The author of 'MEAN' and 'Hot Bible ' spins 16 new yarns. It's literary fiction, told by bad buggers. The theme of Spitshine is comparable to the mission of journalists: to 'Afflict the comfortable; comfort the afflicted.' Early reviews of 'Spitshine' responded to the book thus: "16 short stories from a writer considered one of the most original story writers of his generation in New Zealand. It is a generous selection of work: smart, wry, humorous and very stylish." - Patricia Prime, Takahe 86 "Heartbreaking and heartwarming. Like in his previous collection 'Mean, ' Botur uses authentic...

Bros, buds and bashings: fifteen fresh fables. Reviewers said: "These stories are energetic, often breathless, containing concrete detail, close observation, originality and power. Most of them use street language in a playful, or serious manner. The collection is peppered with expletives, topics about sex, drugs, viciousness and breaking the law. Botur's work might be seen to betray a debt to the tradition of modernism, the kind of luminous fluidity one finds in Rimbaud." - Patricia Prime, Takahe 84 "Mean is subtitled 'fables of bros, buds and bashings', and there is no shortage of accounts...