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: Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Review: How to be Australian by Ashley Kalagian Blunt, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: How to be Australian Author: Ashley Kalagian Blunt Publisher: Affirm Press Favourite quote: “I couldn’t do the PR application, and more urgently, I couldn’t do life. I couldn’t bear that if Steve and I managed to stay married, one of us would one day bury the other, that each day we moved closer to…
Review: In the Dark Spaces by Cally Black, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: In the Dark Spaces Author: Cally Black Genre: YA Sci-fi Thriller Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont Cally Black’s debut YA novel, In the Dark Spaces, is, in a word, intense. Teenager Tamara is a stow-away on a space freighter, living in a tiny cabin with her toddler cousin, Tamiki, while her aunt, Lazella, works as a…
Thriller Sub-Genres You May Not Know About, by Shelley Carter & Jemimah Halbert Brewster
When you think of ‘thriller’ as a genre you might think of a mystery set against the clock, unexpected twists that raise the stakes, or a tense show-down that ends on a cliff hanger. Most people might also think of internationally best-selling novels such as Kathy Reichs’ Temperance Brennan series (which the TV show Bones…
Review: The Fragments by Toni Jordan, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
The Fragments by Toni Jordan is a brilliant novel incorporating themes of coming of age, taking charge of one’s destiny, and learning to love again, all centred around a fictional historical literary mystery. The fragments are seven charred pieces of text, representing the only surviving remains of a much-anticipated second novel from celebrated novelist Inga…
Bookish Bullet Journal Spreads by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Image from Canva free stock images Bullet Journaling has been around for a while now, and there are many niche areas you can delve into if bullet journaling is your jam: mood tracking; activity and exercise mapping; garden journaling; cooking journals; art journals; heck, even witchy journaling in a Book of Spells! But my absolute favourite spreads…
Issue 29 release!
Cover art by Liana Wright The first edition of the Underground Writers zine for 2020 is here! ‘Romance’ is special because, apart from being our 29th issue, it marks the first issue since 2015, that Jemimah has not compiled the issue, instead mentoring another editor on how to assemble it. Since Underground is about expanding…
2020 Australian Women Writers Challenge at Underground, by Jemimah Brewster
Here at Underground we’re always looking for ways to support Australian writers, particularly authors from marginalised and underrepresented groups. With that in mind, in 2020 the UW team will be undertaking the Australian Women Writers Challenge. The AWWC was started in 2012 by Elizabeth Lhuede, an Australian writer and reader. From the Challenge’s Background page:…
Review: What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: What the Woods Keep Author: Katya de Becarra Published: 2018 Genre: YA thriller fantasy Katya de Becerra’s debut YA fantasy novel What the Woods Keep follows the story of Hayden Bellatrix Holland, who is bequeathed her deceased mother’s family estate on her eighteenth birthday. But she can only receive the bequest if she adheres to…
Review: Highway Bodies by Alison Evans, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: Highway Bodies Author: Alison Evans Published: 2019 Genre: YA, horror Publisher: Echo Publishing Highway Bodies (2019) is a debut novel by Alison Evans that follows the stories of three groups of queer teens as they fight for survival in and around Melbourne as the city becomes overrun by zombies. The actual cause of the zombification…
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…
Review: From Here On, Monsters by Elizabeth Bryer, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
From Here On, Monsters (2019) by Elizabeth Bryer In Elizabeth Bryer’s From Here On, Monsters protagonist Cameron is an antiquarian book dealer who has recently inherited a bookshop from her mentor. To help pay the bills she takes on some extra work, a rather abstract occupation producing synonyms in a computer program for a celebrated…
Visualisation Tools for Planning Your Story by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Image from Canva Free Stock Images Let’s say you have an idea for a story but you don’t know where to begin with planning the nitty gritty of character profiles, thematic influences, subplots, and so on. This is very common, particularly when starting out on a novel-writing journey, but can also apply to short stories and…
Review: My Name is Revenge by Ashley Kalagian Blunt, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Issue 27’s Review Review by Jemimah Halbert Brewster (this review can also be read in the Underground zine, issue 27: Case) Ashley Kalagian Blunt’s work My Name is Revenge is a novella just over fifty pages in length followed by three essays: Writing Violence, Arousing Curiosity; The Crime of Crimes; and Life After Genocide. The…
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…
Writing Opportunities July 2018
Writing Opportunities for July 2018 Windfall: Australian Haiku A small annual print publication which seeks to publish fine examples of contemporary Australian haiku. Submissions are welcome in July each year. The Next Chapter The Next Chapter is a scheme presented by the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne to support writers by giving them time and…
Writing Opportunities for June 2018
Writing Opportunities June 2018 Girls Will Be Girls submissions GWBG is currently open for submissions for their winter-spring issue. ‘Accepting words, art, comics, music, videos, feminist ponderings – anything creative!’ Work is prioritised from women of colour, trans, binary and gender non-conforming individuals, women with disabilities, sex worker women, queer women, working class women, and…
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…
Writing Opportunities for April 2018
Writing Opportunities for April Australian Storytellers Festival Sunday 8th April at the Literature Centre in Fremantle Monash Undergraduate Prize in Creative Writing This prize seeks entries of 1,500-3,000 words of creative writing, including fiction, creative non-fiction, and short stories on any theme. Open to all undergraduate students currently enrolled in Australia or New Zealand –…
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…
Review: Defying Doomsday, by Jemimah Halbert
Defying Doomsday is a Pozible-funded anthology of short stories published by the indie publishing house Twelfth Planet Press. Twelfth Planet is an organisation that seeks to ‘interrogate, commentate, inspire or provoke thought’, and to ‘raise the awareness of underrepresented voices in science fiction, fantasy, horror and… crime’. They have certainly achieved that with this anthology. Defying…
Writing opportunities for January 2018
ABR 2018 Calibre Essay Prize Seeking non-fiction essays from 3,000 to 6,000 words, written in English. Entry fees are $15 for current ABR subscribers, $15 for full-time students, and $25 for non-subscribers, plus a further four options if the entrant wishes to subscribe to a print subscription of ABR and resides in Australia, NZZ and…
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…
Books to read if you loved ‘Moana’, by Jemimah Halbert
In the spirit of Summer I recently re-watched Disney’s Moana, one of my favourite Disney movies to date, and it got me thinking about books that centre on strong adolescent or young adult characters who love their island home, embracing the place where they are meant to be and the person they want to become….
Writing Opportunities for December 2017
Emerging Writers Festival 2018 Artist call-out Artists and writers are invited to submit expressions of interest to participate in the 2018 Emerging Writers Festival, including ideas for events, topics and conversations they want to be included in the festival. The festival will be held in Melbourne from 19-29 June 2018. Fill out the expression of…
Interview: Emma Michelle, author of ‘Watching Cartoons with Boys’
Emma Michelle, photograph by Bryn DC An interview by Jemimah Halbert Brewster Become a Patreon supporter of Underground Writers and receive all content before everyone else, as well as exclusive Patreon-supporter-only content such as the extended version of this interview and others! Watching Cartoons with Boys is quite a personal work. Did you know from…
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…
Writing Opportunities for October 2017
You can also read editor Dylan’s blog post for more upcoming literary events local to Perth and Western Australia 2017 WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writers’ Fellowships The 2017 Western Sydney Emerging Writers’ Fellowships offers 3 Fellowships of $4,000 each to emerging writers aged 16 years and over from the Greater Western Sydney region. Closing 9th October….
Jemimah Halbert’s TBR list
I divide my To Be Read lists into roughly long-term and short-term lists. My long-term list is far too long to write about here, but I will say that it includes such titles as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, and Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and…
Writing Opportunities for September 2017
Wollongong Writers Festival Short Story Prize 2017 This prize is awarded to a story up to 2,500 words on the theme ‘World-Changing Words’. The winning entry will receive $1,000 and publication in Mascara Literary Review. This competition is open to everyone, and entry is $15 to be paid via PayPal. Entries close 15th September. The…
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…
Review: Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh, reviewed by Jemimah Halbert
July’s Review is here! Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh A review by Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert Julie Koh’s first full-length collection of short stories, Portable Curiosities, is a strange journey through an unsettling landscape of curious characters in familiar but altered settings. A young girl’s third eye, located in her navel, sees the undetectable and impolite…
3 Ways I Trick Myself Into Writing More, by Jemimah Halbert
3 Ways I Trick Myself Into Writing More By Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert If you haven’t already read last month’s blog post I suggest you read it now. It covers the basics of defining where and how you write, and without knowing those elements it will be difficult to make any of the following tricks work. All…
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…
3 Simple Ways To Get Your Writing Started, by Jemimah Halbert
3 Simple Ways To Get Your Writing Started By Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert I’ve been an avid reader and regular writer for most of my life. I have kept diaries, journals, date books, notebooks, Word docs and blogs as ways to keep up regular writing, although there have been long stretches when I didn’t write much…
Underground is part of the WA Literary Youth Festival!
This Tuesday 11th April Underground Writers will be participating in a panel as part of the Literary Youth Festival in the Cultural Centre of Perth! The panel is entitledåÊLit. Laptops, and explores the field of online Podcasting and Blogging. The panel will discuss how they started their blogs and podcast, and share some of their…
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….
June’s Review: The Dressmaker (book), by Jemimah Halbert
June’s Review 12th June, 2016 Warning: this review contains slight spoilers A review by editor-in-chief Jemimah Halbert The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham is, at its simplest, an Australian Gothic novel. I read it in large chunks over a long weekend, becoming fully immersed in the dusty town of Dungatar, its gossiping inhabitants, and the story…