Think of this collection of 10 short stories as a meal: nine of them are your entree selection and the last, the titular story, is the main course. Those first nine stories emerge from class assignments, competition entries and invitations to submit to anthologies. The last is novella length (and could have been the meal on its own).
The first story, ‘The Klara Project: Phase 1’ is ‘Rosie’ by another name. Readers will recognise the narrative voice … so much so that I’m not sure why this was included. (A reminder of, or marketing for, ‘Rosie’, perhaps?)
There are crossovers within stories. ‘The Perfect Gift’ and ‘Intervention on the No. 3 Tram’ relate to an origami gift. The first is almost a haiku (fitting for a traditional Japanese art); the second is the fleshed-out (and stand-out) story. These are merely appetisers, though.
‘Creative Differences’ is the story of a writing and romantic partnership between Scott Solera and Emily Glass. (Simsion is no stranger to this type of relationship, having co-written with his life partner, Anne Buist.) The narrative revolves around the two having written a bestseller and then trying (unsuccessfully) to write individually.
Scott is a planner; Emily’s a ‘pantser’, writing with no plan and seeing where the storyline takes her. Scott dominates the narrative. His idea of self-reflection is massaging his ego in front of the mirror. Into this relationship comes Piper, an emerging writer wishing to emulate Emily, yet being recruited by Scott to co-write a story with a wild premise.
The novella can be read as a primer for different writing styles, with a warning that one approach alone can be counterproductive. It’s refreshingly constructive and helpful.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
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MEET GRAEME SIMSION AND ANNE BUIST
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author says of himself ,,,
Graeme Simsion, straight white male boomer. Officially not autistic (see below) but I consider myself a friend of that community.
He is a writer of novels (five in my own right, two with partner Anne Buist), a lot of short stories, a few screenplays and a book on how to write a novel
A dabbler in other writing projects: there are a couple of short plays, a recipe book, even a published poem on the resume. When I was studying, I wrote and / or produced a bunch of short films.
Also a regular presenter of seminars and courses on writing.
Formerly an IT specialist (data modeling) and founder of a business and IT consultancy.
Partner of Professor Anne Buist, psychiatrist and novelist, and father of our two children.
Resident of Fitzroy (Melbourne), Australia.
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