Regarded by many as Australia's most innovative writer of fiction, Gerald Murnane is largely known for such works as Tamarisk Row, The Plains, Inland Barley Patch and most recently, Border Districts. This collection brings together his shorter fictions for the first time. They include masterpieces like 'When the Mice Failed to Arrive', 'Stream System', 'Precious Bane', 'First Love', 'Emerald Blue', and 'The Interior of Gaaldine', a story which holds the key both to what writing fiction means for him, and to his decision to give it up, a decision that might have brought an end to his career as a writer. These works, most of which have been out of print for over twenty-five years, introduce the reader to the intricate contours of Murnane's imagination, the secrets that lie waiting in memory, and the disciplined and elaborate literary style by which he brings his discoveries to light. Yet for all the formality of his expression, there is no one to match Murnane in his sensitive portraits of parents, uncles and aunts, and children, and in his return to situations that contain anxiety, embarrassment or delight. Short stories, Australian. | Australian fiction. | Australian