Jozefa opened her eyes. It wasn’t morning that woke her; it was the night, hard and too close. Weak light squished in through the one window. Above her head a low ceiling chopped at the wide curve of the galvanized steel roof. She could see everything. Her three-year-old sister slept on, curled and soft beside … More Wojtek’s Apprentice
Linda Jane became the person whose mother tried to kill herself when she was twelve years old. Just before she became that person she was hurrying home through the cold shadows of a winter twilight. Little bits of calm licked at the bilious residue of her weekly piano lesson. Like many females of a similar … More Linda Jane
The family was just the right size for a car, because a car has both front and back seats, and this family had two grown-ups and two children. It meant everyone had their own window. With mother and father, Val and Verdun, always in the front seat, daughters, Susan and Peg, would peer out at … More The Skoda
Time to give you another chapter. This is the chapter that starts my fantasy book. ( Well that’s the plan at the moment. As any writer will tell you, things change.) It all begins. CHAPTER ONE The Kand As she ran she grew her wings. It was not easy. First the major bones and muscle, … More Chapter One
For those who have been asking, here is a chapter from the fantasy novel I am writing. There are many story lines, this is the beginning of one of them. I have to confess I have been totally distracted by my new job of editing the AARE blog for the past month. But back into … More Sneak preview chapter
For those interested here is a video (thanks Alex Parker) of the speeches given at my retirement function. Speeches by Bill Shorten, Lila Mularczyk, Greg Whitby, Angelo Gavrielatos, John Hartigan, Shirley Alexander and me. PS I started writing for a living in 1988 not 1998 ( as I say a few times).
