In these fourteen stories, Cameron Raynes traverses landscapes of regret, joy and redemption. In a country town, a woman plots to ruin her rival with an act steeped in racism. A welfare worker is asked to spy on a colleague. And in the award-winning title story, a taxi driver accepts a fare he knows he shouldn't:<br /><br />They headed east, the nude hills of the Geraldton plains, stripped of their trees a century before, leaning into them on both sides as the car climbed into the marginal country. Behind him, Luke heard the gurgle of fluid sluicing out of a bladder and into a cup, smelt the sweet stink of cheap wine. It occurred to him that it was not too late to turn back.<br /><br />'Reading the stories in Kerosene will put dirt under your fingernails. Raynes's vision is hard-edged and sometimes downright brutal yet it's studded with empathy, compassion and truth.' - Patrick Allington