Telling Stories

WINNER OF THE REED FICTION AWARD

Eric Dombey is wild, wacky and out of control; a prankster and practical joker with no respect for authority. But he isn’t real. He’s the creation of Steven Spalding, a mild-mannered civil servant who uses his fictional creation to take revenge on the world. But as Eric’s hilarious misadventures edge closer to Steven’s tragic real life, their paths become inextricably crossed – with uproarious and disturbing results.

“Clever and unpredictable … stimulating and entertaining.”
– Owen Marshall

"Cunningly plotted ... fiendishly twisted."
– Listener

"An absolutely splendid and entertaining book.”
–Quote, Unquote

"Witty, irreverent, satirical, outrageous."
–The Christchurch Press

"An exciting new voice in our literature.
–New Zealand Books

“Geoff Palmer ... plays realism off against post-modernism, as inept Steven Spalding is depicted transforming his increasingly dangerous misadventures into stories concerning the confident Eric Dombey, with the two finally becoming inextricably crossed, producing a book that can be read as both an implicit attack on post-modern moral relativism and a post-modern undermining of narrative certainty.”
–The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature, edited by Terry Sturm