Backstory Author

Clare Millar

Clare Millar studies creative writing / literature and professional writing / editing at Swinburne University. She’s part of the...

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Margaret Marchant

Margaret Marchant lives in Adelaide, South Australia and is currently studying for Masters of Arts (Writing) at Swinburne University. When...

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Editorial – Issue Two

By Dr Jacqueline Ross This second edition of Backstory gives Swinburne students an opportunity to see their work published and a reach an...

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Prelude to Dawn

By Arianne James   We arrive at winter’s onset. I upon an open-aired milk truck, Lionel riding close behind. The downpour strikes...

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Lucy’s War

By Kate Wann   The following story is based on fact. All the quotes are directly taken from the diary of Lucy Daw 1915. Except for a...

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Dinosaurs: An Alternate Ending

By John Whitehall King Jayavarman’s waning virility was not surprising. The royal serpent had raised its head to strike so many...

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John Whitehall

John Frederick Whitehall suffers from chronic wanderlust. Treatment for this syndrome has taken him to over fifty countries but, as yet, a...

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Had as Leif Control

By Vashti Farrer   LETTER from: Earl Bathurst to Governor Darling.   Downing Street, 17th August, 1825. Sir,...

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Tamasine Loves

Tamasine Loves is a 23-year-old emerging writer from the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne’s outer-east. Born into a book-loving family,...

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Bovary

By Eloise Faichney   Flaubert recognised my love, tender and whole, and it made him sad.   ‘I forsee that I shall make you...

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Kate Wann

Kate has a back ground in journalism and  in the health sector.  She has written for a health magazine  for 5 years before doing her...

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Once and Future

By Wendy Dunn   Can poetry die When words mark meaning On a page? No Not simply mark But explode Into architecture Imaginary gardens...

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Outline

By Vashti Farrer   On the corner stood a house. Unloved, its weathered weatherboard. But now a wire fence surrounds the lot. No planks...

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Identity (A Recipe of Crumbs)

By Clare Millar   416,809 enlisted 156,000 wounded, gassed, taken prisoner 62,000 killed Preheat a war. Line countries with armies....

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Reflections of an Anzac Day March

By Margaret Marchant   Once tall proud men Remembering those who went before them Marching for those who cannot and those left behind...

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Interview with Alex Miller

By Jac Mason and Ana-Teona Tinc The walls were lined with books, stacked up higher than any of us could reach. Alex stood and turned his...

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Interview with Dr Ron Elisha

By James Palmer Before screens colonised the world, performances were exclusive to live production. Yet the advent of film and television...

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Interview with C.W. Gortner

By Tamasine Loves   Historical fiction is a genre with roots as deep as the storytelling tradition itself. And to the modern day, we...

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‘The History of England. Volume IV: Revolution’ by Peter Ackroyd

Reviewed by Professor Josie Arnold   I read this as a biography of the William, Anne and Hanoverian years in England that saw the...

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‘Call to Juno’ by Elisabeth Storrs

Review by Tina Tsironis Throw a number of interconnected characters together, add a dash of mental complexity to each, sprinkle with a...

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‘The Constant Queen’ by Joanna Courtney

Review by Abby Claridge   ‘That was well done, my lady,’ Aksel said softly in his newly deep voice. ‘Dignified,’ she told him,...

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‘The Pedigreed Jew: between There and Here – Kovno and Israel’ by Safira Rapoport

Review by Sarah Giles ‘To this day I have no tears; that is one of the symptoms of being a Holocaust survivor…’ p. 147. ‘The...

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Arianne James

Arianne James is a writer of fiction and a lover of words, books, people, long conversations, eavesdropping, music, stars, cats and many...

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Vashti Farrer

  Vashti Farrer has worked as a copywriter, research librarian, encyclopaedia researcher, creative writing tutor, short story judge,...

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Editorial: Backstory

This journal provides Swinburne writers with a global publication outlet that brings their talents to the world. These stories, review,...

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Keeping House on Murder Mile

By Rachael Palmer Cyprus 1958 March Tilly stepped off the plane into bright sunshine at Nicosia Airport. She bumped baby Beth higher on her...

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A maji maji chronicle

By Eugen Bacon   Maji! Maji! Myth or legend Or a scheme of fads, ideas embedded One battle, one struggle. Freedom! Freedom! Painted...

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Strangers on the mountain

By Kirsty Seebeck The boy rested against a sun-warmed rock, watching the sheep browse through the scrubby grass, as early summer insects...

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In Memory of Mary Miller

By Helen F Miller   The year is 1902 and Australian women now have the right to vote and be elected, but that has little if any impact...

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Luna Lune

By MA Fox   White columns reach towards the heavens under the moon’s rays.   The gods are now home sitting in judgement...

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