The Australian Writers’ Centre runs a Furious Fiction writing competition on the first weekend of every month. Writers have 55 hours to write a 500-word short story based on a brief. The first prize is AUD$500, with the winner and shortlisted entries showcased on the Writers’ Centre website.I entered my first Furious Fiction in April 2020. And to help me focus on my writing, the competition fell on the first weekend of COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney.April’s story had to begin ...

I discovered the microfiction genre when I reviewed Loopholes by Susan McCreery for Writing NSW in 2017. The microfiction in Loopholes ranges from several paragraphs on one or two pages to only three short sentences.By definition, brevity is the key to good microfiction. There is no time for plot and character development, so every word must count. In Loopholes, McCreery plunges the reader into perfectly formed glimpses of everyday lives, with no time to ...

Inspired by Phil Collins’ 1993 eponymous hit, I wrote this collection of four vignettes and a fifth piece to pull them together for a major UK short story writing competition in 1994.The news at the time was full of stories about people for whom the public (including me) had little sympathy. I watched Collins’ Both Sides music video on MTV and wondered: Could I show both sides of the news in a short story?After two solid weeks of late nights writing, I felt I had achieved t...

I entered my first Furious Fiction writing competition in April 2020. Run by the Australian Writers’ Centre, I had 55 hours to write a 500-word short story based on their brief. And the timing was perfect because it fell on the first weekend of COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney.From April 2020 to March 2021, I wrote and submitted twelve Furious Fictions, sharing the short stories on the Tall And True writers’ website and narrating them for my Tall And True Short Reads podcast.I d...

"For Alex and the Adaptive Generation, AI was a logical step in human evolution. It enhanced life, leaving them feeling less stressed and anxious. AI also offered hope for mitigating and adapting to the existential effects of climate change."One Day in the Life of Alex's AI and Other Speculative Fiction is a collection of twenty speculative fiction short stories written by writer and podcaster Robert Fairhead between 1992 and 2024.The title story takes place over a single d...

An easy-to-use guide for writers, editors and studentsThe Mini Style Guide covers the fundamentals of good writing and explains how to present a manuscript for publication. It is written in a direct and accessible manner suitable for all ages and backgrounds, and assumes no prior knowledge of the writing trade or the publishing industry. Explanations are accompanied by plentiful ‘real life’ examples, and each chapter opens with a humorous quotatio...

In The Compleat Thunks Book Ian Gilbert brings together classic Thunks from a number of his books, as well as hundreds of new ones, all designed to make your brain hurt as you think, question, debate and argue your way to a better understanding of how to survive in a world gone dangerously bonkers. We are living in an age in which facts don't count, certainty no longer exists and complexity means we never quite know what just happened, let alone what will happen next. To better prepare our...

One of Australia's favourite and most multi-talented entertainers, Kitty Flanagan, provides hilarious and honest life advice in this candid collection of cautionary tales.Kitty Flanagan has been locked in an industrial freezer in Western Australia, insulted about the size of her lady parts in Singapore and borne witness to the world's most successful wife swap in suburban Sydney. It's these valuable lessons from The University of Life that have taught her so many t...

Even in only 100 words, an author can create a whole narrative arc – a proper story with a beginning, a middle and an end. This exercise is a favourite one of international bestselling author Jeffrey Archer, and one that Curtis Brown Creative and Kobo Writing Life adapted into an exciting challenge for Kobo Writing Life authors.The 24 stories in this eBook include "Unique" written by Jeffrey Archer, the 20 stories from the semi-finalists in the Jeffrey Archer Short Story Challenge ...

This sweetly romantic short story – winner of the Take 5 Random Romance writing competition – will make you smile and make you cry.Anthony Collins keeps the key to his heart in a small box that contains a lifetime of memories. Can Tony’s precious treasures take him back to his one true love?

'Funny, true, and - speaking as a dad - embarrassingly accurate.' ― Chris Addison 'This will make you laugh. It is a piece of artwork, really; a collection of cartoons capturing those "dad moments" that can be humiliating, embarrassing or just plain stupid.' ― Daily Telegraph The perfect gift for dad's - 60 brilliant cartoons from Andy Riley celebrating the special one.Affectionate, witty and endearing. It's the g...

You may now be bored of the novelty of a free bus pass, hair may be growing in unusual places and you’ll never make it through the late night feature without nodding off.On the bright side, you can look forward to tearing up the pavement on your own top-of-the-range mobility scooter.