Rock Paper Scissors, by Alice Feeney

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Rock Paper Scissors, by Alice Feeney

3 November 2021

Amelia and Adam have been married ten years. Each year, on their anniversary, they exchange gifts in accordance with the occasion. Paper, leather, sugar, what have you. But there’s one gift Amelia has made for each anniversary that she never gives to Adam. Every year she writes him a letter, describing her feelings about him, and their marriage. Without giving too much away, Adam is a workaholic, more devoted to his screenwriting job, than his marriage to Amelia.

On the occasion of their tenth anniversary, being tin, Amelia wins a holiday to a remote village in the Scottish Highlands, in a workplace raffle. By this point, both partners recognise the marriage is struggling, and both see the holiday away from the distractions of home and work as an opportunity to revive their flagging relationship. But something doesn’t quite feel right. Might it be their accommodation, a chapel of all places? Or might it be the power failure just as they arrive?

And why have their phones suddenly stopped working? On top of that, a snowstorm traps them in the old chapel. And then there’s the minor detail about the holiday itself. Winning it seems not to be as random as it looked… Rock Paper Scissors (published by Harper Collins Australia, August 2021) is the latest novel from English author Alice Feeney, and if you’re a fan of domestic thrillers, with what seems like a touch of things going bump in the night, this might be the book for you.

The Other Side of Beautiful, by Kim Lock

2 November 2021

A traumatic workplace incident several years earlier has left Mercy Blain, a former doctor, housebound, in The Other Side of Beautiful (published by HQ Fiction/HarperCollins, July 2021), the fourth novel of South Australian based author Kim Lock. For two years she has not left the safety and security of her home. But when the house burns to the ground one night, Mercy has no choice but to step out into the world.

Her first port of call is her former husband’s place. But he is living with someone else, and Mercy is on the move once again. This time though she goes all out. She buys an old – an incredibly old – campervan, and leaving her hometown Adelaide, in South Australia, with Wasabi, her sausage dog, Mercy makes her way north to Darwin.

But then things begin to change. As Mercy continues towards Darwin, she begins to experience a catharsis of sorts, and she starts to see a way around the anxieties that have kept her shut away behind closed doors. All seems to be going well until she is required to return to Adelaide to resolve a legal matter, where even the mere thought of being back causes to her anxiety to come to the fore again.

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It’s November 2021, that means it’s NaNoWriMo 2021

1 November 2021

It’s November and that means NaNoWriMo is upon us. NaNoWriMo? It’s an acronym for National Novel Writing Month, an annual writing event established by Chris Baty, a freelance writer, in 1999. And if you think you can knock out a mere fifty thousand (50,000) words by the end of the month, you too can take part. As of 2020, over half a million people worldwide were participating in various NaNoWriMo projects.

Originally held in July of 1999, the event later switched to November, a move intended to take people’s minds off the approaching winter, tricky for people south of the equator though gearing up for summer. But heck, summer arrives in December down-under, so why worry? An impressive collection of NaNoWriMo works have gone on to be published, so it’s something worth checking out if you’re an aspiring author.

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events, writing

Boundless writers festival 2021

29 October 2021

Boundless, a Sydney based festival of Indigenous and culturally diverse writers, is on from today, Friday 29 October until Sunday 31 October. A number of panels and workshops will be presented online, including Should I? Ethical Questions for Screen Storytellers, which touches on the topic of who can tell, and profit, from publishing certain stories. Writers of fiction might also find themselves asking similar questions, in regards to how much they can draw on the lives and experiences of people they know, in their work.

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Loner, by Georgina Young

29 October 2021

It’s a difficult path to walk, the journey to becoming the person we want to be. There’s the frequent self-doubt, and the sometimes futile attempts to appease those around us, who expect our lives to take a direction more in suiting with their preferences. How many of us have been in, or are in, such a place? At least Lona, the twenty year old protagonist of Loner (published by Text Publishing, August 2020), written by Melbourne based Australian author Georgina Young, knows what she doesn’t want.

But then the arts student decides one day a life in the arts isn’t for her. Nor the dead-end jobs she calls work. Lona goes from having some direction, to having almost none. All that seems to fulfil her are books, a part-time gig as a DJ, and photography, an interest that requires her to sneak into her old art school to access the dark room to develop her pictures.

Loner is one of the titles shortlisted in this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, and in addition to her other woes, it seems to me Lona also has to grapple with being an introvert. Choosing to be in her own company, or perish forbid, enjoying being in her own company, is another source of self-doubt for Lona, since some of the people around her probably feel she is lacking as a result. It’s kind of difficult then. Trying to find out who you are, while others are expressing disapproval at what you are.

The Younger Wife, by Sally Hepworth

28 October 2021

The Younger Wife (published by Pan Macmillan Australia, October 2021) by Melbourne based Australian author Sally Hepworth, has been popping up a lot recently on the Oblong Obsession Instagram feed, and yesterday I finally decided to take a closer look. The title screamed the suggestion older person marries younger person, leading me to think I might be reading about an older person perhaps making a new start in life following a divorce, or the death of their last spouse.

Not quite. And nor could the mid-life crisis label be applied either, despite appearances. Stephen announces his engagement to his adult daughters, Tully and Rachel. But the two women have little regard for his wife to be, Heather. For one thing, she’s practically their age, to say nothing of their suspicion that Heather is a gold digger. But the main point of contention is Pam, their mother, who is neither dead, nor divorced from Stephen.

But Stephen has an answer to that. Pam is afflicted with dementia, and resides in a care facility, and he figures she’ll offer little resistance to a divorce. The idea enrages his daughters, and I’m hazarding a guess things will not end well. But in learning more about Heather, Tully and Rachel discover she indeed has secrets. As does their father. But that is only the beginning. Tully and Rachel, it seems, have a few things to hide themselves. I get the feeling this will not end well for all involved…

In the Time of Foxes, by Jo Lennan

27 October 2021

I can’t say I’m thankful for everything the Australian Prime Minister may do, but the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards I can place in the positive category. Not only do the awards send some much needed recognition the way of Australian writers, they’ve also put some titles I was previously unaware of before my eyes.

In the Time of Foxes (published by Simon & Schuster, May 2020), by Sydney based Australian writer Jo Lennan is one such example. Somehow I seemed to miss seeing this title on the bustling Bookstagram, but it has been shortlisted for this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Foxes are perceived to be devious yet shrewd, traits the characters featured in this thirteen short story collection share. But each of them needs more than street-smarts as they attempt to navigate the places and circumstances they find themselves in.

Places ranging from Hackney, in London’s East, Tokyo, and a cafe in Sydney. In nearly every story foxes make an appearance in some way, though perhaps they are absent in the tale set on Mars, as in the red planet. Here a journalist seems to be in trouble of some sort, and in the absence of a nearby fox, possibly needs to think like one, if he is to survive.

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Marilou Is Everywhere, by Sarah Elaine Smith

26 October 2021

Fourteen year old Cindy leads a brutally unhappy life. Her parents are elsewhere, leaving Cindy in the care of her older brothers, who have little interest – to say the least – in looking after her. But when another local teenager, Jude, goes missing, Cindy perversely sees an opportunity to improve her lot, in Marilou Is Everywhere (published by Penguin Books Australia, 28 September 2021), the debut novel of American author Sarah Elaine Smith.

Jude’s mother Bernadette, afflicted by alcoholism and mental illness, seems unaware her daughter vanished on a camping trip with friends, and unwittingly accepts Cindy as a surrogate. While Cindy is fully aware her charade is all shades of wrong, her longing for the presence of a loving parent, and a happy, stable, family life, is far more compelling.

Michael Schaub, writing for NPR, describes Marilou Is Everywhere as “a novel of stunning emotional intelligence, and Cindy an unforgettable character, but it’s Smith’s writing that’s the real star of the book. Her language is hypnotic and enchanting, with lines that read like poetry.” Sometimes it’s not so much the story, as the way it’s written, that draws me to a book, so this is a title I look forward to reading.

No. 91/92: A Parisian Bus Diary, by Lauren Elkin

25 October 2021

It’s not exactly fiction, but I couldn’t go passed the concept behind No. 91/92: A Parisian Bus Diary (published by Tablo Tales, 2021), written by London based American-French author Lauren Elkin. Partly because it’s sometimes the way I use my phone – though not so much for keeping a dairy of what I see and hear on my travels on public transport – and partly because I think it’s such great idea.

For seven months, between September 2014 and May 2015, using the notes app on her iPhone, while commuting on the number ninety-one and ninety-two buses, to a teaching job, Elkin tapped in observations she made along the way. Perhaps not the way most people might use their smartphones, but Elkin’s aim was “to observe the world through the screen of my phone, rather than to use my phone to distract myself from the world.”

It makes me think, what if a copy of this book were given to every commuter? Might it prompt one or two people to think about how they spend their travel time, and who knows, consider using it differently, more – dare I say it – productively? And potentially end up a published author as a result: how does that sound for an enticement? It’s surprising how much is going on in the world, when we tune into it.

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I Give My Marriage a Year, by Holly Wainwright

22 October 2021

If there were an award for book cover of the year (actually there’s the Australian Book Designers Association, and the Academy of British Cover Design, for quick starters), then I’d nominate I Give My Marriage a Year (published by Pan Macmillan, August 2020), by Australian content producer and writer, Holly Wainwright. I’d do likewise if there were also an award for book title of the year.

But I Give My Marriage a Year is more than eye-catching cover design, and a pithy title, it’s like having seats centre stage while you watch two sports teams you know nothing about, go head to head. Sydneysiders Lou and Josh have been married for fourteen years. They have two children, and live in the city’s inner western suburbs. But their marriage has lulled into a void.

Lou decides it’s time to take action. Or more to the point, to make a plan to take action. For twelve months she will subject her relationship with Josh, who works as a carpenter, but would rather be in a band, to a number of stress tests. At the end of the year, she will assess the outcomes and make a final decision, does she leave Josh, or does she stay?

That leaves the reader to decide who they’ll back. And the choice may not be all that simple. Both players will break rules and land low blows. But the best in both Lou and Josh will also come to the fore. Will there be only one winner, or can the spoils of victory be shared? And without any further delay I shall add I Give My Marriage a Year to my to-be-read list.

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