The Gorgon Flower

A young woman is haunted by the disappearance of her grandmother, a brilliant mathematician whose research uncovered the basis for parallel universes. A botanist travels across the seas in search of an elusive, deadly flower that was also his late father’ s obsession. A talented painter produces his best work – unsettling masterpieces with strange, fantastical elements – years after he was last seen in person. In this gothic-inspired collection of stories, John Richards pushes the limits of what short fiction can be. With settings that range from rural France to medieval Italy to nineteenth-century Borneo, The Gorgon Flower is an impressively crafted, engrossing debut by a bold new writer.

John Richards was educated in the UK and lived in London and Singapore before settling in Brisbane. He was shortlisted for the Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Award in 2021 and the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer in August 2022. The Gorgon Flower is his first published work of fiction.

A Fall from Grace The Interventions The Gorgon Flower Jacksi Packsi Emanation The Wolf-boy of Ruggianto The Malumbra