“How did you manage to make them cherish all this nothingness?” he asked the World Hater. “I simply make them feel embarrassed to admit that they are incomplete. A man would rather close his eyes than see himself as your Father-Spirit does. I teach them to exalt their emptiness and thus preserve the dignity ofContinue reading “Uncovered Gems #3: “The Singer” by Calvin Miller”
Category Archives: Fiction
Uncovered gems #1: Eleanor Spence, “Me and Jeshua”
“We’ll have follow-the-leader,” Jacob decided, “and Jeshua can be the leader.” “No – you do it,” said Jeshua. “I like it better being last.” (Eleanor Spence, Me and Jeshua, 1984) Australian author Eleanor Spence has not been completely forgotten. Text Publishing recently reprinted her novel Lillipilly Hill as part of their Australian classics collection, andContinue reading “Uncovered gems #1: Eleanor Spence, “Me and Jeshua””
No Ghosts This Year #10
There was nothing else he could tell Pa now. Nothing else, because words could not convey the kind of knowledge he now held. It was knowledge of an utterly certain though intangible kind, yet it carried with it also the equally palpable certainty that none would believe it. He could not tell you how heContinue reading “No Ghosts This Year #10”
No Ghosts This Year #9
No answer was forthcoming simply from passing the crime scene. Nor did his family know anything about it when they came home. It had to wait until the six o’clock news for anything official, though Pa had a friend visit his caravan out the back with word of what had happened. The story was thatContinue reading “No Ghosts This Year #9”
No Ghosts This Year #8
That lunchtime, before Drama class, Philip had nearly lost a prop that he’d brought from home for the performance they were doing, and had spent so much time running around looking for it – opening up and emptying the contents of his bag and locker, checking his home room, everywhere he could think of –Continue reading “No Ghosts This Year #8”
No Ghosts This Year #7
“Hey,” called a voice from the other side of the road. Reluctantly he looked over. It was Laura. She was crossing to meet him. But what was she doing here? She didn’t normally walk this way to school. “I slept over at Stacy’s,” she said, as if she knew that an explanation was needed. “AreContinue reading “No Ghosts This Year #7”
No Ghosts This Year #6
The day after, he always felt like a wounded soldier. And, while there was a certain manly glory in the feeling, it was hard for others to see or understand it; and what good, really, was there in having survived a battle that no-one else knew you had fought? As a younger child, he hadContinue reading “No Ghosts This Year #6”
No Ghosts This Year #5
A knock on the door. The door began to open. He hurriedly poked his head out from under the covers. It was Sarah. “What are you doing?” she asked, looking a little oddly at him. “Nothing,” he mumbled. “Just reading.” “Under the covers?” “Yeah, why not?” “No reason.” A pause. He slipped the book underContinue reading “No Ghosts This Year #5”
No Ghosts This Year #4
Dinner had passed with congratulations all round for his sister’s success at her license test and corrections from his grandfather over his reports of the ridiculous song that had been inflicted on Philip in music class that afternoon. “That was ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’!” Pa had said. “Christina Rossetti and Gustav Holst. The greatest EnglishContinue reading “No Ghosts This Year #4”
No Ghosts This Year #3
“Sorry to bother you, mate,” said the man. “I just need some directions.” Philip remained where he was but tilted his head a little towards the man. He didn’t recognise him, but something about the man made him seem harmless enough. He looked like someone his parents would invite over for dinner – though thatContinue reading “No Ghosts This Year #3”
The Consolations of Writing 