In 1997, the Howard Government, in keeping with the great Neoliberalist experiment, decided to privatise the Commonwealth Employment Service (or CES), which had been assisting job seekers since 1946. The CES was replaced by a Job Network of community, government and commercial agencies. The reasoning, as is usually the case…

Tyto Wroff slipped behind one of the enormous marble pillars that decorated the Palace forecourt. To his right were assembled the Elite Troops of Estinador, their brightly-coloured uniforms resplendent in the midnight sun. The Troops faced the Palace entrance, where their commander, General Eru Thart, stood alongside Estinador’s King, Ardo…

Like most phobias, arachnophobia makes no rational sense. But also like most phobias, the fear of spiders comes from some dark, hidden corner of the psyche. It’s primal. Just the suggestion of something hairy and eight-legged is enough to make the average arachnophobe gag, scream, or even leap out of…

About twenty years ago, I realised that I suffered from a terrible, debilitating, and seemingly rare affliction — a fear of gardening. It all began not long after my former partner and I bought our first house together. She had decided that we needed to upgrade the backyard. It was…

The mind is its own place, and in it self Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. John Milton I am always baffled by reactions of anger to news of a suicide. I can recall a work colleague once hurling books and papers around her desk when…

Figmund was a half-man, his head and upper body decidedly pig-like. Zandy was a Dark Rabbit, having left the Rabbit Colonies over ten years ago to seek her fortune. They met on Shefaz — the glittering centre of the Federation of Core Systems. He had just heisted several million splods…

Early one morning, in that blissful pre-alarm semi-sleep state, I heard a clucking outside my window. For a moment I thought I had dreamt the sound, but I opened my eyes, rolled over, and the sound persisted. The window is an arm’s length away from my bed; so I dragged…

Advice For Single Men of a Certain Age do not smile at children do not walk the streets alone unless dressed for sport or accompanied by a dog and if you must walk, walk hurriedly do not linger, especially near parks, playgrounds do not make eye contact with younger women do…

In Love With Nothing I can’t quite remember when I saw her first. It might have been in the reflection of a puddle of milk, or in the crystal glasses on the counter. Nevertheless, she was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen. Reluctantly, she gave me her name –…