Offshore Service
‘But I couldn’t go home just yet. I would not be a man in anyone’s eyes. That’s how I wound up working for Anton, servicing the coal ships stranded off the coast, those temporary islands.’—from ‘Offshore Service’
In Offshore Service and Other Stories, award-winning author Craig Cliff writes about the effects of choices made and choices avoided, and sometimes of having no choice at all. Young people cross the Tasman in both directions. Farmers search for purpose on holiday in Fiji. A well-heeled Dunedin suburb receives an influx of refugees. An Anzac Day barbecue lays bare uncomfortable truths. Parents age alarmingly – as do sons and daughters. The work we do – in every sphere of life – is always under the spotlight and never separate from pressing economic, cultural and climatic influences.
Playing out in recognisable settings in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific, these stories follow characters who find themselves beyond familiar shores, struggling to reconcile the passage of time, thwarted aspirations and unexpected responsibilities. What unfolds is explored with humour, heart and hopefulness through a mix of classic storytelling and innovative forms.
Offshore Service and Other Stories is a beautifully written and thoroughly readable collection about life here and now.
Craig Cliff
Craig Cliff is the author of the novels Nailing Down the Saint and The Mannequin Makers, and the story collection A Man Melting, which won the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. He has also published poetry, essays, newspaper columns and reviews. His work has been translated into German, Spanish and Romanian, and he participated in the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program in 2013. He was Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago in 2017 and now lives with his family in Ōtepoti Dunedin, where he works on sustainability issues at the University of Otago.
More About Craig Cliff