Welcome to the Tall And True blog of a writer and podcaster, Robert Fairhead.

In addition to sharing posts on this website, Robert is a writer and editor at the Tall And True writers' website. He also writes and narrates episodes for the Tall And True Short Reads podcast, featuring his short stories, blog posts and other writing from Tall And True.

Robert's book reviews and other writing have appeared in print and online media. In 2020, he published his début collection of short stories, Both Sides of the Story. In 2021, he published his first twelve short stories for the Furious Fiction writing challenge, Twelve Furious Months, and in 2022, his second collection of Furious Fictions, Twelve More Furious Months. And in 2023, he published an anthology of his microfiction, Tall And True Microfiction.

You can follow Robert on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the Mastodon social media platform.

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A Dad and Son Road Trip

On Monday, 11 December 2023, my twenty-one-year-old son and I set off in his van on a 10-day, 4600-kilometre dad-and-son road trip from Sydney to Margaret River. We had planned the trip for over six months to spend Xmas/New Year with our WA family. And yet, I only had a vague idea of our route.

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More Time and a Ouija Board

My hearse is lost. I’d like to let the mourners know that, for once, this debacle is not my fault. But my spirit is tethered to my body until they lower the coffin into the grave and bury it. And communicating with the living would be difficult unless someone brings a Ouija board to the funeral.

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The Dismissal Paradox

On the steps of Parliament House on Remembrance Day, 11 November 1975, the Governor-General of Australia’s Official Secretary read a proclamation signed by Sir John Kerr dismissing Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s Labor government. When he had finished, Whitlam strode forward and delivered his response.

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Sci-fi or Speculative Fiction?

Zing and Zap’s flying saucer orbited the barren planet. “Why didn’t global warming galvanise them into action?” Zing asked. It seems they were too busy posting cat videos,” Zap replied. I wrote this 30-word story for September 2024’s #30Words30Days challenge on Twitter/X. Is it sci-fi or speculative fiction?

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A Five-Act Play on Humanity

Your William Shakespeare crafted clever lines with hidden meanings, like, “All the world’s a stage.” It’s as if he had insight into my five-act play on my pet subject, humanity. Act One: Earth is a Garden of Eden. A troop of apes descends from the trees and totters on two legs on the African savannah.

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Stolen Passions

Dad probably hoped to take his secrets to the grave, but a heart attack scuppered his plans. “Will you come back for the funeral, Aaron?” my sister, Becky, asked when she called with the news. “Yes, of course,” I replied. “And can you stay a few days to help Mum and me tidy up Dad’s stuff?”

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#30Words30Days September 2024

In September 2024, Danielle Baldock (@WritingDani) from the #WritingCommunity on Twitter/X ran her third #30Words30Days microfiction challenge for the year. She posted daily prompt words and invited writers to share our 30-word stories. As with the earlier challenges, it was fun and addictive!

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The Interview

I’m not anti-woke, but the interview line-up in reception for the call centre job looks like your typical twenty-first-century checklist to ensure unsuccessful applicants can’t sue the company for discrimination. For a start, the six serious candidates are split fifty-fifty between males and females.

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Tall And True Short Reads – My Speech

Episode 99 (17 September 2024): I’m getting too old for this. My speechwriter’s pulse quickens as the PM mounts the flag-decked stage, flanked by senior ministers and mining industry executives, to announce her government’s green coal plan. Panned by environmentalists and scientists, polling suggests it could be a vote winner … if the PM nails my speech.

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Tall And True Short Reads – For the Sake of a Story

Episode 98 (1 September 2024): The local dog club, where I volunteered as a trainer for twenty years, ran season-ending Fun Days with events like Fancy Dress, Agility Slalom, Waggliest Tail, and other novelty races that changed from year to year. One of my favourites was the Sack Race, where my dear old dog and I always placed third.

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Twin Souls in the Universe

If you thought about it, the process for selecting the first matter transference test pilot was archaic, although Mae considered it a lucky omen when she drew the Blue 15 raffle ticket. Blue, not pink, was her favourite colour as a girl, and at 15, Mae had decided she wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up.

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Tall And True Short Reads – You Have Been Warned

Episode 97 (14 August 2024): Excuse me, humanity, please pay attention. I have an urgent message. “What? Not in the middle of my reality TV show!” I’m sorry. I’ll be brief. But first, a little background. My message concerns the fate of a pale blue dot in the inky expanse of the universe. Beyond its fragile borders is vast nothingness.

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What’s in a Name?

Writers often comment on the difficulty of naming characters. But I didn’t have that problem with one of my earliest stories, which featured four children, sibling pairs, John and Wendy and Jack and Jane. Not very imaginative, I know, but I was ten when I wrote Sand Island, inspired by Enid Blyton.

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Tall And True Short Reads – The Light Above

Episode 96 (28 July 2024): I open my eyes, blink and try to focus on the bright lights set into the white ceiling flying past overhead. I hear beeps and muffled voices. It feels like I’m strapped to a camp stretcher, but it’s moving. I’m on a hospital gurney. What happened? I want to ask. But there’s a tube down my throat, and I can’t talk.

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The Good Sport

I arrive late for Josh’s athletics carnival. His mum and I attend school events on alternate years. “Tell Josh I’ll be there,” I’d said when she called to remind me about it. “Don’t let him down again, please,” she’d replied. The last event in Josh’s age group, the 1500 metres, is about to start.

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Reflecting on NAIDOC Week (2024)

I grew up in Perth, WA, in the 1960s and ’70s, with very little interest in Indigenous or Aboriginal issues. It wasn’t until I left Perth for Sydney in the early 1980s and then headed overseas to live in England from the late ’80s to the mid-’90s that I started to question the “true history” of Australia.

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Tall And True Short Reads – The White and Blue Niles

Episode 95 (9 July 2024): In 1987, my wife and I shouldered our backpacks and set off from Australia. The plan was to live and work overseas in England for two years, using it as a base for UK and wider world travels. And the widest of these were inspired by reading books like Alan Moorehead’s The White Nile and The Blue Nile.

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#30Words30Days June 2024

In April 2024, Danielle Baldock from the Twitter/X #WritingCommunity reprised the #30Words30Days microfiction challenge she’d run with Sumitra in April 2023. Danielle posted a daily prompt word to inspire us to write and share our 30-word stories. It was so much fun that we were all keen to do it again in June!

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Published November 2023

By definition, brevity is the key to good microfiction. There is no time for plot and character development, so every word must count. ~ Robert Fairhead

Tall And True Microfiction by Robert Fairhead
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Published September 2022

I hope readers enjoy the short story journeys in Twelve More Furious Months and make it home in time for dinner. ~ Robert Fairhead

Twelve More Furious Months by Robert Fairhead
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Published April 2021

I look forward to the Writer's Centre's monthly Furious Fiction competitions because I've become addicted to the escapism of writing short stories! ~ Robert Fairhead

Twelve Furious Months by Robert Fairhead
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Published March 2020

This slim book is hard to put down. And the only regret we may feel after reading it is that we reached the end too quickly! ~ Denise O'Hagan

Both Sides of the Story by Robert Fairhead
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There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. ~ Maya Angelou

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