Forty-four short stories are showcased in Stringybark Stories largest ever anthology of award-winning short stories. Selected from 360 entries from Australia and around the world, these stories are quirky, clever, poignant, sometimes sad, occasionally scary, sporadically funny, but always entertaining. They are a ripper read. 'Feral' is contemporary short story writing at its best.
She found Julia sitting on her bed with her legs straight out, holding the shell to her ear. Her eyes were wide and seemed to stare through her bedroom wall, eastwards, to the horizon.
“Come on, Darling, dinnertime.”
Julia didn’t move. Rachel had never seen her so transfixed without an electronic device in her hands. She clicked her fingers: “Hello, Earth to Julia!”
— from 'The Shell' by Penny Durham
As if in uniform to go to the beach, an Australian Saturday custom, the women wore sun-tops and shorts, the men, swimming gear and unbuttoned shirts. Joy favoured the ventilation of an African wraparound green and red skirt for the walk home in the heat. The red light flashed, and the crowd bunched as they reached a pedestrian crossing. Joy overheard a woman’s whispered broadside, “I’m your romantic other, not your wife.”
— from 'Song of the Frangipani' by Rosemary Lewis
Sounds stupid, but there was a time I thought we were immortal. We were always looking forward, always making plans – ‘The Big Trip’, ‘On the Wallaby’. Then, just when you think you’ve cracked it, the bottom drops out of your bucket and you realise, you’re just like everybody else, you’ve got an ‘end-date.’
— from 'Last Tango' by Mike Woodhouse
