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A review by becleighton
Stamping Ground: Stories of The Northern Suburbs of Melbourne by Tom Petsinis, Garry Kinnane, Mark Wills, Cameron Semmens, Jaz Stutley, Angela Costi, Petrina Barson, Jenny Sinclair, James Takliabue, Laura Jean McKay, Tiffy Johnson, Henry von Doussa, Lyndel Caffrey, Hariklia Heristanidis, Georgina Scillio, Mileta Rien, Felix Calvino, Domenica Roperto, Catherine Deveny, Naomi Byrne-Soper, Rijn Collins, Edward Burger, Paul Mitchell, Julie Perrin, Sarah Mokrzycki, Marietta Elliott-Kleerkoper, Gordon Thompson, Matt Blackwood, Alana Holmberg
3.0
This was a real mixed bag of a collection. I was curious as to what it'd be like, being a sense of place anthology about a place so affected by gentrification, and I nearly didn't read any further after Catherine Deveny's appalling introduction.
It picked up quite a bit from there, though, and while some of them were seriously dreadful (Edward Burger and Paul Mitchell being the two worst, bit stunned to discover at the end they're actually published writers), some of them were great (especially Naomi Byrne-Soper and Angela Costi), I found myself Googling quite a few names to see if they'd published anything I could get my hands on, and I'm really glad I bothered to read this for those stories, at least. It was worth reading the dreadful ones to see some good writing about places so familiar.
It picked up quite a bit from there, though, and while some of them were seriously dreadful (Edward Burger and Paul Mitchell being the two worst, bit stunned to discover at the end they're actually published writers), some of them were great (especially Naomi Byrne-Soper and Angela Costi), I found myself Googling quite a few names to see if they'd published anything I could get my hands on, and I'm really glad I bothered to read this for those stories, at least. It was worth reading the dreadful ones to see some good writing about places so familiar.