Still Life with Allen Keys

"The best of Brien Cole's work is the story Morning Parrot Trees. And it is superb. The concreteness and fantasy of Fisher's search for the parrot flower are perfectly poised. This is imaginative writing of a high order. The technique is to take the reader inside the action and never let go. His skill lies in knowing what matters. Perhaps his most impressive characteristic is that he does know what matters and resists wasting words on unnecessary explanations. The best of these stories are mulled over and mature, every detail lovingly placed." - Rodney Hall, Sydney Morning Herald

"Brien Cole has the rare ability in a prose writer of handling flamboyant metaphors with credible panache, and rhythm avoiding the ponderous... We experience the casual interchange between fantasy and reality that distinguishes the best of Peter Carey's work - the insinuating reasonableness of the fable rather than simply gawking at the bizarre. Brien Cole's characters are impossible to place socially - blue collar fringe dwellers, bourgeois drop-outs... They communicate only haphazardly with their fellows, yet feel betrayed by nature. A fascinating collection both of characters and of stories. The most original I have encountered for some time." - Bill Turner, Imprint

"Brien Cole's collection of stories in Still Life with Allen Keys, speaks, reminding us of our humanity, frailty, and foibles. The stories are of people, everyday, and unusual characters, familiar and strange, living life, interacting, loving, fighting, trying to understand each other and themselves. A unique twist and an element of fantasy make some stories fresh and original, while others that portray the end of an affair or the trials of parenthood are familiar and heartfelt. The dialogue is at times seemingly sparse, yet the text is densely populated with rich, evocative description. It is a delight to read Cole's words as they create images as painterly as the cover art, immersing readers in word pictures, beautifully constructed with resonant phrases and lingering thoughts." - Prof Marion Milton, Adjunct Professor, University of Notre Dame, Australia, School of Education.