Essential New Zealand Short Stories

Essential NZ Stories is a companion volume to Essential NZ Poems, edited by Edmond and Sewell, and contains 45 arresting and significant stories spanning 80 years, ranging from Katherine Mansfield and Frank Sargeson to Emily Perkins and Chad Taylor. The collection shows why short fiction has been so important in the development of our literature, and why it continues to appeal to a wide readership.The stories are not chosen as social documents, and the relationship between life in a given time and place, and the art which arises from it, is too subtle to be satisfactorily captured by the analogy of a mirror. Nevertheless, writers are always influenced by their social and physical environments, and the stories provide tangential, personalised glimpses of the journey we make as a nation.

"The country to be found in these pages is not the place depicted in glossy picture books or economic profiles. But it is a real place, composed of that blend of accuracy and vision which only the imagination, committed to language and experience, can supply. It is the New Zealand of Janet Frame and Katherine Mansfield, of Dan Davin and Frank Sargeson, of Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace." "Some other Country is a collection of stories selected from the body of New Zealand writing that began with the work of the young expatriate writer, Katherine Mansfield. This updated edition begins in 1922 and ends with a story published in 1990. It includes recent work by Vincent O'Sullivan, Owen Marshall and Keri Hulme and stories by newer writers such as Barbara Anderson and John Cranna, alongside well-known stories by Joy Cowley, C.K. Stead and James Courage. It represents the editor's choice of simply 'the best we could find'."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Chosen by the author from his thirteen previous collections, this latest selection of stories includes 'Coming Home in the Dark', the inspiration for a new feature film. Owen Marshall is regarded as one of our finest living writers. His stories capture the imagination and refuse to let go. From dark to funny, acerbic to warm, they probe our national psyche with clear-eyed insight. This selection from a long career ranges across New Zealand and ventures overseas; the pieces explore both cruelty and love; they look back to childhood and also capture the world we live in today. Full of unexpected turns, lyrical writing, wry observations and intriguing plots, this sampling offers a provocative take on New Zealand. `I very much envy his ability to lay things down in such a way that each one has its natural weight and place, without any straining and heaving.' - Maurice Gee, Sport 'Owen Marshall has established himself as one of the masters of the short story' - Livres Hebdo, Paris

An anthology of New Zealand short stories especially for teenagers. Being a teenager is arguably the most intense time in anybody's life. It's a powerful, highly concentrated time when small things can seem insuperable but huge things are often accomplished without effort. The writers of the twenty stories gathered in this anthology have all been there, done that. One is in fact still there, going through the teenage years herself. Each story here reflects an aspect of what it is to be a teenager in NZ. The settings are New Zealand homes and flats, local schools and roads, beaches, rivers, cities. But in another sense each piece is universal. Issues addressed in the stories range across aspects of peer pressure and friendship. Parents and family relationships feature as do young romance, sexuality, and death. There is a mixture of tone, voice and form. The writers include Jane Westaway, David Hill and Fleur Beale as well as some stunning newcomers such as Natasha Lewis and Samantha Stanley. This book isn't just for people from thirteen to nineteen years old. It offers twenty ways to understand and relive those very particular times of exuberance, turmoil and adventure.

This is a fine new collection of short stories by the much-loved Patricia Grace, probably never more popular since the great commercial success of the novel Tu. The feast of stories is varied: urban, rural, New Zealand, overseas, tribal, contemporary. The thread that runs through all the stories, though, is Grace's huge sympathy for the underdog and the perspective of the outsider. The world she depicts is often a stark and unsentimental place, in which people struggle against ageing, rejection, violence and betrayal.

An engrossing collection of short stories from one of New Zealand's most distinguished writers. Fiona Kidman first wrote short stories in the 1960s and has continued to publish them in books, magazines and journals ever since. Her style has evolved as she has explored different forms over the years, but her piercingly vivid realisations of everyday people have remained a characteristic of her striking work. This is a collection of the best of her stories from the first thirty years of her writing career, including many old favourites from her acclaimed collections, Mrs Dixon and Friend, Unsuitable Friends and The Foreign Woman. She has gone on to write many more prize-winning books - including further stories, poetry, novels and memoir - but these stories stand the test of time and are testament to the quality and lasting appeal of her work.

Thirteen of the brightest stars in New Zealand SFF For the first time ever, the best short SFF from Aotearoa New Zealand is collected together in a single volume. This inaugural edition of the Year's Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy brings together the very best short speculative fiction published by Kiwi authors in 2018. Explore worlds of hope and wonder, and worlds where hope and wonder are luxuries we wasted long ago; histories given new life, and futures you might prefer to avoid. Featuring: "We Feed the Bears of Fire and Ice", by Octavia Cade (originally published in Strange Horizons) "Logistics", by A.J. Fitzwater (originally published in Clarkesworld) "The Garden", by Isabelle McNeur (originally published in Wizards in Space) "Trees", by Toni Wi (originally published in Breach) "A Most Elegant Solution", by M. Darusha Wehm (originally published in Terraform) "Mirror Mirror", by Mark English (originally published in Abyss & Apex) "A Brighter Future", by Grant Stone (originally published in Cthulhu: Land of the Long White Cloud (IFWG)) "The People Between the Silences", by Dave Moore (originally published in Landfall) "Common Denominator", by Melanie Harding-Shaw (originally published in Wild Musette Journal) "The Billows of Sarto", by Sean Monaghan (originally published in Asimov's) "The Glassblower's Peace", by James Rowland (originally published in Aurealis) "Te Ika", by J.C. Hart (originally published in Cthulhu: Land of the Long White Cloud (IFWG)) "Girls Who Do Not Drown", by Andi Buchanan (originally published in Apex)

In this definitive collection by one of New Zealand's best-loved authors, Witi Ihimaera offers his personal choice of twenty-four stories from throughout his illustrious career. The pieces span more than thirty-five years - since his first collection, Pounamu Pounamu (1972), was published - and showcase the range, originality and humanity of this truly amazing writer. 'Ihimaera is an inspired voice' - David Eggleton, Metro 'One of our most important and influential writers . . . his subject matter, as much as his distinctive lyrical writing style, demand[s] attention.' - Eleanor Black, Weekend Herald