Published short stories by Georgina Luck:

Calving

Men would respect her, admire her, listen to her. They would not necessarily choose her. Because she couldn’t rely on anyone to take care of her, she would have to nurture herself.

Published in The Sky Falls Down: An Anthology of Loss edited by Gina Mercer & Terry Whitebeach (2019) and in Overland’s first eBook Women’s Work (2012).

Reviewed by Bethanie Blanchard on the Crikey Lit-icism blog: ‘I was particularly impressed with Georgina Luck’s luminous and affecting story ‘Calving.’ Luck writes beautifully…It was, for me, one of the stand-outs in the collection’.

Paul’s First Day

‘Your skills are undeniable,’ the trainer said. ‘But you’ve just died five times. You’ve been electrocuted, burnt, decapitated, gassed and probably run over.’ He shook his head. ‘Pauly, that’s got to be some sort of record.’

Published in Griffith REVIEW, Edition 26 (2009).

Awarded the inaugural Griffith REVIEW/Text Publishing Emerging Writers Award-Fiction.

The Last Babushka Doll

I looked at this woman who had nursed her husband with a smiling face until he could no longer lift his head from a pillow, who slept in a broom cupboard to give her husband a view of the mountains, who painted the same doll day after day to make her husband believe that she still lived a life outside his bedroom.

Published in the Margaret River Press Anthology ‘Things that are found in trees & other stories’ (2012).

Shortlisted in the 2012 Margaret River Press national short story competition.

The Mungo Stone

‘See this?’ the guide said. He pointed to a mound which came up to his shoulder. Its shape was vaguely human with stripes of clay; I imagined the sand would eventually blow away to reveal a red-haired woman who would shake her limbs and begin dusting off the other shapes around her.

Published in the 2016 SALA Short Stories Anthology

Shortlisted in the 2016 Sala Short Story Competition and the 2012 Perilous Adventures national short story competition.

Clutching the Butterfly Shawl

An hour earlier, the shards had still formed an exquisite natural sculpture hanging from the cave ceiling. Mineral-heavy water had flowed for millennia to create a delicate shawl structure, layered with rust to form bands of ochre, cream and crimson. The cave guides had christened it the Butterfly Shawl.

Published in Etchings, Issue 8 (2010).

Rip Under the Pines

At one stage Rip was lying under the pines, I was crossing the water and Myra was scaling down the rock. It felt as through we were versions of the same androgynous person rushing towards the end of a journey – Myra’s youth dancing down the rocks, my half-century ankles slipping on moss, Rip’s body giving out under the conifers.

Published in Southerly, Volume 69, Number 2, ‘Southerly at Seventy’ (2010).

Oberon

I have known my mind when it has nothing new left to consider and it is not calming, it is not enlightening, it is not connected to a deep spiritual wisdom. It is vicious, twisting back on itself like a razor-edged mobius strip, sloughing off chunks of humanity as it turns.

Published in the SALA Short Story Collection (2015) and longlisted in the ABR/Elizabeth Jolley National Short Story Award (2014)

That Agatha Christie Handbag Scene

Jules laughs. ‘Okay, so maybe you have to see the movie for it to make sense. But doesn’t that creep you out? The idea that everything is familiar but it’s shifted slightly, so you can never know where you really are. You could be lost forever.’

Published in Famous Reporter, Issue 31 (2005).

Arcadia Through The Camera Flash

I have spent my life dreaming about the stars in a room while my son-in-law had the guts to get out on the ocean and travel beneath them.

Published in The Broadkill Review, Volume 2, Issue 6 (2008).

Mikey’s Stanza Up The Rock

Mikey freezes halfway up the rock. It’s been happening for three weeks now, only this time there’s nothing to catch him if he falls.

Published in Overland, Issue 175 (2004).

Kendall’s Chronometer

He keeps the clock fifteen minutes slow. The idea came from an Agatha Christie novel. It’s based, he says, on a psychological principle.

Published in Woorilla, Issue 15 (2005).