Marie Hodgkinson (ed)
Paper Road Press
Any new collection of New Zealand fiction is something I look forward to, especially this one that shows our writers' imagination and creativity are thriving.
Reading this has been great fun; Shortcuts features six stories dealing in science fiction and fantasy. The six novellas and short stories cover a wide spectrum of imagination, from hidden realms to speculation on near future technologies.
Most are set in New Zealand and explore the outcome of adopting new technologies or where the world has changed dramatically. On the latter, my personal pick is the opening story; a dystopian look at a future where the refugee crisis has finally reached New Zealand's shores in force. A young woman reluctantly aids in guarding the coast from perceived dangers and then comes face to face with one of the refugees who have fled their country.
Sometimes, the focus is more personal; in The Last, a music journalist travels to the back blocks to interview a reclusive musician. As the ageing writer speaks with the musician, she begins to discover the story behind the musician's haunting songs.
The strongest story is the last one, The Ghost of Matter by Dunedin's Octavia Cade, who has been shortlisted for a British Science Fiction Association award. The personal and public life of the famous scientist Ernest Rutherford is shown in a series of dreamy yet emotional scenes from his childhood in Havelock to his old age in England in the 1930s.
- Doug Anderson is an admin assistant for Delta Utility Services in Dunedin.
