Here are tales of service station hold-ups, random violence in elevators, shark attacks and road fatalities. Complete narratives, with well-drawn characters and plotlines all in 200 words or less. There are short pieces about supermarkets, computers and dogfights - all packed with emotional punch. Some describe quiet but no less significant moments: a child colouring in, a seagull stealing a chip. Some show us the magic of quotidian life - on trains, buses and in backyard gardens and nature strips. We gave them a single blank square of paper to fill. They flashed it with political satire, memorable lines, mordant observations, flights of fancy and heartbreaking descriptions.

'Cracking The Spine is the most innovative resource in Australian literature I have seen in many years. An anthology of contemporary short stories, each with a commentary by their authors, the collection breaks down the wall between the creative and discursive, the imagistic and the expository. Filled with cutting-edge, innovative writers and armed with an expansive definition of what it is to be an Australian, Cracking the Spine will be at once accessible to undergraduate students and informative and challenging for their teachers. What a thrill to see a work like this come about ' -Nicholas Birns, editor, ANTIPODES