The Best Australian Stories 2012is the country's premier annual collection of short fiction. This year sees Sonya Hartnett select thirty-two remarkable stories that roam widely in subject and style, but share 'a delicate complexity and a vibrant cleverness.' A travelling scout for a modern-day freak show meets a girl with a strange and wonderful gift. A winning lottery ticket tests the bonds of three mismatched siblings. A beast of burden offers an alternative account of Australian settlement. There is dark humour, stealthy and unsettling, and moments of terror, whimsy, romance and surprise. What unites them is a steadfast commitment to the storyteller's art - the art of making the reader want to turn the page. 'These stories are breath-takers, the ones which render nothing more important than discovering what happens next.' Sonya Hartnett Romy Ash, David Astle, Jon Bauer, Greg Bogaerts, James Bradley, David Brooks, Kevin Brophy, Liam Davison, Michael Dignand, Brooke Dunnell, David Francis, Matt Gabriel, Erin Gough, Alan Gould, Marion Halligan, Rebecca Harrison, Ashley Hay, Sarah Holland-Batt, Marin Lindsay, Eva Lomski, Anthony Lynch, Alex Miller, Zoe Norton Lodge, Meredi Ortega, A.S. Patric, Bram Presser, Sean Rabin, Emma Schwarcz, Kate Simonian, David Sornig, Chris Womersley, Eric Yoshiaki Dando