A Collection That Feels Like Real Life
When Pete Mitchell released Read My Shorts: A Collection of Short Fiction, it quickly found its way into the hands of readers who crave stories that feel honest, vibrant, and full of life. Winner of the 2025 Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival Flash Fiction Competition, Pete shows that small stories can carry huge emotional weight.
His latest collection shines a light on life’s quiet moments—the times we overlook, misunderstand, or take for granted. Pete’s stories turn the everyday into something worth examining. He writes about an accountant finding unexpected love at a heavy metal gig, a group of mates chatting over beers about where life has taken them, and even a futuristic world learning to survive without plastics. Each piece reveals how much beauty and absurdity hide in plain sight.
Read My Shorts blends humor and heart with ease. It’s playful, often funny, but also deeply moving. Pete’s writing feels natural, his dialogue effortless, and his pacing crisp. Readers come away feeling like they’ve spent time with real people—imperfect, curious, and searching for meaning.
A Writer Who Observes Before He Writes
Pete’s work stands out because of his gift for observation. He watches, listens, and captures. His characters are reflections of the world we live in—awkward, kind, selfish, hopeful, and sometimes lost. Each story feels like a brief encounter with someone who could easily exist outside the page.
The tone of the collection shifts gracefully from laughter to reflection. One story might make you chuckle at the absurdity of human behavior, while the next leaves you sitting in quiet thought.
You can feel his Australian roots in every story. The language, the rhythm, and the sense of place are distinctly tied to Boorloo (Perth) and its surroundings. Pete’s Australia is raw, grounded, and alive. The city streets and bush trails shape his characters and the choices they make.
The Man Behind the Stories
Pete Mitchell’s journey to fiction wasn’t a straight path. Based in Perth, he spent years working in science, managing Western Australia’s largest forensic laboratory. It’s easy to imagine how that experience sharpened his ability to see details others might miss. Moving from analyzing evidence to exploring imagination sounds like a leap, but it’s one that suits him perfectly. His analytical background gives structure to his creativity, while his curiosity fills the gaps that facts never could.
He’s a member of Writing WA and The Writers Collective, and his work has appeared in The Weekend Australian Magazine and Ultramarine Literary Review. His writing reflects a deep sense of empathy and a belief that every person’s story matters. He often credits his earlier jobs—door-to-door sales, retail, even chicken farming—for teaching him about resilience, humor, and the surprising nature of people. Those lessons echo throughout Read My Shorts, giving the stories their realism and warmth.
When Pete isn’t writing, he’s exploring the Australian bush, reading widely, or planning his next adventure. His love of travel and the natural world filters into his fiction, giving his settings a living, breathing quality. Readers can almost feel the sun on their shoulders, hear the crunch of gravel, or sense the quiet loneliness of a late-night walk home.
Why “Read My Shorts” Stays With You
At 203 pages, Read My Shorts proves that brevity can be powerful. Every story feels distilled—stripped down to the most essential emotions. There’s no filler, no wasted lines. Pete trusts his readers to keep up, to see the humor and heartbreak without heavy explanation.
Published in October 2025, the collection has quickly earned praise for its blend of warmth and wit. It’s the kind of book that reminds readers why short stories matter. They offer quick windows into worlds that feel both strange and familiar. Each story might take only a few minutes to read, but the feeling it leaves behind lingers for much longer.
Available on Kindle, paperback, and Goodreads, Read My Shorts is perfect for anyone who enjoys fiction that captures life in all its forms—messy, hopeful, and human. Pete’s storytelling feels honest, never forced, and filled with moments that make readers pause and think.
There’s a reviewer who summed it up perfectly: “A captivating collection of short stories that will take you on a wild ride through the human experience. I laughed and cried from the first page.” That’s exactly what Pete delivers—a ride through the highs and lows of existence, told with the clarity of someone who understands people deeply.
With Read My Shorts, Pete Mitchell reminds readers that life’s best stories are already happening all around us, waiting for someone to notice and write them down.
We had the privilege of interviewing the author. Here are excerpts from the interview:
Hi, thank you so much for joining us today! Please share your journey of becoming an author.
After a long career in science, including managing Western Australia’s largest forensic science laboratory, I’ve turned my focus to writing fiction. It’s been an exciting shift from analysing evidence to exploring imagination. Previous roles in door-to-door sales, retail and even chicken farming have provided a unique perspective.
What inspired you to write?
I first became interested in writing after helping a friend with his book. That experience lit a spark that eventually led to the successful debut of my first novel, Darwin’s Wake, published in 2022. My new collection, Read My Shorts, brings together some of my best short fiction written since then. I have since had my writing featured in The Weekend Australian Magazine, Ultramarine Literary Review and have taken off the Margaret River Writers Festival Prize for Short Fiction.
What are the strategies that helped you become successful in your journey?
Persistence and continuous learning have been essential, as well as surrounding myself with talented writers from all genres. And, of course, being a lifelong reader certainly helps.
What is your take on reading?
Reading takes you to other worlds and offers new perspectives. I always encourage people to read widely, passionately, and with an open heart. One of my favourite quotes sums it up beautifully:
“A man that doesn’t read lives only one life. A man that reads lives many.”
Where can readers learn more about you?
More about my work can be found on my website at petemitchell.com.au
Thank you so much, Pete, for giving us your precious time! We wish you all the best for your journey ahead!
