Ferocious Animals will remind you of who and what we are beneath all the cool digital interfaces: animals, burning with ferocity for a mouthful of life’s flesh. The thirteen stories in Luke Johnson’s debut collection do not shy away from life’s brutalities. Nor do they overlook those moments of genuine intimacy, humour and revelation that imbue the tragic with purpose and with pathos. Set in regional Australia in an era before mobile phones and the internet, these stories will remind you of who and what we are beneath all the cool digital interfaces: animals, burning with ferocity for a mouthful of life’s flesh. ‘These stories are compelling and memorable, every single one of them.’ —Debra Adelaide ‘A set of stories that...never lose sight of what matters most: the complexity of human nature.‘ —Anthony Macris ‘I love the emotional heart at the centre of Ferocious Animals. It is a book of great energy and tenderness.’ —Tony Birch ‘Reading Ferocious Animals made me want to walk out into the street and cry on the shoulders of strangers.’ —Luke Carman ‘At turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Johnson wields the narrative with the steadiest of hands.’ —Julia Prendergast ‘Johnson lucidly, deftly, offers a few narrative breadcrumbs, until there is nothing to do but to finish each story at all costs and then to wish that this book would not end.’ —Roanna Gonsalves