Fiction

Lady Alexandra

by Carly Waller Cecelia Green sat before the crackling fire, alone in the library and reading her favourite novel. There was a ball that...

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Nowhere to Go

by Lyssa Stevens Sienna woke to loud bangs and sirens blaring. Confused, she sat up and peeked outside the window. The town was ablaze,...

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Empty Beds

By Janeen O’Connell Mary Allan Monegeetta (Victoria) 9 April 1873 – Good Friday I know he isn’t there, but I reach across to...

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This Devil Ship

by Alison Knight What is a man? A collection of atoms contained within a skin, framed by bone, tethered with sinew. What is a god? Yuri...

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Marina and The SS Oronsay

by Bella Bevan It was supposed to be an easy walk to the docks from Tilbury station, but after five minutes of lugging her trunk, Marina...

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The House of Death

By Mori Shige. Translated by Marissa Skeels.   Mori Shige (1880-1938) was a university-educated, headstrong feminist writer from...

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The Ink Stain

by Christina King. Winner of the HNSA 2019 Short Story Contest Just fuzz. Like the fur of a sewer rat. She ran her hand over her head...

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Dirty Laundry

by Julie Parry   The kitchen door was slightly ajar. I bobbed gingerly from side to side, squinting into the sliver of light. I was no...

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Fare thee well.

by Lou Greene. Commended story in the 2019 HNSA short story contest. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop, my mother used to say. I...

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Middle C

By Lauren O’Connell   ’By god! It’s bees!’ The spyglass slipped from my fingers and rolled along the deck, its rumble in...

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The Wave That Never Came

by Amanda Pearson   We were told the world was ending. My parents, in their naivety, decided a picnic was the only way to celebrate...

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The Driver

by Dell Brand. Commended story in the 2019 HNSA short story contest. Boney sat hunched over the wheel, clunking along slowly over the...

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Floundering Falling Flying

by Eden van Leeuwen   Jumping up and down on the roof the metal banging in my ears the anthem to my tale. Sweat is blooming on my...

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THE GREEN FIELD

by Sue Robertson We were in our front field, shepherding our little flock of sheep.  A motley crew made up of children, old people, and...

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Return to Sender

by Samuel Bernard.   The radiating aroma of aging books and mahogany grazed my nostrils as I brushed past mountains of pre-loved...

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Marnie Reid reflects about our fiction in issue six.  

Good historical fiction draws the reader into a world from the past, bringing to life events, characters and lessons that often ring true...

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A Novel Excerpt from Pelagia’s Healing Therapies

by Carol Major. Dian Wellfare is the founder of Origins, an organisation lobbying on behalf of birth mothers who relinquished babies for...

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Born to the Wrong City.

by Samantha Pena Roshier ‘That’s the thing, Mary. They’ll tell you love is the most beautiful thing on earth and then they’ll...

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NEON LURE

By Reece Pye The next thing he remembers, after the bitch spat in his eye, is face planting on the footpath. There is a dull ringing in...

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I’m Hiding.

by Savannah White. ‘Hush now, Lucas.’ A flash of light shone through the cracks of timber; Mama smiles at me before the light...

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The Woes of Witchcraft

By Larissa Dubrowsky-Ryan Ukraine 1880 When Agraphena arrived, Nina was lying on the rough hay bed, her face pale. Sweat pooled the sheet...

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The Dead Have No Voice

By Reece Pye  Ever since the passing of his dearly beloved Edina, the only woman his now crippled heart had ever cared for, the days...

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Indian Fever

By Marley Stuart    If you asked Karo, he would tell you that he loved his younger sister right from the beginning. He was terrible...

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NINETY SECONDS!

By Goldie Alexander.   Brett is setting himself up in the middle of Station Street where anyone driving past will see him. He’s brought...

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Mr Brown Goes Out

by Vashti Farrer     It was a fella at work gave Joe the name and an address in Kings Cross. ‘Ask for Mick.’ Joe planned on...

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On Consummation

By Elisabeth Hanscombe   The Citizen’s Welfare Service was nestled among a row of terraces on Drummond Street in Carlton. My fourth year...

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Bridge Shadows

By Denise Ogilvie   Every time the train pulls away from Spotswood station, passing graffiti covered walls, gentrified houses and...

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Estranged

by Nik Shone   I should have brought a coat. The moment I leave the house my umbrella flies away. Reminds me of Mary Poppins just...

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Avenge the Nurses

By Samuel Bernard © 2017   1700 hours – Eleventh of May, Nineteen hundred and forty three ‘Passes chaps,’ the corporal asked...

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Searching For Mentaloon

By Carol Major   I am here in Malaysia with Hugh. I know we will fight. This is because he is the son of the last British Advisor in...

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