Edition 50

Tall Tales Short – The Novella Project III

  • Published 3rd November, 2015
  • ISBN: 978-1- 922182-91-3
  • Extent: 264 pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook

In 2012, Griffith Review 38: The Novella Project played a major role in enabling Australian and New Zealand authors to gain a foothold in the English language revival of the novella underway internationally. In 2014, Griffith Review 46: Forgotten Stories – The Novella Project II published five novellas with an historical dimension in a confronting, moving and provocative collection.

Griffith Review 50: Tall Tales Short – The Novella Project III features five novellas selected in a nationwide competition, blind-judged by Cate Kennedy, Jacqueline Blanchard (UQP) and Brian Johns.

Edited by Julianne Schultz and Aviva Tuffield, executive director and co-founder of the Stella Prize, the five contributors to Tall Tales Short are Nick Earls, Catherine McKinnon, Helen Gildfind, Madeleine Watts and Tony Davis. Artist Jacqui Stockdale contributes her stunning collage work to the picture gallery.


Reviews

Griffith Review 50: Tall Tales Short – The Novella Project III is ‘a unique and daring punt on the novella that is championing the form and giving new heart to novella writers like [Nick] Earls.’ Courier-Mail

‘For those who enjoy their short fiction, like their short blacks, topped up, these finely crafted novellas by Nick Earls, Helen Gildfind, Catherine McKinnon, Madeleine Watts, Tony Davis and Jacqui Stockdale are essential reading.’ William Yeoman, West Australian

‘Today, the literary journal is still a profoundly important platform for burgeoning writers, and although most have moved or formed as solely online editions, they present some of the most exciting, emerging voices… Both a tribute to the understated form of novella – a derivative of the Italian word for “new” – and new writing from Australia and New Zealand, this pithy print edition navigates the structure of the “longish short story”.’ Ysabelle Cheung, Grana

Griffith Review 50: Tall Tales Short – The Novella Project III is well worth a read and includes some of the best quality writing I have seen this year. Highly recommended.’ Radio 2bbb

‘“Quarry” is a searing portrait of difficult encounters between masculinity, isolation and vulnerability, both within our main character and in his interactions with the world around him.’ ArtsHub


Tall Tales Short – The Novella Project III is supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund and Forming Circles.

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In this Edition


Cargoes

The first time we were here it was just the two of us, Lindsey and me. We stayed at the Chelsea and I got my hair cut there by a hairdresser who had done Dee Dee Ramone’s that morning. Nothing unusual in that. She’d cut his hair for years, she told me. I never discovered if it was true or not. I wanted it to be true. Dee Dee’s hair was no fixed thing though…. Johnny’s was the iconic Ramones hair, so that’s the cut I got. No one at home had that. And Johnny threw his hair forward when he stabbed at his guitar, as if hair could be another weapon.

Will Martin

MY OAR STABS the side of the Reliance. We push off and pull away from the ship. Venus is out, but the sky still has some light. Mr Bass and I boat the oars and hoist sail. The Lieutenant takes the helm. Tom Thumb’s sail snaps at the breeze and air-filled we bounce across the water.‘To dare is to do!’ Mr Bass shouts our motto.‘To dare is to do!’ The Lieutenant and I reply as if we are one.Seawater sprays across the gunwale. It is Thursday, the twenty-fourth of March, the year 1796. This is the day that we embark on our second Tom Thumb sail.

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