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Four stories: Nights @ the Palace, The Goatflap Brothers & the House of Names, The Secret Life of Veal, and Moving
Nights @ the Palace
"Clothilde is waiting for me on the stairs. We talk in a whisper.
Someone else appears, approaches, circles when he can't see we're talking. Stan from Texas, Austin, M, twenty-five. Why is he even awake? It's one or two in the morning in Texas, Tuesday morning.
Clothilde, in a way I'm beginning to quite admire, ignores him utterly."
Andrew and Clothilde are the only people in the world who call each other An and Clo. They talk of beaches and swimming, uni classes and protective parents.
And then they go back to their real lives, trying not to think of each other in certain ways, trying not to wonder if they'll ever meet and whether or not it's a good idea to do so--or even suggest doing so--in the first place.
*The Goatflap Brothers & the House of Names*
Shakespeare wondered what's in a name and if a rose by any other would smell as sweet, so could a name make a man every bit as much as clothes might? What does it take for a man to assume a moniker like Cleveland Goatflap--pronounce that "Gofla," as in the original French--and what sort of bureaucratic hurdles must he leap?
The Secret Life of Veal
"She said her name was Destiny, though when I finally saw her student card it said Carmel and had a picture of someone less harsh, whom she had once been or at least resembled. She told lies, but I knew she would, and I told plenty myself."
Whether her name is Destiny or Carmel, and whether the setting is an art gallery or a cattle liberation, there's no telling the perils of lifecasting, tweeting, and dating 2.0.
Moving
"So you are moving again."
And with every move comes a new house, a new nose, new bedrooms.
Also, a new identity. Craig Tarrant. Chris Lindstrom. Barry Hanlon. Each of whom has a new job, a new station with new colleagues and new responsibilities, even if each one doesn't really have a new face or a new soul or new memories.
What are memories, anyway?
"Earls' prolific oeuvre of 12 novels and two short-story collections has steadily built him an international reputation as a contemporary writer who makes comic yardage--from subtle irony to groan-out-loud gags--out of the emotional entanglements of decent men during episodes of self-evaluation and transformation."
-Sydney Morning Herald
"Contemporary, cliche-free Australian fiction that is sure to have a very wide appeal."
-The Australian
Nights @ the Palace
"Clothilde is waiting for me on the stairs. We talk in a whisper.
Someone else appears, approaches, circles when he can't see we're talking. Stan from Texas, Austin, M, twenty-five. Why is he even awake? It's one or two in the morning in Texas, Tuesday morning.
Clothilde, in a way I'm beginning to quite admire, ignores him utterly."
Andrew and Clothilde are the only people in the world who call each other An and Clo. They talk of beaches and swimming, uni classes and protective parents.
And then they go back to their real lives, trying not to think of each other in certain ways, trying not to wonder if they'll ever meet and whether or not it's a good idea to do so--or even suggest doing so--in the first place.
*The Goatflap Brothers & the House of Names*
Shakespeare wondered what's in a name and if a rose by any other would smell as sweet, so could a name make a man every bit as much as clothes might? What does it take for a man to assume a moniker like Cleveland Goatflap--pronounce that "Gofla," as in the original French--and what sort of bureaucratic hurdles must he leap?
The Secret Life of Veal
"She said her name was Destiny, though when I finally saw her student card it said Carmel and had a picture of someone less harsh, whom she had once been or at least resembled. She told lies, but I knew she would, and I told plenty myself."
Whether her name is Destiny or Carmel, and whether the setting is an art gallery or a cattle liberation, there's no telling the perils of lifecasting, tweeting, and dating 2.0.
Moving
"So you are moving again."
And with every move comes a new house, a new nose, new bedrooms.
Also, a new identity. Craig Tarrant. Chris Lindstrom. Barry Hanlon. Each of whom has a new job, a new station with new colleagues and new responsibilities, even if each one doesn't really have a new face or a new soul or new memories.
What are memories, anyway?
"Earls' prolific oeuvre of 12 novels and two short-story collections has steadily built him an international reputation as a contemporary writer who makes comic yardage--from subtle irony to groan-out-loud gags--out of the emotional entanglements of decent men during episodes of self-evaluation and transformation."
-Sydney Morning Herald
"Contemporary, cliche-free Australian fiction that is sure to have a very wide appeal."
-The Australian
Used availability for Nick Earls's The Secret Life of Veal