The Spit Children

Forty-three pieces of short fiction ranging from brief sentences to short stories.

“[They] could be dubbed the Janet Frame of contemporary Wellington theatre.”

— City Voice

“The man said to the other man, ‘Why have you done this?’ and first of all the man said, ‘I didn’t mean to,’ but later realised that he was lying. And so he rang him (the other man) up and explained this but the first man said, ‘No, you are lying again,’ and the man thought, ‘Well there is no point telling the truth no,’ so he punched him in the head and spat on his children.

This is the end of the story.
This is where you come into it for the first time:

you are the children who grow from the spit.”

The Spit Children is Jo Randerson’s first short-fiction volume, published by VUP in 2000.

This collection of prose poetry, poetry and other unnamed forms defies genre. Limited copies remaining.

Cover designed by Andrew Foster.

  • "Jo Randerson is a young writer with a wicked amount of intelligent wit in [their] head."

    — Capital Times

  • "[They] could be dubbed the Janet Frame of contemporary Wellington theatre. The same mockery of pretension, self-delusion, societal restriction."

    — City Voice

  • "A powerful collection that deserves to be more widely read."

    — Eleanor Toland, Goodreads

  • "Phenomenal, personable, 10 stars."

    — Jordan Oosterman, Goodreads

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The Keys to Hell
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Tales From the Netherworld