Published in Overland Issue Fiction in Lockdown · Fiction Fiction in Lockdown Elena Gomez How do you theme a fiction special that was created and pulled together in the depths of a global pandemic and severe lockdown? You don’t. You find a collection of talented writers and let them do what they do best. Thanks to the support of a Creative Victoria grant, this fiction special features a very talented selection of writers whose stories offer us a brief reprieve from the world we’ve all inhabited this year. This is not pandemic fiction but a collection of stories that offer provocations, immersive worlds, and the funny and strange parts of life that only art can reveal. These are stories that ask what it is to be human, and what it is to love, in ways that transcend global events. We are so grateful to the writers for creating and sharing their work during trying times, and for trusting us with their work. Dominic Amerena – Tender and Doomed Khalilah Okeke – Gilded Edges Vincent Silk – Red and Blue Flames Laura Stortenbeker – As Armour Khalid Warsame – Plumburn Read the rest of Fiction in Lockdown, edited by Elena Gomez If you enjoyed this special edition, subscribe and receive a year’s worth of print issues, the online magazine, special editions and discounted entry to our literary competitions Elena Gomez Elena Gomez is the author of Admit the Joyous Passion of Revolt (Puncher & Wattmann) and Body of Work (Cordite). She lives on unceded Wurundjeri country. More by Elena Gomez › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 1 November 2025 · Fiction The dumb bike: tenderness as the ramification of arcane physical labour Claire Stendell I wouldn’t say it’s an important job. I wouldn’t even say it’s a job that makes much sense at first. I’d describe it more as having the virtue of simplicity, of being relatively easy to do as long as you have the requisite ability to move and lift. It certainly isn’t rewarding in any conventional sense. Beyond the funds deposited into my bank account twice monthly, its larger economic benefit is, to me at least, quite unclear. 8 July 20258 July 2025 · Fiction Off Jo Langdon Christa has gone off me, and it’s all I try not to think about—packing angles of chopped watermelon into tupperware, filling our drink bottles, walking with Lila towards the park.
