Monthly Archives: March 2012

APRIL FOOLS DAY: SPAGHETTI TREES AND FLYING PENGUINS

Posted on March 31, 2012 by [email protected]

It’s April Fools Day on Sunday. I’m warning you now so you can be alert. Jokes from friends or family are bad enough - but it’s the major broadcasters who are worst. In Britain, one of the most famous April … Continue reading →

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WE ARE NOT ALONE

Posted on March 27, 2012 by [email protected]

The last five days I’ve been at a writer’s festival about an hour’s flight from Sydney. They worked me like a dog and made me walk to work every day. But before you feel too sorry for me, I only … Continue reading →

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EXTRACT FROM ‘BITTER MOON LANE’

Posted on March 22, 2012 by [email protected]

Broome’s native and European settlements were clustered on either side of a headland known as Buccaneer Rock. On one side of the town the tin and asbestos buildings of Chinatown huddled between the mile-long jetty and the mangrove swamps. On … Continue reading →

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DON’T BLEACH AND IRON YOUR WORK

Posted on March 20, 2012 by [email protected]

Today I’m delighted to welcome Alice McKenna Johnson, who’s going to talk about how to write characters from different cultural backgrounds. Alica writes about “snarky girls, kind boys, and the adults trying to keep them alive.” After day dreaming for … Continue reading →

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STAR WARS CANTEEN

Posted on March 18, 2012 by [email protected]

There’s no moral to this one. I just laughed out loud when I saw it. If you like Lego and Star Wars, what’s not to like? Be warned, Darth Vader has terrible language off camera. The stress is clearly getting … Continue reading →

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HOW IRISH ARE YOU? THE SAINT PADDY’S DAY QUIZ

Posted on March 16, 2012 by [email protected]

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick’ Day; the day when anyone with even the vaguest Irish affiliation exaggerates it beyond belief as an excuse to take a day off work and drink themselves under the table. This year they have been partly … Continue reading →

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A BETTER MAN: THE STORY BEHIND CHICAGO’S AIRPORT

Posted on March 14, 2012 by [email protected]

On Wednesday, November 8, 1939, a 46 year old man left his office at Sportsman’s Park in Cicero, and drove away in a black 1939 Lincoln Zephyr coupe. At the intersection of Ogden and Rockwell, a dark sedan roared up … Continue reading →

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extract from my Nook First choice, VENOM

Posted on March 12, 2012 by [email protected]

Saigon, 1968 Tet, the Lunar New Year. For the Vietnamese it was the year’s major festival, like Christmas and Easter packed into four days. Not only this, the Vietnamese do not celebrate individual birthdays; at Tet, everyone becomes one year … Continue reading →

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THE BUNNY THAT HERDS SHEEP

Posted on March 11, 2012 by [email protected]

He has the body of a bunny - but the heart of a lion. He really doesn’t know that he wasn’t born to do this. There’s a lesson here for all of us. If you think you can, you can. … Continue reading →

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NOT TONIGHT JOSÉPHINE

Posted on March 9, 2012 by [email protected]

“I awake full of you. Your image and the memory of last night’s intoxicating pleasures has left no rest to my senses.” Napoléon Bonaparte will be remembered as one of history’s greatest generals; yet the one victory that seemed always … Continue reading →

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