Seventeen stories selected from the sixth annual Margaret River Short Story Competition. A truly national competition, contributors this year come from Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. Queenslander Laura Elvery's winning entry, Joiner Bay, is a tender story about running and suicide by a schoolboy in a coastal community. Second prize was awarded to Melbourne Writer Else Fitzgerald for Sheen, a sparkling science fiction story that asks questions about the crossroads of humanity and progress.