Barry Lee Thompson

  • 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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  • Don’t miss the August 1 deadline for the American Writers Review contest

    Timely reminders from Margaret of Elwood Writers and the group itself that the window for submitting work to the American Writers Review (San Fedele Press) 2025 literary contest is shrinking alarmingly quickly. How did we get to the last third of July so quickly! But don’t fret, there’s still time to enter, even if you

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  • The podcast of Cover to Cover episode 548 – broadcast on Vision Australia Radio on Friday 25 October, repeated Sunday 27 October – is available (see above). The program is an Elwood Writers special, featuring work created and performed by members of the group, including myself. My contribution is ‘Haunting in Bandung’ (18 minutes into

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  • ‘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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  • The Writer

    I often used to sit with him while he worked on a story. I could say that all the while he was writing, but often he’d only be reading over something he’d already written. He took ages over the smallest detail. I’d be in the armchair by the window, reading a paperback novel I’d brought

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