Cover art by Lola Issue 31: Sci-fi can be downloaded for FREE here Issue 31: Sci-fi features short stories from Jake Dean, Rachelle Erzay, Rob Johnson and Kirstie Nicholson, exploring themes of futurism, technology, space, voyages, and robots, but also families, friends, communities, and living beyond survival. Inside you’ll also find a book review of…
Tag: Dylan Dartnell
Social Media Finally Invests in Wellbeing by Dylan Dartnell
Cover image from Pixabay free images My uncle has lived a life of first-class flights, with contacts and friends in every country around the world. He has been retired for a number of years but still has a robust calendar of luncheons and ceremonies, and holds a mentoring role for many members of his former…
The Year That Was… by Dylan Dartnell
Image from Canva free stock images The year that was—that still is. You have done so well… but I need just a little more from you. It’s not quite over yet. It’s time to recalibrate. It’s time to reassess those goals you made in January, forgot about well before June but picked up again when the panic…
Review: Fabulous Lives by Bindy Pritchard
Fabulous Lives (2019) by Bindy Pritchard From Margaret River Press comes the short story anthology Fabulous Lives by debut author Bindy Pritchard. Each pocket of story speaks to the marginalised sorts that exist on the periphery—almost out of sight—if not for the surreal and whimsical characters they are or situations that they find themselves in….
Underground Writers 10 Years On
On Friday, November 1st 2019, Underground Writers held a birthday party at PICABar in Perth to celebrate 10 years supporting Australian emerging writers. Our full team of editors were in attendance, and we were joined by a large crowd of supporters. What follows is the speech given on the night by our Editor-in-Chief, Jemimah Halbert…
Growing up: A tale of books read, by Dylan Dartnell
Once upon a time, in an age few can recall, lived a boy who read books upside down sitting on his Nanna’s recliner chair; his feet dangling well above the carpet floor. The couch was warm and the house still. The midday movie had just finished and Gameboys had not yet been registered into existence…
Review: Driving Into the Sun by Marcella Polain, by Dylan Dartnell
Title: Driving Into the Sun Author: Marcella Polain Genre: Literary fiction Publisher: Fremantle Press (2019) The novel that took some ten years to write, Marcella Polain is back with her breath-taking work, Driving into the Sun (Fremantle Press, 2019). The story revolves around an eleven-year-old girl named Orla on the precipice of womanhood. She, like most…
Issue 25 is here!
It’s a new year and we’re happy to be presenting issue #25 of the Underground Writers zine, featuring more fantastic work by a selection of creative writers from around Australia. Our work this issue includes poetry from Ion Corcos, Jasmin Seabrook-Benson, Scott-Patrick Mitchell, and Wendy Lichtenberg. Our short stories comes from Christos Sevastidis and Paul…
The Big 5 I Need for a Successful Year of Reading, by Dylan Dartnell
Reading Goals It all starts here! Whether we are deciding to read more of a particular genre or to read more widely, to read more of the classics or to read more Australian works, we need to set the goal and keep accountable. Goodreads is good for tracking the number of books we’ve read and…
Issue 24 has arrived!
Issue 24 has arrived! The cover this issue was designed by WA-based artist Jonathan Park, whom you can find on Instagram at @fresh_kb Our Editors shone throughout this year, and they’ve worked hard on the short stories and poems you’ll find within the pages of issue 24. Download the issue for a fresh assortment of short…
Dylan’s Character List
I am a jealous reader. Those characters we share an affinity with, you should know, are mine, mine alone, and, no, I will not negotiate. You might argue that these manifestations of thought and feeling are to be experienced by everyone with access to language but if I could, I would selfishly hoard those scripts…
Issue 22 release!
Issue 22: Pop! is here! This issue we’re very happy to have our cover designed by the talented Perth-based Alisa Dempster—you can follow her work on Instagram @trexia.art. We have both new and familiar authors this issue, hailing from Australia and further afield: our poetry is brought to you by Pat Tompkins of the San…
Dylan Dartnell’s TBR list – pt 2
Dylan Dartnell’s TBR list, part 2 You Belong Here, Laurie Steed I have seen this little number advertised quite a few times in the last couple of weeks, but what sealed the deal for me was when it appeared on Amanda Curtin’s blog, Looking Up/Looking Down. The story follows the lives of a couple who…
Issue 21: Mythological Figures
Issue 21: Mythological Figures is here! This issue is packed full of poetic goodness form MTC Cronin & Peter Boyle, Alys Jackson, Elise Kelly, and Maddie Godfrey; with room to sink your teeth into short stories from Jude Bridge, Sian Tondut, and Antony Millen. There’s a whole lot of re-tellings, re-visitings, revisions, and cheeky adn…
Writing: What You Need to Know for 2018, by Dylan Dartnell
If you are like me, a stupendous procrastinator with wild ambition, you might have exhausted Facebook’s ‘save’ function and now have an archive of writing tips and tricks, and a reading list longer than the Dymock’s Top 100. Soon, the heaping volume of saved articles, podcasts, and videos will be enough to incite an aneurysm….
Australian titles reviewed in 2017!
Below are all the Australian titles reviewed by Underground Writers in 2017! The Other Woman by Kylie Jones, reviewed by Kate, Shelley, and Jess Rae That Eye, the Sky by Tim Winton, reviewed by Kate Lomas Glendenning Rubik by Elizabeth Tan, reviewed by Jess Gately Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh, reviewed by Jemimah…
Review: The Fremantle Press Anthology of Western Australian Poetry, reviewed by Dylan Dartnell
The Fremantle Press Anthology of Western Australian Poetry My first real introduction to poetry was in my high school literature class. My teacher romanticised French winters, nestled by an open fire; drawing on a cup of tea. As she spoke, we could almost catch the fondness of the memory glimmer in her steely, blue eyes….
Issue 20: Nostalgia
Issue 20: Nostalgia is here! This issue you’ll find some excellent poetry by Allan Lake, Jan Price and Bradley Baronner, a few delectable short stories by Sarah Widdup, Jane Downing and Caitlin Farrugia, and a whole lot of fond and bittersweet Nostalgia: from places and people to time and things. We’re especially excited about our…
Dylan’s TBR List – round 2
A post by Dylan Dartnell A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald, Natasha Lester A couple of months ago, Subiaco Library hosted a writer’s workshop on the power of setting. Like library books upon shelves, writers crammed shoulder-to-shoulder to glean whatever tips they could from Australian best-selling author, Natasha Lester, who is renowned for her ability…
Writing Community & Workshops, by Dylan Dartnell
Writing Community & Workshops By editor Dylan Dartnell Throughout primary school, every piece I wrote seemed to involve dinosaurs who betrayed each other incessantly with time bombs or incorporated an all-knowing, all-powerful wizard, which rendered the plot and any other character worthless. From memory, some of the feedback I received from my teachers went along…
Issue 19: The List is here!
Issue 19: The List has arrived! Featuring a book review by our own Shelley Timms, poetry from Eileen Chong, Genevieve Deeds-Page, Kristin Martin, Anna Jacobson, and Pat Tompkins, an album review by Nick Crameri, and short stories from Ian Adams, Edward Palumbo, Angela Hooks, and Meesh Feraud. Also featuring our June Writing Challenge winning entry: The Road…
Dylan’s TBR List
In this series we are sharing each of our To Be Read booklists, why we’re looking forward to reading them, and why we picked up those books in the first place. Read on to discover editor Dylan Dartnell’s next three books To Be Read! Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie I have a nasty…
Issue 12’s Review: The Power of One, by Dylan Dartnell
Issue 12’s Review The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (1989) A review by editor Dylan Dartnell (this review can be found in issue 12: Small and Potent) Set in South Africa, The Power of One surrounds the character of Peekay during the closing years of WWII and well into the apartheid years following. We are…
Review: Ophelia by Breanne McIvor, reviewed by Dylan Dartnell
April’s Review Ophelia (2017) By Breanne McIvor (Illustration by Timothy Greene) A review by editor Dylan Dartnell I am sure no one remembers their first crush with much fondness. In fact, I am even more certain that those are memories we all suppressed until it was safe to laugh about without feeling the sting of…
Issue 18: Black Hole is here!
Issue 18: Black Hole is here! Featuring a review by our very own Jessica Gately, poems from Anthea Yang and Jan Price, and short stories from Carmenn Alexander King Kocznur, Nerissa Marcon, Mai Nguyen, and our feature piece from Fleur Brown-Beeby, as well as the usual monthly round-up of writing opportunities. Also revealing the theme for…
Issue 17: The Hitchhiker is here
Issue 17: The Hitchhiker is here! Featuring poetry from Jan Price and short stories from Jane Downing, Kerri Turner, Daniel Campbell, Carmenn Alexander King Koczur, Aline Mwezi-Niyonsenga, Cindy Tomamichel, feature piece from Sarah Giles, and our first collaborative review, by editors Kate Lomas Glendenning, Shelley Timms and Jessica Wilson-Smith, ofåÊKylie Jones’ autobiographical workåÊThe Other Woman….
August’s review: The Cuckoo’s Calling, by Dylan Dartnell
August’s Review The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (pen name of J. K. Rowling) A review by editor Dylan Dartnell Warning: This review may be considered blasphemous in some literary circles. I apologise in advance. Robert Galbraith’s The Cuckoo’s Calling hit the shelves in 2013, and since then, we have come to realise that this…