The folks who populate The Appendage Formerly Known as Your Left Arm are a motley crew—as colourful and sundry a collection of characters as ever turned up between two covers. You will meet Selenium Man, the Half-Girl, Perky One and Perky Two, the Broken Man, Frederick Nietzsche (not his real name), The Frog, the psychiatrist-with-the-hyphenated-name, and Eno the aging dragon who has an annoying habit of eating Evelyn Burtleby’s novels before she can finish them. In this offbeat treasury of tales, the author rummages around in the psyche of her characters—some of them patients, some medical professionals, and one who is both—all of them bogged down, to varying degrees, in emotional eddies of delusion, euphoria and/or mania as they search for their own version of reality.Julie Curwin’s clinical experience, superior intelligence and razor-sharp wit guarantees a great read as you tag along on these clever, sometimes farcical and always amusing jaunts into the unknown.

Julie Curwin's profile page

Julie Curwin is a psychiatrist who divides her time between Sydney and Boularderie Island, Cape Breton, where she lives with her husband Chris and a variety of furry friends. Her short stories have won numerous awards, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for World Backwards (2008) and the David Adams Richards Prize for a group of short stories. The Appendage Formerly Known as Your Left Arm is her first book.