Kate Liston-Mills' The Waterfowl Are Drunk! is a series of short stories set in the author’s hometown, Pambula, on New South Wales' far south coast. A fox stalks a nest of hatching swans, loving parents deal with their child’s Down syndrome diagnosis, a close-knit community mourns a death, a teenager is forced to give up an afternoon of surfing to spend time with her Nan. ‘Kate Liston-Mills’s lush but precise prose and fresh perspective gives this collection about the tough stuff of ordinary life immense energy, beauty and warmth. That she manages to get depth of character and intense sense of place in such a slim collection is a true wonder, as is her ability to show the inherent drama and tragedy of everyday life without every straying into sentimentality or bleakness.’ Emily Maguire