There’s a whiff of Roald Dahl about this unusual collection of short stories, with the narrators ranging from a grizzly bear who’s just eaten a teenager, to an airline seat outlining its final day, and even a sabretooth tiger describing his life in a theme park in the eponymous story, ‘Here Be Leviathans’.

Flynn’s imagination seems to know no boundaries, so it seems perfectly normal for a hotel room to tell a story about the people who visit; or for a genetically altered platypus colony to save tourists’ lives.

Luckily for readers, Flynn has provided an epilogue in which he describes the genesis of the nine stories, making the point that although classed as short stories, they took a decade to write.

One of the most difficult to read was the final offering, ‘Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye’, about homeless people living in tunnels under Las Vegas and in a disused casino. It is written in uneducated English, almost a patois, completely without punctuation, but eventually the eye adjusts and absorbs the rhythm.

One of the most chilling, ‘The Strait of Magellan’, is a seafaring horror story, told by a ship. It is almost too close for comfort, describing a pandemic spreading rapidly around the world. Although it seems eerily contemporaneous, Flynn tells us that it took six years to write. His descriptions of the virus, with weeping pustules leading to a rapid and deadly onset of Alzheimer’s disease, are worthy of Edgar Allan Poe or Dahl.

Flynn pays tribute to one of his inspirations, author Thea Astley, in ‘Shot Down in Flames’. He uses her technique of different characters telling parts of the story, ranging from a creek to a fox, a rifle, and a bushfire.

This is innovative writing. Just drop your preconceptions and lose yourself in the fiction.

Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Flynn is the author of Mammoth, Here Be Leviathans, The Glass Kingdom and A Tiger in Eden.

He is Editor-in-Residence at Museums Victoria, and is the creator of Horridus: Journey of a Triceratops, and Horridus and the Hidden Valley.

Flynn is a regular presenter at literary festivals across Australia. He lives in Wonthaggi, VIC.

Chris is not on Facebook or Twitter. His Instagram account is @flythefalcon.