Brett Evans

And he was a journalist.

He was a journalist and you can see his journalistic background in the short stories.

He was a feature writer.

He won a couple of Walkleys.

He's got a really good eye for a yarn and an interesting fact and a fact that explains things very succinctly.

So, you know, he uses all those skills.

And also, I really like his first lines.

I think I mentioned that earlier.

A good way of judging a short story is like, I think.

you know, grabbing your attention.

And that's a key lesson you learn in journalism, particularly feature writing, how you're going to get the audience straight away.

And maybe I can just read you the first paragraph line of my favourite story from the book, which is called Lavender Bay Noir.

"'One humid Sunday morning in February, when the scent of frangipanis hung heavily in the air, Brian Tasker stood in his yard overlooking Lavender Bay while his mother-in-law shaved his body.'

If you're not interested in finding out what that's all about, then you're not really interested in literature.

And, yeah, I thought that was a really great opening line.

That particular story does mix up kind of what you're talking about.

It's based on a story from Sydney back in the 1940s and 50s, and he's taken it and adapted it.

I don't know if you guys talk about rugby league very much on Bookshelf.

Not enough bread.

Not enough.