"New Zealand is a very different place from six years ago, when this series began. The preoccupations of writers constantly shift from year to year and in this volume characters face such things as redundancy, global warming, leaky homes and over-population, but they deal with them in quirky, moving, humorous and shocking ways. This is a surprisingly uplifting collection, where love reigns supreme and characters do live happily ever after. Selected by Owen Marshall, these twenty stories introduce exciting new names as well as exhibit the recent work of some of our top writers: Norman Bilbrough, Aaron Blaker, Jennifer Compton, Marie Duncan, Laurence Fearnley, Sue Francis, Charlotte Grimshaw, Gay Johnson, Mike Johnson, Graeme Lay, Frankie McMillan, Kate Mahony, Andre Ngapo, Carl Nixon, Tina Shaw, Elizabeth Smither, Rebecca Styles, Vincent O'Sullivan, Campbell Taylor and Judith White"--Back cover.