The interesting point about most of the stories in Karen Joy Fowler's superb new collection is what doesn't matter in them. Most feature some element of the fantastic, which typically would be their point. But here, the fantastic element or idea is always less interesting than Fowler's character or milieu.
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Inspired by the legend of Cecilia, Linda Ferri's novel is set in second century Rome under the rule of Caesar and the ancient Roman gods. In a society where men dominate, and women are meant to be silent and submissive, we meet …
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Wow! Ludmilla Petrushevskaya is big news in Russia, but was little known in the English-speaking world before the publication of this collection by Penguin in 2009. I hope much more of her work is published in English, because, on the evidence of this collection, she is a stunningly good writer.
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Ana María Shua's Death as a Side Effect is a perfectly pitched, darkly comic satire, set in a dystopian near-future Argentina. Politicians perform comedy routines on television, the streets are no-go areas, infested with gangs of marauding vandals, and neighbours are strangers, drowning out evidence of each others' presences with blaring music.
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Indelible Ink is like a time capsule. Topical references abound including the recent global financial crisis as it affects these Sydneysiders. Mostly, though, this is a very Australian novel.
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