Stuart Barrow's writing had its beginnings in a voluminous e-mail correspondence, including a series of long and detailed e-mails to friends grumbling about life in Florida. Shortly after returning to Canberra, he started to write speculative short stories coloured in part by the surreal experience of working for the Australian Patents Office. His first story, 'The Department of Prayers and Petitions", was published in the US anthology Heaven and Hell, [ http://www.speculationpress.com/ourbooks.htm] with subsequent publications in AntipodeanSF, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Fables and Reflections and Elsewhere.