The Enemy Line

Tomorrow, I have a new task. The lines are drawn, but I'm losing. I saw the enemy breach two main lines of defence. They were in the top cupboards, the ones sealed with rubber. And in the main living area, right next to the bedroom. One step takes them into the bedroom. And I am …

Sunday Salon

Book reviews of interest …

Times and Tides of a Beachwriter

I haven’t posted any reviews since last year… for a good while actually. All these reviews are on Goodreads, but I am still not having much luck with Amazon. I reviewed ‘Daddy Won’t Let Mom Drive…’ last year and Amazon rejected it. I submitted my review for Dog Bone Soup yesterday and the rejection email came back in ten minutes! The other two reviews I submitted today, but have yet to hear back.

I’m starting with the poems of Frank Prem, because the fires in Australia have been on all our minds. He has been posting new poems about living in fear and smoke and I have put a link to one of his recent blogs.

Devil In The Wind by Frank Prem

When I started reading Devil In The Wind I couldn’t have imagined that the latest fires in Australia were going to build up to the most terrible…

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What Can I Say?

Apart from the usual. I've been editing this story for so long, completed two other projects in between, decided to give up on it a few days ago -- which led to a long dream-session where I saw the finished product so clearly ... And all these other stories keep calling out to me, tempting …

Diaballein

It's my first attempt at an advertising banner. What do you think? What I think is that it might be a bit dark, the background too strong for the text, or the text is the wrong colour -- but what would a person who's effectively colour-blind know about it? Any comments will be used in …

Arrrrghh! Where did it go?

It's about Goodreads and Titles. Once bitten by the bug that makes things disappear into the ether, I've become a bit paranoid -- and no, it's not about a mosquito or other bitey. Slightly different, but still makes me feel sick. It's a regular habit -- I go looking for my books, and the books …

loss (of everything) and sleep

The aftermath is closer than we think …

Frank Prem Poetry

he said

well
I thought
I had enough
insurance

I’d covered the place
for more
than the cost
and I thought
for sure
that would be enough

but
it seems as though
it is never
quite as much
as you first thought

and
it seems as though
the costs
are always
more

the bank claimed
first
to get money back
for the mortgage

then
well
they change re-building rules
you know

just
to make things better

to make sure
houses in the bush
are built
much stronger
next time around

ha

ha
ha

as though
any kind of strong
could withstand
a fire
like this one was

anyway . . .

anyway . . .

I ended up
in debt again
then
I found my business
was in strife

no customers
no visitors

no tourists

for much too long

I had to leave it
behind

and the memories I hold

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Summer is Coming …

The old homestead needed more than a touch of TLC. It needed to be demolished and the ground razed and the black stumps chopped up and buried. Summer. Sandy hated summer. The heat, the flies, the extra feed for the animals. More water sucked from the stinky bore. She couldn't drink that water, she couldn't …

#Authorsforfireys – a fund raiser

For the Fireys #AUTHORSFORFIREYS

Frank Prem Poetry

I came across this wonderful initiative this morning and felt the immediate wish to participate.

A group of authors has banded together to create a twitter auction for signed books or other ‘author’ objects, with proceeds going to the Victorian Country Fire Authority (see the relevant website here: https://authorsforfireys.wixsite.com/website ).

I haven’t done anything like this before, but very much want to support this effort with a signed copy (or more) of my free verse poetry memoir Small Town Kid.

The link to my offer on Twitter is here.

I would welcome interest and bidding for my book r any other author offered book or object. The Twitter hashtag to look over offerings from other authors is: #AUTHORSFORFIREYS

If there is interest, I’ll look at auctioning more. Haven’t done this before.

Please feel free to share or otherwise pass on information about the Auction. It’s one of the few…

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Purpose

Short versions of deep stories, with no price attached -- shall I tell you about them? An aside: The Goodreads page is difficult to find. It's a lesson to storytellers -- make the title as close to unique as possible so readers can find it when they hear about it! Thanks, Li, for bringing this …

'Twas the Day After …

and the smoke from the fires in the hills roils the air like a fog. Most of the volunteers from our group/region went up to NSW to help out with their big fire/s (yes, multiple, but some joined up to make a bigger impact), so we had a few missing, and most of the others …