Barry Lee Thompson

the story behind the story

  • The story behind ‘Broken Rules’

    The story behind ‘Broken Rules’

    I heard a delightfully subversive lyric on community radio the other morning. Something like: I’m going to come to your house in the middle of the night and put a cigarette in your baby’s mouth. It got me thinking about a childhood event. My brother, a generation older than me, used to describe an occasion…

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  • The story behind ‘Fragrant’

    During one of my fellowship meetings with Carol Major at Varuna in 2016, it was suggested that I could write a brand new story, an upbeat tale to balance the overall tone of the sixteen existing stories in my collection Broken Rules. I rose to the challenge, and decided to write a personification of joy.…

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  • The story behind ‘Playful Arrangements’

    The story behind ‘Playful Arrangements’

    The seventh story in Broken Rules and Other Stories (Transit Lounge) is one of my personal favourites in terms of mood and atmosphere. An early version appeared in the Spring/Summer 2015 issue of Roomers magazine, where the theme was Music. I just had a cursory read of the opening and ending of both versions, and…

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  • The story behind ‘Phase’

    Here in the southern hemisphere, winter is beginning to give way to spring. Different flowers are blooming: while out walking, the heady scent of jasmine has hit me once or twice, drifting over a garden fence or down a laneway. And the sun is setting later, by about two minutes each night. And though I…

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  • The story behind ‘Gray’

    ‘Gray’ – the fifth story in Broken Rules and Other Stories (Transit Lounge, 2020) – tells the tale of an empathetic sex-worker and a new client, an elderly man whose financial circumstances preclude any further appointments. Once their session is over, instead of leaving, the worker accompanies the elderly man to the local park, where…

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