The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer: Shortlist 2004

Judges

Joel Becker (convenor), Garry Disher and Melanie Ostell

The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer is an important recognition of the need to encourage the replenishment of Victoria’s creative capacity. The judges read manuscripts provided by nearly fifty entrants. Many of the writers have previously been published in collections of short stories or involved in Victoria’s myriad of creative and professional writing programs.

The standard of the work was encouraging, with the judges working from a ‘long-list of 10’, before narrowing the field to five, then to the three short-listed titles. The judges felt there were several works that were perhaps one draft away from being candidates for the shortlist.

The judges believe that the three short-listed works are books that deserve serious consideration by publishers and we anticipatie seeing them in bookshops in the future.

Shortlist

You've Changed
Shalini Akhil
You’ve Changed tells, with breezy humour and a deceptively light touch, the story of two young Fijian Indian women in Melbourne.  Kesh enjoys a hard-won sense of privacy and independence from her family, especially her mother.  She studies feminist theory at university, drinks in inner-suburban pubs with Anglo friends, and has her own flat.  But she can never be truly independent: soon she's obliged, by her mother, to share her flat with Anu, a childhood friend and 'Bollywood beauty' from Fiji, who has come to Melbourne to study.  Anu, with her Hindi ways, will surely cramp Kesh's style.  But Anu both confirms and confounds everyone's expectations. Conflicts and misapprehensions arise, allowing the author to explore generational and cultural tensions and the persistence -- and mixed blessings -- of tradition.

Thai Died
Angela Savage
Jayne is a 30-something Australian expatriate working as a private detective in Bangkok. Over the years she has formed an intense friendship with Didier, a gay French-Canadian health worker. Within 24 hours, Didier’s boyfriend is brutally murdered, and Didier dies at the hands of the police. The police say that he was shot escaping capture, when accused of his lover’s murder. In Jayne’s attempt to clear Didier’s name, she embarks on a dangerous journey of deception, guile and courage, uncovering a trail of police corruption and a child sex racket that comes straight out of today’s headlines. Thai Died is both an engrossing crime thriller and an exploration of skewed notions of love, social responsibility and cultural superiority.

Deadly Force
Jarad W. Henry
Melbourne at night can be full of surprises: drug barons, partygoers, prostitution, masked assassins and death. McCauley is a good cop who has taken some knocks over the years. He’s under investigation a second time by the force and his marriage is in tatters. He has a lot to prove but can’t do it all by himself. The clues become more muddled as the underworld body count continues to grow. Constable Cassie Withers is assigned to assist McCauley and soon she starts to believe in him, which may just mean a fresh start for both of them. Full of double-dealing and double-crosses, this genre novel focuses on plot, though not at the expense of its main characters. McCauley is a full-fledged antihero and Cassie, a complex single woman in her thirties. There is great potential to develop these characters over a series.