cover_31Australian literature’s first fully interactive multimedia journal edition, and Going Down Swinging’s first foray into digital publishing, this is also the first offering from the editorial duo of Jessica Friedmann and Geoff Lemon.

GDS #31 goes way beyond the standard concept of the e-book, with a fully integrated multimedia publication: a stunning mix of film, animation, spoken word, illustration, photography, poetry, fiction and essay.

And if you’re just confused about what this whole ‘digital publishing’ malarkey means, get it explained at our blog, via ‘Steve Jobs is not my homeboy’.

This newest release from Going Down Swinging is also the first offering from new editors Jessica Friedmann and Geoff Lemon.
GDS #31 goes way beyond the standard concept of the e-book, with a fully integrated multimedia publication: a stunning mix of film, animation, spoken word, illustration, photography, poetry, fiction and essay.

Featuring artists from Australia, New York, Hawaii, and Russia, #31 has all the fun and spikiness that have become GDS trademarks over the years. In this issue:

  • Hear Rosanna Stevens translate Dorothy Porter’s poetry for the cello, then slice up her composition to discuss converting the written word to music.
  • Watch Jessica McCausland film and photograph the evolution of her commissioned cover image, from first sketches to final time-lapse creation.
  • See Vanessa Hughes’ richly-coloured short film collage, derived from an acclaimed one-woman stage play of Under Milk Wood.
  • Get educated, with Nick Marland’s ‘Selections from the Encyclopaedia of Notable Persons Never Born Due to Contraception’, and Vanessa Hutchinson’s ‘Every Girl’s Guide to Loving and Caring for Her Winged Horse.’
  • Read as Eric Yoshiaki Dando teaches hardened convicts to care for pea sprouts; Caitlin Thomson provides case files for missing Rapture vanishers; and Alex Skovron tells you why you shouldn’t climb the Empire State Building.
  • Let Valery Petrovskiy’s ‘Cloudberries’, straight from Russia’s Chuvash Republic, show you the ordinary in language both beautiful and surreal. Hear Grover Mapleton’s dictaphone capture the right bits of strangers’ conversations at the right time.
  • Eric Paul Shaffer sends wistful letters home from the edge of Hawaiian cliffs, while out there across the restless ocean, Sean M Whelan and Chloe Wilmott join with post-rock superstars The Interim Lovers as they take up their roles as The Siren and the Sailor.

With bright new short film from Lunabella Mrozik-Gawler, poetry from Cameron Fuller and Gemma Mahadeo, comic art from Zack Blackstone, and new illustrations throughout from Jessica McCausland, GDS #31 will find a way to please all comers, while only costing half a week’s worth of carbon tax. Check it out.

Published: Clifton Hill, Vic. Going Down Swinging, 2011


Technical requirements: The discrete .epub version of GDS #31 is designed to be read/viewed as an e-book via iPads and iPhones. It’s best viewed via the free iBooks app – just drop the book into your iTunes library, sync, and go.

For desktop/laptop users and Android users, we currently offer a web version of the anthology to be viewed in your browser.

#31 is now up for grabs for free – just use the password “Fight the Future” when prompted.