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Editorial – Issue 46

Publishers behaving badly Writers can be an ungracious lot. They take offence easily; they rarely apologise or express thanks; even more rarely do they return favours. They are also known to derive as much pleasure from a friend’s literary failure

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Catherine Chidgey — work in progress

From a work in progress [Marin and his brother Ivan are living in a rough gumfield whare in the far north of New Zealand around 1900. This section opens with a letter from Marin to his sister.]   A strange

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Posted in Extract

When Porsche comes to shove, Jane Clifton

The Anti-Economist Papers Paul Bieleski Tandem, $24.95, ISBN 187717856X Here’s a nice rural scene: a passing motorist bets a mustering farmer one sheep that he can guess the exact number of sheep in his flock. When the motorist gets the

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Posted in Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

“Silks across the birdcage”, Lloyd Jones

First Past the Post: An Anthology of New Zealand Racing Stories ed Brian Phillips Random House, $29.95, ISBN 1869414152   I’m more amused than seriously persuaded of Phar Lap’s place on National Radio’s Golden Kiwis series. At the risk of

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories, Sport

Poem – Kate Camp

Admit one   Cranes like cranes above the city. The city is a poem that says no matter what boat you take you cannot find the boat to take you from yourself to yourself. The man who is part of

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“They all knew”, Peter Russell

Strawberries with the Führer Helga Tiscenko Shoal Bay Press, $29.95, ISBN 1877251038   The first chapters of Helga Tiscenko’s memoir of her life are in large part a tale of the ordinary. Her childhood with her younger sister Sigrid in

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Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review

The rhythm method, Paola Bilbrough

From the Author of Nick Ascroft Victoria University Press, $19.95, ISBN 0864733887 Animals Indoors Stephanie de Montalk Victoria University Press, $19.95, ISBN 0864733895 A close-up of a bat’s face and prehensile paws adorn the cover of Nick Ascroft’s first collection

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Poem – John Dickson

a note concerning names   the early spring evening was warm and close and while I walked the dog there was grass and trees and a moon and something else in me the intimate safety of names Later, I listened

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The facts of lives, Bryan Gilling

Set in a Long Place: A Life from North to South Maurice Andrew Hazard Press, $29.95, ISBN 1877161586   Sorry to Bother You, Doctor Shirley Ferguson Cape Catley, $27.95, ISBN 0908561806 Bridging the Centuries Valerie Cowan Cape Catley, $24.95, ISBN

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Posted in Autobiography, Biography, Non-fiction, Review

Modern, John Campbell

Full Circle: A Modern Morality Tale Bob Jones Hazard Press, $24.95, ISBN 1877161764   Modern Morality Tale.” Let’s begin with those  words.  And of those words, there’s one in particular I really want you to think about: ”Modern”. “Modern” is a

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
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