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Saturday 9 April 2011

'Hot Kitchen Snow', Susannah Rickards

Hot Kitchen snow Book LaunchHot Kitchen Snow, Susannah Rickards
Rickard's Scott Prize winning 'Hot Kitchen Snow' is a wonderfully varied collection of twenty stories. The opening story, 'Beau de l'Air' is about about secrets and compassion. Teenager, Euan receives an invitation to what he thinks is 'a Goth gig at the crematorium', but as the story unfolds the true nature of the invitation is revealed and the reader is left wondering how well people ever really know each other. 'Things Like Meat' begins with the line 'Wendy Norman was perfect' and Rickards doesn't disappoint as she peels back the layers of Wendy's imperfect life. 'Ultimate Satisfaction Everyday' is a delightful surprise of a story that resists an obvious ending, allowing door-to-door dog food dog food seller Greg to complete his search for the girl whose life he saved with his credibility as a character intact. My favourite stories are 'Life Pirates' a dense story in which the unsaid is significant, and 'Things Like Meat'.
Read a review of 'Hot Kitchen Snow' here.
I can't find any interviews with Rickards, she appears to prefer being the interviewer - but a piece of her writing about writing can be read here.

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