Monday, February 21, 2011

Boner McPharlin’s Moll

I recently discovered a short story by Tim Winton that blew my socks off. Boner McPharlin’s Moll has the heightened reality and menace of a Flannery O’Connor story, with Winton’s graceful touch. I discovered it in The Australian Long Story, (ed Mandy Sayer, Hamish Hamilton 2009), but it was originally published in The Turning, 2005.
The narrator is a fifteen-year-old girl, Jackie, who gets off with the local bad boy, Boner. He’s been expelled from her high school in a country town. The year is 1970, down to a T, with the boys in their Monaros and Chargers, wearing Levi cords and Dr Scholls. Johnny Farnham is out and David Bowie is in. Jackie accepts a ride in Boner’s car, and from then on their fates unravel.
Jackie has a reputation as Boner McPharlin’s moll, but the reader knows more than her schoolmates about what is really going on. This is a story about innocence and betrayal, about truth and deception. It is moving, harrowing even, and reveals how our actions, however innocent, have consequences. It moves forward on recurring motifs - Boner’s Johnny Reb boots, and his earrings - and springs to life in offhand, deadbeat dialogue. In the last page or two, the mystery lifts and we glimpse the truth. It’s like a punch in the guts for Jackie, and left me reeling.
Unlike most stories, this one is unforgettable. Read it!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

My inner roadie

Still milking my 15 minutes of fame after winning second prize in The Age short story competition. My story 'The Devil's Music' about an ex-roadie living in a rooming house in St Kilda is still up on the Age website if you want to have a look:
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/the-devils-music-20110125-1a3vg.html
The best thing about this win was getting published in The Age A2 (on Saturday 15 January) and receiving emails from my readers. Instead of the usual remarks by fellow writers about the niceties of style, I had some enthusiastic responses from men who have been roadies, musicians or work with the homeless in St Kilda. It was great to hear that in channeling my inner roadie, Billy, I'd hit a nerve with these readers. Makes it all worthwhile. Thanks, guys.