentlemanly. I remembered all my manners and opened doors for her and stuff like that." The question is whether the relationship can stand up to a bit of the inevitable pressure love must bear.

It's just occurred to me that it's the latter stories I recall best but I can tell you there's plenty of death (including suicide), love, infidelity, travel and a bit of cricket in the other stories. There may even be some kinky stuff, some of it involving older men and young women, but hey let's not go there.

'The Best Australian Stories 2006' edited by Robert Drewe is published by Black Inc.

8 February 2007

australianrules.com.au

best stories

Disclaimer