Mum and some of his friends published his poems in a book that was always around the house when I was little. When I was 11 or 12 I found a suitcase of all his drafts — those scraps of paper and notebooks that most writers have. I think seeing that process, a whole suitcase filled with process, and knowing about the final product of the book had a big influence on me. I started writing poetry using sort of the language he used.
So there was this kid poetry — often written in texta — with this adult man imagery. It makes for pretty strange and interesting reading. I guess poetry taught me how to look at the world — and then I found prose.
Your book is a collection of short stories set in Cambodia. Did you set about from the start to publish a collection of short stories? Or did you write one story at a time and start to see the connections? I actually started off writing an historical novel about the 60s surf rock music scene that was rocking Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge. After a while I realised that I was working on a collection and that this was the only structure that would allow me to say what I wanted to say.
The novel is in there though! Did it start off as a holiday? I first went to Cambodia as a volunteer aid worker in Phnom Penh, and Cambodia, was really doing pretty well by then — a lot of people had adjusted to independence from the UN and there were facilities in place, roads and mobile phone services, cafes etc. Cambodian people were reviving traditions and doing incredible things with education.
I got a job working up in the remote north and expats told me stories about how all the aid workers used to meet every Friday night as a rule so that they would know everyone was still alive and not lost or shot somewhere out in the jungle.
Still, I was completely bowled over by the levels of poverty, the lack of infrastructure, the corruption and the violence. I saw a man using his chin to cross a busy road in Phnom Penh because that was what he had left to use. I knew that behind the polite and smiling exterior that most tourists experience on a holiday, the levels of domestic violence were and possibly still are astronomical.
I was repulsed by the things I said and the assumptions I made and the way I acted. I realised I was billionaire-rich because I was from a location in the world and of a race and had a passport that meant I would probably be looked after. I think I was singing the song to myself in when I was taking a break from writing and realised that the lyrics of that song written in still applied, that I had experienced a version of what Jello Biafra was describing, and that Holiday in Cambodia was the title for my book.
Everything and nothing. I love that every time I write I have to solve a series of problems and if I do that I can handle most things. You know? How did you go about getting the book published? I sent it to one publisher before it was ready and that was a mistake. I imagined they would see what I envisioned for it and instead they, understandably, saw what I gave them. I got some truly lovely feedback and only one shitty rejection.
I admired the hell out of their books already so it was exciting but also it felt just right. You set yourself the challenging goal of writing from many character perspectives, both Cambodian and traveller. How did you research the Cambodian characters in particular? And how did you check that the writing seemed true?
I think every short story or every piece of writing needs to be treated as unique, something with its own needs that might be vastly different from the previous story I wrote. Often I would write a story from one perspective and change it in the next draft. Someone would get jealous about a real or perceived affair and would buy acid from the market for a few dollars and throw it on the face of their partner or the person they thought their partner was with.
I wanted to juxtapose that with the culturally awful things that Westerners do. I did a Masters degree researching stories written about Cambodia by Cambodian and non-Cambodian writers. I also used my experiences, showed some stories to friends in Cambodia and generally sought advice. I worked with a great writing group in Phnom Penh who were so encouraging and inspiring.
One of the stories I wrote was published in Nou Hach literary journal in Phnom Penh — that felt really good. Having said that, the stories are fiction. Do you have a writing community where you live? Do you like the company of other writers when working on drafts, or are you someone who prefers to go it alone? My partner, Tom Doig, is also a writer and last year we started our PhDs and moved to Portarlington, a bay-side town on the Bellarine Peninsula.
We did that so we could write and to write we needed to be in a place where we knew no one. I have actively resisted making friends here. Before that we were living in a unit in Brunswick overlooking our concrete car space and we were pathologically social. Sometimes I think I was drawn to short stories because I could get one out in a couple of writing sessions and still go to the thing I had on that night. But I also want to write novels and a quiet town with the bay out the window is the company I need at the moment.
Now my writing community is more formal. I miss my friends and family, though, and go into the city to hug them when I can. I was so shy. Which authors have been instrumental to your own reading and writing?
Same with Lorrie Moore. Gritty realist literary fiction with a dystopian edge is probably the book shelf I would gravitate towards in the ultimate bookshop! Knowing writers like Romy Ash and Anna Krien and seeing their work develop and their books come out has been amazing.
This list could change completely tomorrow. This is what has influenced me today. Jan 12, Angela rated it really liked it Shelves: fiction , short-stories. Laura Jean McKay is a fabulous young Australian author whose personality and experience spill from the pages of this short story collection.
She is approachable and kind as a teacher, not to mention knowledgeable in her approach to creative writing. The stories in this book focus on Cambodia and it's goings-on, whether it be in the lives of locals, tourists or those who find themselves in this complicated land for Laura Jean McKay is a fabulous young Australian author whose personality and experience spill from the pages of this short story collection.
I would have given it five stars but I found that I didn't connect emotionally with many of the stories as some of the points being made seemed slightly weak and could have been further developed. Overall, a proud addition to Australian Short Story writing.
Nov 25, Tina rated it it was ok. I was so excited to read this book. The title is taken from a Dead Kennedys song - can't go wrong there. And I travelled to Cambodia a few years back and really loved the country and the people.
Unfortunately, I found the book disappointing though. I've never been a huge fan of short stories. The re-recording of this song that appears on Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is different from the single version, being fifty-five seconds longer, at a higher tempo and featuring an extended, surf -influenced intro, as well as an extended bridge and guitar solo. While the original lyrics include the satirically quoted word "niggers", subsequent performances by the reformed Dead Kennedys post, without vocalist Jello Biafra and various other artists who have recorded the song over the years have omitted it substituting other words in its place.
In performances over the years with other groups, Biafra has often used "blacks". Template:Citation needed The song also mentions the Dr. Seuss short story " The Sneetches ".
In October , Biafra was sued by former members of Dead Kennedys. Menu Shop Search Sale. Features Advertisement. Alex Young. Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit. Load More. Consequence Current story. Search for Search. A leader can call themselves whatever they want e. Hitler keeping the name of the Nazi party , but calling yourself something don't make it so. I am curious.
What did Pol Pot do that made him a misunderstood leader? General Comment You guys are interpreting this song incorrectly at least partially. The first half of the song is critical of "trust-fund radicals" who posture at being supportive or sympathetic to radical revolutionaries in places like Cambodia, because it's safe for them to do so from the warm cocoon of their upper-class, American liberal arts academic life.
JB is saying that these college hipster types only know about revolutions through books and that they would piss themselves if they actually took a "Holiday in Cambodia" and had to give up their comfortable western lifestyle to see what revolution looks like in real life. My friend was forced to fight for the Khmer Rouge when he was a young boy and after his grandparent's home was set on fire and the town ransacked.
He didn't learn humility; rather, he leared how to fear and how to slaughter. Thankfully, one night he escaped alone leaving behind his best friend for fear of snitching and made his way into a neighboring country where U. The Khmer Rouge were brutal thugs The word "humility" shouldn't be used in the same sentence as their group name.
It's an interesting song I agree with carolinahaze above - but I think rolypolyw-w has tapped into the anticommunist strand of the text as well. The hypocrisy of the idealist college Lefties is exposed for the privileged posing that it is - and is then eclipsed by the brutal reality of the Pol Pot regime trying to coerce Marxist theory into practice. Eric Boucher, from bucolic Boulder CO, seems to believe in pure anarchist agitation.
He is like the "useful idiots" used by Communist and Fascist thugs alike to rise to power on a wave of mayhem and civil unrest "Burn it all down baby! Smash the state! Bedtime for Democracy! Jello wrote some great lyrics and his band rocked - but, like a cheap vintage wine, he does not age well. Radicalism, no matter who advocates it is inherently dangerous. This song warns of what can happen when you try to overthrow systems that work.
It asks the listener sincerely whether they wish to live in Capitalist America with it's few faults or Communist Cambodia, the genocidal dictatorship. I think the message of this song can be summed up with this Churchill quote: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. General Comment I like what you guys are saying, but I have my own little spin to add.
When Jello sings about rich, over-educated urban types with only the vaguest notion of what it's like to be poor and marginalized, and then sings about Cambodia, I think he's talking about how the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities of anyone with an education, money, etc. I think he's saying that while that was awful for them, there's quite a few people in the U. No Replies Log in to reply. General Comment oops Punk was a reaction against the spaced-out hippie culture that was rampant in middle to upper-class youth and college students during the 60s and somewhat 70s.
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