The Lonely Australian of the Asian Night, Gregory Pakis

A short story, THE LONELY AUSTRALIAN OF THE ASIAN NIGHT packs a punch in a few pages. With the proviso that you're going to be spending some time in the head of a deeply miserable bloke - one who was a boxer, a grafter and a bit of a loser to be honest. In Melbourne, in his teens, he'd been a chancer, then was a boxer with a bit of promise. But the gym he went to closed, and he slid. Back into nothing, a bit of petty crime, some standover work, and a life on the run from Melbourne.

Running as far as Asia he tried India and hated it, tried Vietnam and couldn't settle, Thailand and now Siem Riep in Cambodia. Dive hotels, hostels, pinching stuff from unsuspecting tourists, not above roughing up the occasional one for cash, he's floating. Sitting in a room in the not worst hotel he's ever been in, hiding out from Interpol, the local police, and himself to be honest, the story takes you deep into the mind of a man who has no idea what he's doing or why. 

Short, concise, a character study of misery and poor choices in 7 pages, THE LONELY AUSTRALIAN is dark, hopeless, compelling and discomforting. And then it ends. With the reader and the central character, Paul, wondering exactly here he's going from here, or how he's going to get there.