Caution · Contains Small Parts

Caution: Contains Small Parts is an intimate, unsettling collection from award-winning author Kirstyn McDermott.

A creepy wooden dog that refuses to play dead.

A gifted crisis counsellor and the mysterious, melancholy girl she cannot seem to reach.

A once-successful fantasy author whose life has become a horror story - now with added unicorns.

An isolated woman whose obsession with sex dolls takes a harrowing, unexpected turn.

Four stories that will haunt you long after their final pages are turned.

‘Kirstyn McDermott’s prose is darkly magical, insidious and insistent. Once her words get under your skin, they are there to stay.’ - Angela Slatter, British Fantasy Award-winning author of Sourdough and Other Stories

Table of Contents

Introduction

What Amanda Wants

Horn

Caution: Contains Small Parts

The Home for Broken Dolls

**What Are the Twelve Planets?**

The Twelve Planets are twelve boutique collections by some of Australia’s finest short story writers. Varied across genre and style, each collection offers four short stories and a unique glimpse into worlds fashioned by some of our favourite storytellers. Each author has taken the brief of four stories and up to 40 000 words in their own direction. Some are quartet suites of linked stories. Others are tasters of the range and style of the writer. Each release will bring something unexpected to readers.

Nightsiders by Sue Isle

Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Thief of Lives by Lucy Sussex

Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti

Showtime by Narrelle M Harris

Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren

Cracklescape by Margo Lanagan

Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer

Caution: Contains Small Parts by Kirstyn McDermott

Secret Lives by Rosaleen Love

The Female Factory by Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter

Cherry Crow Children by Deborah Kalin