He walked into the lift, his head down.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Ann Dombroski for her editorial insights, and to all the talented writers who contributed to this collection. Thanks also to Johnny Temple and his team at Akashic Books, and to the city of Sydney.
About the Contributors
John Dale was born in Sydney. He is the author of seven books, including a memoir, Wild Life; a campus novel, Leaving Suzie Pye; a novella, Plenty; a true-crime biography, Huckstepp; and three crime novels: Dark Angel, The Dogs Are Barking, and Detective Work. He lives in Sydney with his wife and son.
Mark Dapin is the author of the highly praised military-police novel R&R. His debut novel, King of the Cross, won a Ned Kelly Award; his next, Spirit House, was long-listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. His short fiction has appeared in Meanjin, Best Australian Short Stories, and Penthouse. He lives in Sydney, where he makes a living as a journalist and screenwriter, including for the recent Wolf Creek 2 TV series.
Peter Doyle is the author of four novels and two collections of archival forensic photographs, City of Shadows and Crooks Like Us. He also writes about popular culture and music history, and has guest-curated a number of museum exhibitions, including Pulp Confidential and Suburban Noir. He is an active musician (slide and steel guitar) and works as an associate professor of media at Macquarie University, Sydney. His most recent novel is The Big Whatever.
Robert Drewe’s novels, short stories, and memoirs — Whipbird, The Drowner, Our Sunshine, The Shark Net, The Bay of Contented Men, and The Bodysurfers — have won national and international prizes, been widely translated, and adapted for film, television, radio, and theater around the world. Our Sunshine became the international film Ned Kelly, starring Heath Ledger, while The Shark Net and The Bodysurfers were adapted for ABC and BBC television miniseries.
Tom Gilling is a writer and journalist. Two of his novels, The Sooterkin and The Adventures of Miles and Isabel, were chosen by the New York Times as Notable Books of the Year. He has also cowritten several true-crime books.
Julie Koh is the author of Capital Misfits and Portable Curiosities, which was short-listed for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, the Steele Rudd Award, and a NSW Premier’s Literary Award. She is a 2017 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist and a member of Kanganoulipo. Her fiction has appeared in Best Australian Stories (2014–2017) and Best Australian Comedy Writing. “The Patternmaker” is the result of a collaboration with designer Rioko Tega.
Eleanor Limprecht is the author of two novels, What Was Left (short-listed for the 2014 ALS Gold Medal) and Long Bay. Her third novel, The Passengers, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2018. She writes contemporary and historical fiction, essays, book reviews, and short fiction. Her short stories have been included in Best Australian Stories, Sleepers Almanac, and Kill Your Darlings.
Gabrielle Lord’s first novel, Fortress, was adapted into a film starring Rachel Ward, and Whipping Boy was made into a movie for television. She has now published sixteen adult novels. Her YA series of seventeen books, Conspiracy 365, is an international success and a TV series. Her recent releases include the first book in a YA trilogy — 48 Hours — called The Vanishing, and the adult novel The Woman Who Loved God.
Philip McLaren is the author of: Sweet Water, Stolen Land (winner of the prestigious David Unaipon Award), Scream Black Murder (short-listed for the Ned Kelly Award), Lightning Mine, There’ll Be New Dreams, Utopia (winner of France’s Auteurs d’Ailleurs Award) and West of Eden. His work is translated and taught in universities across Europe, the US, and Australia. Both his parents are Kamilaroi First Nation Australians from Coonabarabran. McLaren was born in Redfern, Sydney.
P. M. Newton traveled to Mali after thirteen years in the NSW police to write about music; and India to study Buddhist philosophy. An award-winning author of two crime novels, The Old School and Beams Falling, her short fiction and essays have appeared in The Intervention Anthology, The Great Unknown, Seizure, Review of Australian Fiction, ABC’s The Drum, and Anne Summers Reports.
Peter Polites’s first book, Down the Hume, was published by Hachette in 2017. It is part queer, part noir, and all Western Sydney.
Leigh Redhead has worked as a deckhand, masseuse, exotic dancer, waitress, teacher, and apprentice chef. She is also the author of an award-winning crime series featuring stripper-turned-private-investigator Simone Kirsch: Peepshow, Rubdown, Cherry Pie, and Thrill City. Leigh is currently completing a PhD on Australian noir fiction and a noir novel set in an alternative community in rural Australia.
Mandy Sayer is an award-winning novelist and nonfiction writer. She lives in Sydney’s red-light district with her husband and two dogs. For more information, visit: mandysayer.com.
Kirsten Tranter is the author of three novels, most recently Hold, long-listed for the 2017 Miles Franklin Award. Her first novel, The Legacy, was a Kirkus Reviews debut novel of the year, short-listed for the ALS Gold Medal and the ABIA literary fiction award, and long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award. She is a cofounder of the Stella Prize. Raised in Sydney, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.