Things We Didn't See Coming
2009 short story collection by Australian author Steven Amsterdam
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Things We Didn't See Coming is a 2009 short story collection by the Australian author Steven Amsterdam originally published by Sleepers Publishing.[1]
| |
| Author | Steven Amsterdam |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Short story collection |
| Publisher | Sleepers Publishing |
Publication date | 2009 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 174 pp. |
| Awards | 2009 The Age Book of the Year Award – Fiction, winner |
| ISBN | 9781740667012 |
It was the winner of the 2009 The Age Book of the Year Award – Fiction.[2]
The collection comprises nine inter-connected stories which follow one man over a period of three decades.[3]
Contents
- "What We Know Now"
- "The Theft That Got Me Here"
- "Dry Land"
- "Cakewalk"
- "Uses for Vinegar"
- "The Forest for the Trees"
- "Predisposed"
- "The Profit Motive"
- "Best Medicine"
Critical reception
Writing in Australian Book Review Rebecca Starford noted that "Amsterdam takes the well-worn premise of the post-millennial apocalypse and reworks it, creating a dystopia of catastrophic climate change, drug addiction, viral epidemics, alternative relationships and bureaucratic wrangling. It is a familiar world." She concluded that the collection is the "perfect combination of uncanny landscapes, existential anxiety and social critique."[4]
Publishing history
After the collection's initial publication by Sleepers Publishing in Australia in 2009,[1] it was republished as follows:
- Pantheon Books, USA, 2009[3]
- Harvill Secker, UK, 2010[3]
- Hachette Livre, Australia, 2016[5]
It was also translated into Dutch in 2010, and French in 2012.[3]
Awards
- 2009 The Age Book of the Year Award – Fiction, winner[2]
- 2009 The Age Book of the Year Award, winner[2]