As most of the stories have been previously published that appear in the anthology, this book is a literary short-cut to the breadth of stories that made it into local literary journals in the past year.

Editor, Charlotte Wood has selected a diverse as well as challenging stories for the 2016 edition. Included are speculative, realist, experimental and  poetic stories by established and new authors.

Julie Koh, Michael McGirr and Brian Castro all play with formal experimentation.

Jack Latimore and Jennifer Down write about class struggles. Death is the theme chosen by Trevor Shearston, Georgia Bain, Elizabeth Harrower and David Brooks.

I particularly enjoyed Fiona McFarlane’s ruminations on God and squid in ‘Good News for Modern Man.’ Tegan Bennett Daylight’s ‘Animals of the Savannah,’ humour and voice vividly evoked the insecurities and secrets lives of teenagers and their families in the 1980’s.    

Not just for the writer though, if you are interested in Australian contemporary literary fiction, engaging ideas and innovative prose, this is a worthwhile collection.  

Jill Howard