Melanie Dixon
Breach of all Size: Small stories on Ulysses, love and Venice, edited by Michelle Elvy and Marco Sonzogni (The Cuba Press, 2022), 98pp, $30
Thirty-six writers, thirty-six stories, 421 words each. This anthology attempts to bridge two worlds—that of Joyce and his modernist epic Ulysses, published 100 years ago, and the foundation of ancient Venice in the year 421. It seems a slightly odd premise for a modern collection of flash fiction, but the joining of themes from Joyce’s classic novel and the city of Venice has produced an astounding anthology featuring some of the best flash fiction writers in New Zealand. Between the covers of this slim edition there is an abundance of bridges, a whole cast of characters called Antonio, a healthy dose of Vivaldi and chamber music, numerous battered copies of Joyce’s novels, glimpses of Ireland and a few cameo appearances by Captain James Cook. With central themes of love, loss and time—and the slow sinking of a city beneath the pressure of the ever-encroaching sea—change is at the heart of this collection. [Read more…]
Jordan Hamel
‘Female, nude’, the opening poem of Joanna Preston’s sophomore collection tumble, makes itself known with steely assuredness:
‘If I could turn back time,’ sang Cher in her 1989 smash hit. ‘If I could find a way,’ she says, she would unsay all the hurtful words that had brought a sad end to her relationship. We can’t, of course, take back ‘all those words that have hurt’. Mere mortals and insomniacs especially are condemned instead to endlessly revisit the mistakes of our own history, impotent to avoid or undo the damage done by our younger selves. But what if we could? Just how far would we be willing to go to alter the fabric of the past, and therefore the present and future, of ourselves and those we love?