Foreword by Joe Haldeman

It is worth the time to get to know your local booksellers. When one of them gives you a call and tells you that you should really come in to see a new shipment, then you know that it is going to be worth the effort. Matt at Arty Bees called me about a set of second hand books that had come in which included a bunch of short story anthologies I might be interested in. I bought a little stack of books including three collections of Australian works. Older collections of Australian works that is. Distant Worlds Vol 4 edited by Paul Collins was published in 1981. It really is a distant world. The style of stories and even the names of the authors almost unrecognisable compared to what is coming out of the West Island these days.

It isn't unrecognisable in general though. Apart from a couple of mentions of Aussie cities, these 1980 Australian stories could have been written by American authors. American authors of the 1950s or 60s that is. Its as if the New Wave never happened down under. (Although perhaps it did in the late 90s). However before I draw any final conclusions about this, I'll read the other collections - perhaps a different editor may draw a different picture.