North of Nowhere, South of Loss

North of Nowhere, South of Loss
Janette Turner Hospital

A brilliant collection of stories from the critically-acclaimed author of OYSTER and DUE PREPARATIONS FOR THE PLAGUE.Janette Tuner Hospital’s stories have won widespread acclaim for their intellectual depth and narrative energy. In these poignant stories, characters oscillate between estrangement and a sense of belonging.

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_6a356578-fc14-566c-9025-d680b1d5946c)

Fourth Estate

A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers

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www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Fourth Estate

Copyright © Janette Turner Hospital 2003

The right of Janette Turner Hospital to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007149308

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2016 ISBN: 9780007394869

Version: 2016-08-24

DEDICATION (#ulink_974188a4-e24a-58a8-ad26-cd49803b017b)

For Peter

1942–1998

In memoriam

CONTENTS

Cover (#ua5745849-1a03-58c0-92a2-eca260eb7dc6)

Title Page (#ufdee5ae2-5268-5e87-a98f-0abe7059cf66)

Copyright (#ulink_b10ca74a-caf2-510a-b1a2-fd4b0c620b1a)

Dedication (#ulink_faabd7c4-c1c9-55b7-9d89-e8f1032a5dff)

The Ocean of Brisbane (#ulink_9a9dc8a1-a807-5871-b7a1-a1a0286c87bd)

North of Nowhere (#ulink_e65dfc6f-50c2-5710-b58f-cc9b51c6b14d)

For Mr Voss or Occupant (#ulink_3e786f4f-601e-58f9-b3f0-a1907debe8ea)

Unperformed Experiments Have No Results (#litres_trial_promo)

Our Own Little Kakadu (#litres_trial_promo)

Cape Tribulation (#litres_trial_promo)

Flight (#litres_trial_promo)

Frames and Wonders (#litres_trial_promo)

Nativity (#litres_trial_promo)

Credit Repair (#litres_trial_promo)

South of Loss (#litres_trial_promo)

Night Train (#litres_trial_promo)

Litany for the Homeland (#litres_trial_promo)

The End-of-the-Line End-of-the-World Disco (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Other Books by (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

THE OCEAN OF BRISBANE (#ulink_7184d29b-cab0-5f9d-87b7-da4ffa2da275)

His voice came out of the black space between the two projectors. When a slide slipped off the wall, dropping into nowhere, the tiered funnel of the lecture theatre was so dark that the darkness seemed to rub itself against her, furry, like the legs of spiders. She shivered. Then a bubble of light would come, a coloured diagram or a photograph would appear on the screen straight ahead but below her, and words would unfold themselves on the other screen, the one that was angled across a corner of the room, high up, and therefore eye-level with the tier where she sat. She would see him then for a moment, shadowy, a juggler of ideas, images, impenetrable words, remote control buttons, a magician waving his arms in the twilight cast by the screens.

I watched her watching him.

She was trying to explain him to herself.

I watched how she held onto her own body, arms hugged tightly, and how she kept shivering (it looked like shivering) in the sweltering airless room.