Rebecca Burns
1. Can you give us a brief synonpsis of each of your short stories in your new collection?
Sudden, shattering moments of realisation; creeping, gradual self-awareness - “Catching the Barramundi” is a collection of contemporary short stories charting the dichotomous processes of reassessment and reflection. The settings vary - the Australian Outback, a Dundee pub, tourist Spain, an abandoned town in northern Canada, a British factory town, a child’s bedroom – but the characters in each tale experience moments of introspection and self-scrutiny, quite out of step with their daily lives.
The collection comprises eleven stories, all of which have been published in online and print journals.
1. “Catching the Barramundi” (2200 words)
The title story of the collection, “Catching the Barramundi” follows Connie, living alone in an isolated store in Australia’s Northern Territory, following the death of her husband and the departure of her son. The arrival of Martyn, a scientist – there to catch the local barramundi – awakens in her repressed feelings about her past, her children, and her life ahead. The barramundi functions as a metaphor for Connie’s change in perspective. As Martyn informs her, it is a fish that changes sex when it gets to a certain age. Watching as Martyn catches a barramundi and kills it, Connie is repelled but attracted; just as the barramundi is drawn to a particular kind of bait, Connie is drawn to Martyn. Martyn’s arrival forces her to reassess the landscape and surroundings, and she begins to see the river as wild and untamed, rather than safe and predictable. She experiences loneliness for the first time and the story ends where she turns to Martyn for companionship.
2. “Snails on the Road” (1700 words)
This story addresses the nature and longevity of love, seen from a child’s perspective, and the fragility of the family unit. Jess, a teenager, has come to her grandmother’s home in Spain, accompanied by her mother and Toby, her disabled brother. Jess’s mother has recently separated from her husband following his affair with their son’s nurse, and her pain and the effect this incident has upon the family is portrayed through the metaphor of the snail. Slow to spot the affair, Jess’s mother retreats into a bedroom and refuses to communicate with the rest of the family. Her defences are shattered, but at the story’s end, her determination and strength have returned.
3. “Hades Landing” (2700 words)
This is a story about returning home and the oxymoronic fragility of foundations. Lance, a successful ice hockey player, returns home to Hades Landing, a town in Canada’s Northwest Territories where he was raised by his mother. The town has been recently bulldozed to the ground by a mining company, the main employer, and Lance has come to see the desolation. His profession as an ice hockey player characterises him; he lives life at a fast pace with little in the way of commitments keeping him in one place. But he is undone by the sight of his demolished old town and finds the reality difficult to process. Whilst in Hades Landing, he meets the sister of an old school friend. Jenny had left Hades Landing when she married; now, divorced, she has also come to look at the desolation of her home town and to make sense of it. Having recently recovered from cancer, Jenny seeks assurance from her environment and the flattening of Hades Landing reminds her that nothing is permanent. She shocks Lance by making him feel her chest, obliterated by a mastectomy; making him touch her is her reminder that she has survived. But the moment is too much for Lance – he is unable to offer her any comfort, despite Jenny being the object of a schoolboy crush. The story ends where Lance gets back into his car, ready to drive to the airport, but overwhelmed by the recent experience.
4. “The Mirror Man” (2400 words)
This is a story about perception and the individual’s search for a truthful identity. Denise, or Denny as she is known, is a disenchanted doctoral student, who is visiting her brother in Dundee. After a pub crawl, they finish their night in a local pub, where Sim (Simon) adopts the persona of an urban, hip student. Sympathetic to the insecurities prompting this facade, Denny says nothing to deflate his ego and spies a man in the bar that she recognises. This man was once in a pop group popular with Denny and her friends, called “The Mirror Men”, and is now much older and seedier. Working up the courage to speak to him, Denny tries to adopt a persona of her own as a sexually alluring woman, but finds it difficult to maintain. The aged pop star also proves to be a disappointment, and his real, lecherous personality is as distorted as the concave mirror behind the bar. This discovery prompt’s Denny’s realisation that a person’s identity is a complicated, discursive construct. The story ends with Denny becoming determined to be honest about her own identity and personality, notably her lesbian identity.
5. “Loving Enid” (2400 words)
A love story, “Loving Enid” charts the development of a relationship and the tenderness of the mundane. Written in the present tense in order to convey the immediacy of the love a husband feels for his wife, “Loving Enid” is divided into sections, each exploring key moments in their lives together. From their first meeting, to their honeymoon, to the birth of their child, Enid continues to intrigue and inspire Gary. They are neither dynamic nor trend-setting; nonetheless, they luxuriate in the intensity of their love and the sweetness of being together. The story ends with the revelation that Enid has died; the story is thus a memory and Gary’s attempt to reclaim the precious moments of their shared lives.
6. “The Night of the Fox” (2000 words)
A story about the desire to belong and a child’s yearning to be treasured. Albie and Archie, grieving and unsettled after their parents’ separation, discover their father’s old tent and decide to camp out in the back garden. Their mother is detached and disinterested in her sons, and the tent becomes their small retreat from a painful reality.
A neighbour warns the boys about a mother fox and her cubs living at the end of their garden; as the boys settle down for the night, the foxes appear. Physically close, watchful of each other, the foxes are a tight unit, with the mother caring for her cubs in a way that Albie and Archie’s own mother does not. Albie, the youngest, does not recognise the danger the animals pose. He reaches out to stroke them and is almost bitten; Archie pulls him clear and is himself bitten by the female fox anxious to defend her cubs. The story ends where Albie screams for his father to help – but his father has moved out and has a new family. That realisation is Archie’s last thought as he faints.
7. “A Room for Freya” (1500 words)
A story that charts the resistance and gradual acceptance of a mother and father, confronted with the knowledge that their daughter is nearing the end of her life. This truth, however, only becomes apparent at the end of the story. Catherine and Owen are preparing their spare room for Freya’s arrival; her husband has left her and it initially appears that they are helping to sort through her belongings. However, it becomes clear that Freya is coming home from the hospice. Catherine, desperate to nurse her daughter back to health, makes plans to decorate so to improve Freya’s spirits. Owen is more pragmatic and reticent; he gently challenges his wife, leading her towards an acceptance of Freya’s terminal illness. Their differing approaches, though, puts their own relationship under strain. Owen, finally, plucks up the courage to confront head-on Catherine’s inability to face the facts of Freya’s illness. A difficult moment for them both, the story ends with a new understanding and a hint at a thaw in relations between the two.
8. “Philip Turpin Gets a Girl” (1000 words)
This short piece is an evocative imagining of life in a factory town. Unspoken resentments, unarticulated rules by which the community lives; these are the silent lines controlling the lives and interactions of the factory workers, including the eponymous Philip Turpin. The arrival of a Polish woman shakes the equilibrium; Magda refuses to adhere to the social dictates and, through her passionate encounter with Philip, shows him that a different sort of life is possible. They embark upon a brief but satisfying relationship. It eventually fails however, when Magda is drawn back to her own world and restrictive societal rules. Philip, left alone, is unable to articulate his grief, and falls back into silence.
9. “Island Honeymoon” (2200 words)
An exploration of love and grief. Kate and Andy come to a Scottish Hebridian island for their honeymoon, though the story reveals that their holiday is more of an escape than a romantic encounter. Kate is grief-stricken and withdrawn following the recent death of her sister; Andy, desperate to help but unsure how to sooth her, feels rejected and frustrated. They walk on the beach and Andy’s discovery of cockles evokes memories of a happier past – time spent with his grandfather and his loving embrace. The memory contrasts sharply with the frigid distance of his new wife. The image of a Broch – a stone tower built by ancient Hebridians – is a metaphor for their relationship. Stuck, immovable in her grief, Kate sears inside from her sense of responsibility at her sister’s death, just as the Brochs were heated by winter fires within their walls. Andy is entranced by the Broch and, just as he longs to break down Kate’s defences, he is keen to explore the Scottish citadel. Their holiday is an attempt to reclaim the special, secret heart of their love.
10. “The Butterfly” (1700 words)
An exploration of a family’s fragility, made weak by unspoken resentments and secrets. Gemma and her family visit a butterfly farm where tensions between relatives become clear. Gemma and her mother have a symbiotic, loving bond, which is in sharp contrast to her fracturous relationship with her husband:
Howard can’t understand their closeness, grumbles when Margaret appears on their doorstep. He dislikes the unannounced visits and is repelled by wet teabags left on the sink. “Can’t you clean up after her?” he mutters as he carries them to the bin with his fingertips. Now he is up ahead, stooped over an exhibit. His mouth is squashed to one side. He‘s bored, Gemma thinks, and is pleased.
As the story develops, it becomes apparent that the family holds a secret, which causes friction. Gemma sister is being beaten by her partner – Gemma wants the subject to be laid bare and discussed, whilst her mother prefers to maintain silence on the subject. The butterfly is a metaphor for the issue; Gemma wants to pull the wings of the issue apart and resents the fact her sister has retreated into herself, cocoon-like. The danger in such openness becomes clear, however, when her infant son grabs a butterfly. He squashes it within his toddler fist – Gemma’s instinct to make the staff aware is suppressed by her mother and husband, who quickly cover the episode up. Although differing in opinion about the handling of Gemma’s sister and her violent partner, Howard and Margaret share their desire to hide the indiscretion of the child.
11. “Painting the Hay Bales” (2800 words)
A story about distance between family members. Michael, self-centred, wealthy, and unable to commit to his girlfriend, receives a call from his father, a Norfolk farmer. Michael had left the farm for London years before; his father informs him that the farm has suffered a fire, which consumed the barn and hay-bales. Michael’s father has called to share the news with his son and seek comfort, but Michael’s first response is to offer cash to help. His father points out that the loss is more emotional than financial; Michael’s mother used to decorate the plastic hay-bales, painting sea-scapes and jungle scenes. Painting the hay-bales was Michael’s mother’s way of representing her isolation and feeling of being trapped; Michael, who was able to escape, feels a sudden and unexpected rush of sympathy for her. His father is also empathetic; this shared sorrow for Michael’s mother leads to the injection of tenderness in the relationship between father and son. The story ends hopefully, with Michael’s dawning emotional awareness, and a new willingness to commit emotionally to his girlfriend.
2. Where did you inspirtion come from for these stories?
Lots of different places - a first line that popped into my head, reading about an abandoned town (accidentally came across it online), my sister-in-law's house in Spain being infested with snails...and so on. Ideas spring up unexpectedly and sit for a while before I dig them out and spin a story.
3.Why did you choose to write short stories rather than a novel?
I like the technicality of short stories. Making every word count, creating the illusion of a world beyond the text; I enjoy the tautness of the short story form. I am working on a novel at the moment, and find that working on short stories at the same time helps to sharpen my pen.
4. Tell us about your writing background.
I've always written, right from the age of eight, when I wrote my own version of the Famous Five based on my little gang of friends. I wrote until I went to university, when the fiction tapered off and I started working on my Ph.D. However, once the Ph.D. was completed, I was able to return to fiction. In fact, the research I undertook for my doctorate provided a great deal of inspiration. I researched the lives of non-Maori settler women in New Zealand, and have written another collection of short stories inspired by their experiences. They were extremely isolated in their new homes and I drew upon the cultural clash they experienced. I hope to find this particular collection a home as well; it's a work I'm proud of.
5. Which writers have been the greatest influence in your writing career?
I'd say that the writer that has influenced me the most is Anthony Doerr. He is spectacular. His sentences are beautifully pitched and he is able to create the sweetest, most heartbreaking of worlds in short flashes of brilliance.
6. Which authors do you most like to read? My tastes have changed over time, but I particuarly enjoy reading Hilary Mantel, David Malouf, Helen Dunmore, Alice Munro and Carol Shields.
7. What is the common link between your stories and why did you choose this? The stories in "Catching the Barramundi" are linked together by a creeping, gradual, self-awareness. The stories chart the dichotomous process of reassessment and reflection, moving forward and looking back. The settings very - the Australian Outback, a Dundee pub, tourist Spain, an abandoned town in northern Canada, a British factory town, a child’s bedroom – but the characters in each tale experience moments of introspection and self-scrutiny, quite out of step with their daily lives. This kind of introspection interests me and I wanted each character I created to challenge the certainty of the world around them.
8. What is next for you?
I will be working on my novel, working on a new collection of short stories, and looking to find a home for my New Zealand stories.
9. Can you tell us about an average day in your world?
Writing comes further down the list of priorities than I'd like, I'm afraid. I'm married and a mum, so the kids needs come first. I do a lot of running around to school, nursery, clubs, and then find time to hack out a few paragraphs in the evening. I sit on the Steering Committee of a local writer's group so attend meetings where I can - and I love a good pub quiz!
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