City of Birds published in Sitelines
I’m happy to announce that my new long story City of Birds has been published in the Spring 2009 edition of Sitelines.
City of Birds was the creative half of my recently completed Honours thesis on Naturalism and Trauma in Post-Apocalyptic texts. The story explores how naturalist narrative techniques can be used to represent trauma in the post apocalyptic genre, hopefully doing so without letting the ‘method’ get in the way of the story: a post apocalyptic romp through a not-too-far-in-the-future world debilitated by endless flood surges.
Set against a backdrop of submerged freeway systems and water logged cities, two stories intertwine: the dogged survival tale of three men and their airboat, and an equally bleak refugee experience of a father, brother and son escaping the inevitable next surge.
It’s unashamedly written as a homage to another author’s style (of whom I’ll let you figure out) hence I think it’s main weakness is the risk that some readers may find it derivative of what’s become a very popular genre over the last couple of years. That said, my creative writing teacher always told me that when you’re learning to write, imitation is often the best technique to adopt.
Sitelines didn’t seem to mind anyway. So let me know what you think. Read the full text online at Sitelines, and check out the other great fiction and poetry pieces in the Spring 2009 edition.
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