My collection of satirical short stories, Playing Nice Was Getting Me Nowhere, is out now via Pink Shorts Press.
A riotous collection of ethical fever dreams from an internationally recognised master of the short form, Playing Nice Was Getting Me Nowhere is a book for anyone struggling to tell the difference between the news and satire.
Praise for Playing Nice Was Getting Me Nowhere
“Short stories so assured, bleak and uncannily prescient that they could have been written tomorrow” — Steph Harmon, The Guardian
“Inventive, devastating and vivid as fever-dreams…fans of George Saunders, Jennifer Egan and Wayne Marshall will devour these stories” — Rachael Mead, InDaily
“Cothren deftly builds possible futures that seem just a stone’s throw from our own” — Tamil Ellazam, Readings
“Contorts various aspects of contemporary Australia so that they are both recognisable and monstrous” – Jack Cameron Stanton, The Sydney Morning Herald
“Sharp and well-constructed, with some great insights.” – Sam Ryan, The Conversation
“Like looking in the mirror at a carnival funhouse. The reflections are odd and distorted, but the subject matter is real.” – The Australian Women’s Weekly
“Cothren’s satirical-slipstream scalpels slice into contemporary anxieties – like Black Mirror, but better.” – Sean Williams
“Each story is simultaneously unhinged and hits close to home … if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. Cothren’s satirical take on modern-day horrors feels refreshing, particularly when our overwrought social media habits and the 24-hour news cycle have left us strung out with empathy fatigue.” — Books+Publishing
“Reading Playing Nice Was Getting Me Nowhere is like wandering into a hall of mirrors. It’s weird, it’s funny and it’s heartbreaking, often all at the same time.” – James Bradley
“As enjoyable and strange as George Saunders, but with a sharper edge, these stories are the lively medicine your brain needs now.” – Jane Rawson
“This scintillating bunch of stories, both formally and thematically daring, are a savage indictment of where things stand. But, for all the mayhem, there are also moments of tremendous heart.” – Wayne Marshall
“Pure tragicomedy, with the dial turned up so far it’s broken off.” – Andrew Roff
alex cothren 