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Debra Adelaide

Debra Adelaide

Debra Adelaide has published eighteen books, including novels, short fiction, and essays, the most recent of which is The Innocent Reader (2019). Until 2020 she was an associate professor in the creative writing program at the University of Technology Sydney.

Christopher Allen reviews ‘The Trojan Horse and Other Stories: Ten ancient creatures that make us human’

April 2024, no. 463 25 March 2024
The gods of the Greeks are uniquely anthropomorphic; they are not only imagined with human bodies but with thoughts and feelings largely similar to our own, except for the fact that they cannot grow old or die, and are thus spared the greatest part of human pain and suffering. They can feel anger at the misbehaviour, or pity for the fate, of mortals, as when Zeus sees that his beloved son Sarpedon ... (read more)

Debra Adelaide reviews ‘We Will Live and Then We Will See’ by Warwick Sprawson, ‘Big Weird Lonely Hearts’ by Allen C. Jones, and ‘The Carnal Fugues’ by Catherine McNamara

April 2024, no. 463 25 March 2024
Over the years the popularity of short fiction has fluctuated greatly, for mysterious reasons. A senior publisher once told me that publishers loved short fiction collections but that the reason they rarely published them was due to booksellers’ reluctance to support them. When I put this to a major bookseller, they claimed it was the other way around. Since writers keep writing stories, perhap ... (read more)

Debra Adelaide reviews 'Madukka the River Serpent' by Julie Janson

September 2023, no. 457 27 June 2023
Given the huge popularity of crime fiction, some readers might wonder why there are not more examples by Aboriginal authors. Perhaps it is because crime in general is too close to the bone. It was only coincidental to be reviewing Julie Janson’s Madukka the River Serpent amid the controversy that followed the ABC’s coverage of the recent coronation, yet the relevance was inescapable. For the t ... (read more)

Debra Adelaide reviews 'Marshmallow' by Victoria Hannan, 'Higher Education' by Kira McPherson, and 'Little Plum' by Laura McPhee-Browne

March 2023, no. 451 23 February 2023
A marshmallow is a common confectionery, white and pink, made of gelatin, sugar, and water. We put them in hot chocolate, toast them over campfires. Marshmallow is also a plant, Althea officinalis, containing a jelly-like substance which has been used for medicinal purposes as far back as the time of Ancient Egypt. A marshmallow can also describe someone who is soft to a fault, even vulnerable. Th ... (read more)

Debra Adelaide reviews 'Miniatures' by Susan Midalia, 'Bloodrust' by Julia Prendergast and 'Women I Know' by Katerina Gibson

December 2022, no. 449 25 November 2022
Miniatures by Susan MidaliaNight Parrot Press, $24.99 pb, 175 pp What is a short short story? More specifically, how short is it (or how long)? The most famous tiny example is attributed to Ernest Hemingway: ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’ Whether he wrote this or not, it represents the gold standard in suggesting much in little. Like poetry, microstories or flash fictions allow no f ... (read more)

Debra Adelaide reviews 'Cut' by Susan White and 'The Registrar' by Neela Janakiramanan

September 2022, no. 446 25 August 2022
It can only be coincidence that two very similar novels have been produced by contemporary doctors, but the overlapping characters and themes of Cut and The Registrar are so striking that it’s hard not to visualise their authors, Susan White and Neela Janakiramanan, getting together somewhere to sketch out their early drafts. Both novels feature young female protagonists working in teaching hosp ... (read more)

Debra Adelaide reviews 'Dinner with the Schnabels' by Toni Jordan, 'The Competition' by Katherine Collette, and 'Love and Other Puzzles' by Kimberley Allsopp

May 2022, no. 442 23 April 2022
Doubtless there will come a time when one’s more disciplined reading self requires nourishment from serious books that offer sustained intellectual, creative, and moral challenges. In the meantime, books – in particular the contemporary urban novel – may continue to satisfy by being charming, delightful, witty, heart-warming, hilarious, astringently refreshing, sharply observed, and deliciou ... (read more)

Debra Adelaide reviews 'Home and Other Hiding Places' by Jack Ellis, 'Loveland' by Robert Lukins, and 'Hovering' by Rhett Davis

March 2022, no. 440 21 February 2022
Home and Other Hiding Places by Jack Ellis Ultimo Press, $32.99 pb, 311 pp I have said this already in a recent review, but it is a special kind of novelist who can write about young characters yet still engage the adult reader. It’s also a special book that can handle the burden of what cover quotes are fond of labelling ‘warm-hearted’ or ‘big-hearted’ fiction. To me, such descriptions ... (read more)

Debra Adelaide reviews 'We Were Not Men' by Campbell Mattinson, 'The Cookbook of Common Prayer' by Francesca Haig, and 'Small Joys of Real Life' by Allee Richards

November 2021, no. 437 25 October 2021
One of the hardest challenges for a novelist is to write a story for adults from the point of view of a child. In 1847, Charlotte Brontë set the bar high with Jane Eyre, the first novel to achieve this. The story ends when Jane is a woman but commences with the child Jane’s perspective. So effective for readers was Brontë’s ground-breaking feat that Charles Dickens decided to write Great Exp ... (read more)

Debra Adelaide reviews 'We Were Not Men' by Campbell Mattinson, 'The Cookbook of Common Prayer' by Francesca Haig, and 'Small Joys of Real Life' by Allee Richards

November 2021, no. 437 28 September 2021
One of the hardest challenges for a novelist is to write a story for adults from the point of view of a child. In 1847, Charlotte Brontë set the bar high with Jane Eyre, the first novel to achieve this. The story ends when Jane is a woman but commences with the child Jane’s perspective. So effective for readers was Brontë’s ground-breaking feat that Charles Dickens decided to write Great Exp ... (read more)
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