The Umbrella's Shade and Other Award-winning Stories from the Stringybark Short Story Award

" Bubbling hot fudge breathes chocolate and caramel steam. Quivering white marshmallows nestle in dunes of crispy roasted coconut. Smooth layers of pink and white coconut ice settle beside transparent Turkish Delights, dusted with icing sugar. We arrange them in cardboard boxes, each lined with a paper doily."
— from 'Last Post' by Joanna Capelle

"His was an elegantly compelling courtship, a steady acquisition of herself that she was hardly conscious of. Her younger suitors had brashly assumed she would be grateful for their lusty attention, but not him. He knew the value of sweet flattery and honest admiration, of singing her praises openly until she could hear no other voice but his."
— from 'Black and White' by Kerry Cameron).

"Nowadays there were several varieties of lettuce on display at the greengrocery, long leaved, short leaved, frilly leaved and some that looked like seaweed. This one looked exactly like the ones his mother used to buy to put on his cheese and vegemite sandwiches, but his mother’s lettuces never said anything important to him, in fact they never spoke to him at all, not even telepathically."
— from 'The End is Nigh' by Raymond Southwell.

This unique anthology brings together 27 short stories from established and first-time writers. The themes are many and varied. They are united by a common passion and curiosity for exploring the Australian character and how Australia’s big, broad land affects those who live here. Dip your toe in and sample the very best entries in the Stringybark Short Story Award 2010 as selected by David Vernon, Gina Meyers and Andrew Perry.