On The Edge anthology out

The Five Mile Press just sent me my complimentary copies of the Barry Oakley-edited anthology On The Edge: 30 Modern Australian Short Stories. Which is surprising, as I only got asked for permission to use the story in it a few weeks ago, but here it is.

The story they used was not "Singing My Sister Down", for a change; it was "Earthly Uses" (the one about angels).

The anthology's organised into little groups of different edges: there's The Water's Edge, The Mortal Edge, The Edge of the World, Emotionally Edgy, etc. with 3-4 stories in each group. Terry Dowling and I are right at the end, in a section called The Far Edge of the Real. Says the Introduction:

To say Margo Lanagan's "Earthly Uses" belongs to the fantasy/horror genre doesn't do it justice...Terry Dowling's "One Thing About the Night" is likewise so powerfully imagined that it too resists categorising.

So this time it's the mainstream trying to haul us off the fence onto their side. It's nice to be wanted. :)

It's also nice to be one of 6 out of the 30 to be named on the cover, alongside Lily Brett, Peter Goldsworthy, Cate Kennedy, David Malouf and Peter Corris. That's new, for a mainstream anthology. I must have Made It or something.

Anyway, it's a very nice production and I'm looking forward to reading it. There are all sorts of treasures inside. From the cover:

Every one of these brilliant narratives focuses upon people living on life's edge in some way or another. All are facing a form of danger, whether it be physical, emotional, psychological or from beyond the world we understand. Acclaimed author and editor Barry Oakley has chosen each tale not only for its entertainment value but for the deep insights it offers into the minds of people coping with the greatest challenges their lives can produce. The result is a collection of work by some of Australia's foremost writers whose gifts, in many cases, are also recognised far beyond our shores.