Slapdash » slapdash

Ryan O’Neill, The Weight of a Human Heart

Patrick — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:50:12 +0000

It’s terrific to see Ryan O’Neill’s new book, The Weight of the Human Heart, on the shelves and in the digital world. This is an intelligent, layered, sharp, poignant and funny collection of stories. Inventive, too, but not to the detriment of the stories. The short story gets a bum rap in Australia, and sometimes it seems as if it’s second best … a training exercise for something longer. But O’Neill takes the short story seriously, on its own merits.

When I was fiction editor of Etchings, we published several of Ryan’s stories. I especially loved a weird but quite beautiful story called ‘Grieve’ (see Etchings 4: the art of conversation), which isn’t included here. But I’m quite excited to see that two other stories that Etchings published – ‘Collected Stories’ and ‘The Cockroach’ – open The Weight of a Human Heart. We knew Ryan was a ripper when we started having to ‘take a number’ to publish him.

Long live the short story!

‘Sort of but not exactly’: Israel Folau

Patrick — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:06:22 +0000

My latest ‘Sort of but not exactly’ column is out in the May issue, print and online, of the Melbourne Review. It’s an open letter to my favourite footballer (no, really) Israel Folau. You can read it here.

An Australian canon

Patrick — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:41:53 +0000

A quite long and interesting, although also surface-level, article on the ‘Australian canon’ debate in The Age this weekend. It’s online here.

I wonder … is Patrick White’s posthumously released and unfinished novel The Hanging Garden eligible for the 2013 Miles Franklin Literary Award? If so, will Random House honour White’s decision to refuse to allow his later novels to be considered for the Award?

Levon Helm

Patrick — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:47 +0000

Levon Helm, singer and drummer from that great band, The Band, died a few days ago. One of my favourite musicians, Joe Henry, has posted a beautiful piece about Helm. It’s on Henry’s webpage here.

‘Sort of but not exactly’ April

Patrick — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:45:38 +0000

My latest ‘Sort of but not exactly’ column is in print and online in The Melbourne Review. This month I’ve written an open letter to Clive Palmer. You can read it here.

Roky Erickson live

Patrick — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:00:53 +0000

Roky Erickson: Live at Barrio, Adelaide, Australia. It was pretty shambolic. The sound was a mess and, especially, the crashing waves of multiple guitars consistently drowned out Roky’s voice. They butchered ‘You’re gonna miss me’ and never got around to ‘I walked with a zombie’ (although that might have been the fault of the little bloke who appeared out of nowhere to demand they leave the stage so they could come back on for their encore all before 9.30pm when the venue went from paid-only to free, but why they couldn’t have just played for another half an hour regardless if they felt like it is anybody’s guess) (or maybe they just didn’t feel like playing ‘I walked with a zombie’ but I sure felt like hearing it).

But, anyway, ignore all of the above. I loved every second of it. It’s the best dodgy concert I’ve seen since The Pogues in … maybe 1990.

On the evidence of this show, it’s hard to know how Roky Erickson’s voice is holding up. But it’s only a couple of years since he released his wonderful album, True Love Cast Out All Evil. The older songs – whether 13th Floor Elevators or solo stuff – are seminal but True Love Cast Out All Evil is as good as anything he’s ever done.

My latest ‘Sort of but not exactly’ column in The Melbourne Review is an open letter to Roky Erickson. You can read it here.

Freedom to Write … Right to Freedom

Patrick — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:27:12 +0000

Freedom to Write … Right to Freedom

6pm Thursday 23 February in the Atrium, SA Writers’ Centre, 2nd Floor, 187 Rundle Street. Free event.

‘We honour the human rights defenders all over the world past and present, and the many millions of people whose lives have been saved, improved and have been touched by their work.’

— Claire Mallinson, National Director Amnesty International Australia (25 May 2011)

‘even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance.’

— Vaclav Havel, 1936 – 2011

In celebration of Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary, Amnesty SA and Adelaide PEN invite you to an evening of fine writing and spirited conversation featuring writers Dylan Coleman, Erica Jolly and Nicholas Jose. Highly-regarded Adelaide actor Kate Englefield will perform readings as chosen by the featured writers.

The Melbourne Review – Geoffrey Rush

Patrick — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:42:38 +0000

The February The Melbourne Review is now on the streets and online, including my latest ‘Sort of but not exactly’ column. This month, my open letter is to Geoffrey Rush, our brand new Australian of the Year. You can read it online here.

Peter Carey ‘The Chemistry of Tears’

Patrick — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:35:03 +0000

My review of Peter Carey’s terrific new novel is in the February Australian Book Review. You can read it in full here. Slightly alarmingly for the reviewer, you can also leave a comment.

serious stuff

Patrick — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:26:02 +0000

I’m really quite excited about the vacuum cleaner we bought on the weekend. Sad days indeed.