The Last Free Man and Other Stories (2019)

by Lewis Woolston

The Last Free Man and Other Stories is sharp, personal short fiction borne of the Australian Outback. It is a study of the people who drift across that hostile and remote landscape and of their motivations, internal and external, for doing so.

Woolston is an emerging author with a talent for characterization. His vignettes range from superb (“Driftwood,” “The Failure”) to flat (“A Little Flat in Dover Court,” “The Family Farm”) but throughout each are genuine, tangible, fleshy people. Woolston’s prose is modern and accessible, unindulgent if at times self-conscious. Commas are rare.

You could call The Last Free Man “Australiana.” No victim of internationalized rootlessness, it leans into its setting and its cultural background unapologetically. This gives his stories a distinctive appeal: losers are universal but the Outback as an escape valve for a sick society is unique. Woolston explores this element adeptly and describes his position as a keen chronicler of woes in “The Failure”:

I took a few moments to try and digest what he’d told me. It was one of the best tales of woe I’ve ever heard and I’ve heard plenty in my time out bush so I consider myself an expert on tales of woe. There are always people coming out here who’ve done their dash and made a mess of their lives. That’s the thing about the Nullarbor; when you’ve made a dog’s breakfast of your life the highway will still take you. (pg. 66)

There’s an occasional raw immaturity that, while not altogether unexpected, shouldn’t go unmentioned. The first two stories (“The Last Free Man” and “The Last Madura Brumby”) provide a representative example. They share the same title format, central metaphor, and tone-setting adjectives like “laconic” and “free.” A strict but benevolent editor would have pushed to unify the two and the result would have been stronger than either one.

Down-and-out, local, and thoroughly human, this collection is perhaps a pastiche of The Stories of Breece D’J Pancake, Down Under. While far less polished, Woolston’s best stories echo Pancake’s in theme and execution, and many succeed just as the late West Virginian’s succeed. That Woolston is still writing gives cause for hope and I am excited to continue reading as he continues publishing.

Attribution: Yewenyi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons