Final Draft - Great Conversations

John Richards was shortlisted for the Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Award in 2021 and the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer in August 2022. The Gorgon Flower is his first published work of fiction. The Gorgon Flower is a wonderful collection of dark and macabre stories. I’ve always thought of short story collections like albums or mixed lolly bags. The best of them have something for everyone but you’re probably still not going to share because you love it all. The range of ideas in The Gorgon Flower extends from the historic to the speculative. Each story challenges the reader with tilted perspectives and invites you in to discover the world in a new way. I’m not going to try and cover every tale in the book but I would like to give you a sense through the longest and perhaps darkest tale; the titular The Gorgon Flower. The Gorgon Flower In the mid nineteenth century Lord Tobias Henry Edmundson embarks on a quest to rediscover the enigmatic Gorgon Flower. The flower was first brought to European attention by Tobias' father, an eminent botanist. Since his youth Tobias has been plagued, some might say obsessed with the flower that he remembers as a carnivorous marvel that entranced those who saw it. His father’s original find was destroyed in a fire that also took his father’s life and now Tobias plans to pick up the trail This is a strange and dark story told in two parts; first through Tobias’ field diaries and then through testimony from the ship’s doctor. Tobias’ diary chronicles the long march into the jungle where the flower was last sighted. The expedition are met with horrific discoveries of missionaries left in some sort of decay that seems to pass over the indigenous inhabitants. The crew are alarmed, with many fearing it is only a matter on time before they are stricken by the horrible malady. The Gorgon Flower combines psychological thriller with body horror to create a kaleidoscopic spiral into Tobias’ obsession. Within the story the Gorgon Flower is both a siren and something of a post-colonial wrecking ball leveling the ambitions of those who would exploit the terrain. The prose is crafted just so to entice the reader to believe whilst sowing seeds of doubt (forgive the botanical reference). This is fun, intellectual horror at its best. And that’s just one part of the collection!

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Nikki Mottram has a psychology degree from The University of Queensland and has worked in child protection promoting the welfare of children at risk of harm. These experiences inform her writing beginning with her 2023 novel Crow’s Nest. Nikki’s latest novel is Killarney. Dana Gibson has more than a little on her mind when she accompanies her colleague Lachlan on a welfare check in the town of Killarney. With local tensions simmering, possible drug running through the town and an allegation against a member of the clergy things are starting to look bad. Then torrential rain breaks the banks of the river trapping Dana in Killarney. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week from 2ser. Get in touch with Andrew and Final Draft. We love to hear about what you’re reading! Twitter - https://twitter.com/finaldraft2ser Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/finaldraft2ser/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/finaldraft2ser/

Bri Lee is the award winning author of Eggshell skull and Who gets to be smart. The Work is her first novel. The art scene in New York is one of the toughest in the world. While artists stay locked in their studios creating works of inspiration, the industry of ‘the arts’ whirs away creating the buzz that keeps it all relevant. After years of struggle Lally is finally making her gallery work. Her risk is paying off and she is finally able to support emerging artists and pay the bills. Never mind the occasional cost if the art is good and the buyers are excited. Patrick feels like he is teetering on the verge of something. It seems like everyone in the Sydney antiquities scene is suitably antique but maybe, with the right connections he can lower the age range. One big client is all he needs and there’s a new client with their eye on the handsome young associate Lally and Patrick both know they have to do The Work to prove themselves. In their world success might as well be a synonym of sacrifice. They are together alone, until a chance meeting at a New York art conference throws them into each other’s orbits. If you’re familiar with Bri Lee’s non-fiction you are certain to be a fan of The Work. If you’re not familiar with Bri’s earlier books, well then have I got a reading list for you. The Work continues with the themes of Eggshell Skull and Who Gets to be Smart, exploring power and privilege; who has it and how they use it to perpetuate power dynamics in our world. For Lally and Pat, Lee inverts many common stereotypes; Lally is older, she’s got money while Pat is struggling. Lally commands respect while Pat is essentially a handsome nobody. All this serves to highlight the level of scrutiny that Lally puts herself through, wondering at the fragility of her position. Pat meanwhile works hard but essentially believes he will get there. As first they meet and then explore a transcontinental relationship we are treated to dynamic and vibrant dialogue that ranges from art history to the zeitgeist. There are some truly memorable moments as they spar with each other (and noone, not even the local community fundraiser is safe). The Work deals with a darker side of the glittering world Lally and Pat inhabit. As power is leveraged against people based on their sex, their background or even just for the hell of it, we are confronted with our world as a place where caprice and indifference rise to the level of assault. Shock and awe are vehicles for public affirmation and it can be hard to find anyone with any principles left. The Work is a striking, character driven exploration of the world of art, culture and the capital that drives it all. It asks questions of its characters and doesn’t flinch from their dark sides. I know I was rooting for a happy ending for Lally and Pat, but in the journey I found so much more as their lives clashed with the issues and ideas driving us today.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. John Richards was shortlisted for the Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Award in 2021 and the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer in August 2022. The Gorgon Flower is his first published work of fiction. His debut short story collection, The Gorgon Flower is a wonderful blend of dark and macabre stories ranging from the historical, speculative fiction and the joyfully uncanny. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week from 2ser. Get in touch with Andrew and Final Draft. We love to hear about what you’re reading! Twitter - https://twitter.com/finaldraft2ser Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/finaldraft2ser/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/finaldraft2ser/

Victoria Purman is a bestselling author in Australia and the US. Her historical fiction includes A Woman’s Work, The Nurses’ War, The Women’s Pages, and The Land Girls. Victoria’s new novel is The Radio Hour. The year is 1956. When Martha Berry started out at the national broadcaster nearly thirty years ago she couldn’t imagine where it would take her… Not so far it turns out, as she shunts between jobs as secretary for men who wouldn’t know one end of their pencils from the other if they didn't occasionally stick it in their… ear. Now Martha has been tasked with looking after the new wunderkind writer. He’s been commissioned to create a new hit series but all he’s got so far is a title and a drinking problem. Martha loves the radio and she can’t believe that its future could be in the hands of this buffoon. Someone has to step up and save As The Sun Sets, but could that someone possibly be Martha? The Radio Hour is a gorgeous evocation of the golden years of radio and a period of enormous transition as Australia prepares for television to debut on screens across the country. The conceit of the social transformation wrought by television is matched by the social rumblings wrought by the mass consumption of popular stories on the radio… When we meet Marha she is fifty years old and considered somehow left behind by a world that prides women only in the domestic sphere. Sexist attitudes are matched by sexist laws and even Martha’s existence in government service is only supported by the fact she never married (married women were barred from working for the government). The Radio Hour cleverly illustrates this through Martha’s friendship with ‘The Calendar Girls’. In the world of 1956 Australia April, May and June could equally be Martha’s daughters or her peers and their work relationship fosters tremendous dialogue that explores the mores of this world, whilst pointing a way forward. Martha’s is by no means the typical hero's journey but it’s a journey she must undertake. Sexism and patriarchy may not look like your typical end level boss, or dragon guarding a mountain of treasure (but then maybe you’re just not looking at it the right way!) In the world of the novel, radio serials are the communal fire the country gathers around. Martha loves them too much to see them fail and so she must undertake to rescue her hapless boss by writing As the Sun Sets herself. You can’t be it if you can’t see it and so Martha must simultaneously write herself into the story even as she crafts a narrative that opens up the Australian public to the modern world (or at least modern as it was in the 50’s_ The Radio Hour unapologetically tugs at the heart strings as it follows Martha’s creative journey. The novel doesn’t hide her trajectory towards success, not does it pretend that Martha alone can fix the problems of a top-heavy masculine culture, that still predominates some seventy years later. Instead the novel revels in the power of stories to facilitate change, their power to show people a different world, or perhaps just the world they live in just without a prejudicial lens.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Paul Morgan was born in London, and now lives in Melbourne. He is the author of The Pelagius Book and Turner’s Paintbox. His new novel is The Winter Palace. As Germany prepares to march into Poland, Anton Lewicki-Radziwill prepares to join his company in the Polish Army. He leaves behind his wife Elisabeth and their home, affectionately dubbed The Winter Palace. Anton is sure it will be a short campaign and he will join Elisabeth again in time for the harvest. Of course we know better and the war to come is more than anyone could imagine… Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week from 2ser. Get in touch with Andrew and Final Draft. We love to hear about what you’re reading! Twitter - https://twitter.com/finaldraft2ser Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/finaldraft2ser/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/finaldraft2ser/

Susannah Begbie grew up in rural New South Wales on a sheep farm and is now a GP who has worked all over Australia. She is the winner of Hachette's Richell Prize for 2022. The Deed is her first novel. Tom Edwards has spent most of his life running the farm by himself. He’s not well pleased that his kids never came back to take their place on the land as he wanted. Tom’s also dying and so he’s come up with a plan. His kids will return to the farm and build him a coffin, in four days no less. They build him a coffin and they’ll do it right, or he’ll disinherit the lot of them. Jenny is the first back to Ellersly. She never really left the area and is the one to find Tom’s body. Christine is reliably prompt, Dave hurries because as the only son he thinks he’s getting it all and Sophie gets there, as she always does in her own time. The conditions on Tom’s will at first puzzle then infuriate the siblings. Worse, the local lawyer stands to benefit from their disorganization and works to sow confusion in the ranks. The Deed is a tremendous family drama that variously shocks, delights and intrigues the reader with the machinations of the town of Coorong. The novel is told from the varying and contradictory points of view of the four Edwards siblings and their father Tom. Tom’s view is hard bitten and uncompromising. He feels he never got any favours and so he’s not about to start handing them out himself. As we flit between each of the children we see what this has meant through their lives. Jenny as eldest feels almost invisible and just wants someone who can see her for herself. Dave’s role as the only son ultimately drove him away from the pressure. Christine feels noone ever appreciated her work keeping everything together, a role she’s continued in her own family. And Sophie as youngest always tried to keep Tom smiling and perhaps never learned that she could be serious. The interplay of the siblings and the obvious tension arising from the reading of the will lights the fuse that plays out in a kind of battle between allies. As readers we are poised to choose sides but ultimately root for the four to come together and overcome. It’s an interesting tension and hard to escape that for many people managing wealth transfer following the death of a parent is a macabre journey into bitterness and avarice. The conceit of building the coffin is brilliantly set to allow us to discover something of the landscape around Ellersly. For mine I had no idea about how this might be achieved and still imagine a rough hewn box not unlike the pencil boxes we all made at school writ large. The journey itself is set up to trouble the power dynamics and drive forward the characters. The Deed is a strange journey that is carried by the strength of its characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing and energy of the narrative opening up parts of greater Australian life outside of my day to day. Loved this review? You can get more books, writing and literary culture every week on the Final Draft Great Conversations podcast. Hear interviews with authors and discover your next favourite read! Book Club is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week from 2ser. Get in touch with Andrew and Final Draft. We love to hear about what you’re reading! Twitter - https://twitter.com/finaldraft2ser Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/finaldraft2ser/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/finaldraft2ser/

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Donna M Cameron is a novelist and an award-winning playwright and short film writer. Her new novel is The Rewilding. Jagger Eckerman is the office joke. As son of the billionaire boss everyone knows he’s a nepo baby with no real role in the company. But even nepo babies can tantrum and that’s what happens when Jagger realises he’s being used as the fall guy for the company's dodgy dealings. Blowing the whistle was easy but Jagger wasn’t prepared for what comes next. Now he’s stuck in a cave hiding out from a hitman and firmly in the sights of a climate activist who already called that cave home! Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week from 2ser. Get in touch with Andrew and Final Draft. We love to hear about what you’re reading! Twitter - https://twitter.com/finaldraft2ser Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/finaldraft2ser/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/finaldraft2ser/

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Ernest Price is a transgender man working as a secondary English teacher in Naarm/Melbourne. His writing has been published by Queerstories and Overland. The Pyramid of Needs is his first novel. Linda is about to hit the big time. The fact that there aren’t a lot of seventy year olds going viral just means it will be even more sensational when she does, and viral clicks can't help but lead to more sales of her Supreme Self Supplements. Jack is living his best life as a teacher in Naarm/Melbourne. Or at least he’s trying to when his older sister Alice gives him a call. Their mother has taken a fall while live streaming at their home in Noosa. Jack hasn’t spoken to Linda since he came out as a trans man more than ten years ago. Alice can talk to him about regret, but why does he have to put himself at risk for the family who rejected him? Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week from 2ser. Get in touch with Andrew and Final Draft. We love to hear about what you’re reading! Twitter - https://twitter.com/finaldraft2ser Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/finaldraft2ser/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/finaldraft2ser/

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Yumna Kassab is the author of novels including Australiana and The Lovers. Her writing has been listed for prizes including the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Queensland Literary Awards, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and The Stella Prize. Yumna Kassab is also Parramatta’s first laureate in literature In Politica the reader is transported to conflict engulfing a country. Through glimpses of ordinary life and revolutionary struggle we are shown the cost of war on a people and the tenacity, the fierceness of will required to carry on. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week from 2ser. Get in touch with Andrew and Final Draft. We love to hear about what you’re reading! Twitter - https://twitter.com/finaldraft2ser Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/finaldraft2ser/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/finaldraft2ser/