Welcome to GR Online, a series of short-form articles that take aim at the moving target of contemporary culture as it’s whisked along the guide rails of innovations in digital media, globalisation and late-stage capitalism.
Bad breath
RUMBA WONDERED WHY his parents were taking so long. He was both elated and anxious because he could keep...
A local footnote
A WRITER HAS come to town. A reputation for greatness precedes him. His prize-winning books are plainly spoken, yet...
One short mile from land
HE FELT IT first when the horses shifted and cried. They had been muttering among themselves all day, but...
The honesty window
A SMALL PRINTED card offered extra towels, if they should need them. They hadn’t been provided in the first...
Muse
I’VE NEGLECTED HER. Her ceilings are soft with cobwebs. Her garden is choked with weeds. Her fence leans, like buckteeth,...
A fulcrum of infinities
SAUL TURNS OFF the bitumen onto the dirt road and drives due west. The ute rattles along over the...
Those boys from Jalaan
RACHEL THERE WAS A cement wall separating the compound from the desert. The wall was three metres high. Purple wildflowers grew...
The last taboo: A love story
HE INSISTS ON a hotel room. You want him to stay with your family – you, Graeme and daughters, Sal...
Datsunland
WILLIAM DUTTON WAS still walking towards school. Two decades after he’d finished, still. Carrying his guitar, head down, mumbling...
The white experiment
FOREWORDBy Penny HuestonCORY TAYLOR, WHO passed away in July, was a joy to work with. Over the years I...
Ferocious animals
MY DAD WOKE me early to go down town and buy streamers. It was 1989 and our team was...
Icarus: Bot
@goddess: You tweeted the words sink and lower. You sound depressed@iceBorg: Goddess, I’m falling, tweeting free, from a public...
