Transference

Short story, 14 pages. Michael O’Neill moves to Brisbane, where he opens a karate studio. Suffering from insomnia when partner Azure leaves him, he seeks help from a psychiatrist, expecting to meet “some old git who looks like Sigmund Freud”. Dr West turns out to be young and beautiful, and bit by bit he begins to transfer his affections to her. By the time Azure returns, he’s become obsessed with Dr Adrianne West. 4,350 words.

Danielle de Valera is best known for her short stories, which have appeared in such diverse publications as Penthouse, Aurealis, and the Australian Women’s Weekly. She started writing poetry at thirteen (she was a moony child), and got her first taste of publication (albeit self-) when she and three other Year 11 students founded a high school magazine called By the Way, where she had a full page, 2-column spread of school gossip, which she wrote in the manner of the Hollywood columnists of the day, Hopper Hopper and Louella Parsons, complete with her own byline. Heady stuff in those days for a 16-year-old.

MagnifiCat, her first venture into indie publishing, is the result of her ongoing love affair with the far north coast of New South Wales, Australia, where she has lived since 1977. See Smashwords interview at: http://bit.ly/tigerbk

Location: Australia