Many years ago I was asked whether I thought you needed to make up new words to have new ideas, or whether you could just use existing ones. It is probably fair to say that only a kid could ask you a question like that, but perhaps more oddly, it was something that I had previously wondered about myself. I think the evidence is clear that you can have new ideas using just existing words, but I also think you must have to put them in new combinations or give them at least somewhat new individual or collective meanings.
The blank look the little girl gave me suggested my answer wasn’t what she expected, but if you go around asking questions like that, then no matter how old you may be, you have to accept whatever answer you get.
Anyway, the anecdote is for no more reason than as a way to start to talk about words. I like words, I like commas, and I have a tendency to like quite long sentences and short paragraphs. From here, you can jump to a few of the things I write.
The Tuesday Thursday Paradox is a collection of life lessons be published here in instalments, before hopefully hitting a wider audience. It’s a collection of observations and thoughts about how life works, which spontaneously fell into something like a book of instructions for a game. I know it’s not an original metaphor for life, but I hope the observations contain something new, or at least useful. They certainly work for me, which is how they came to be here of course. I’ll be putting each up here as a new short section every now and then (about half of them are here now). Each is just a 2-5 minute read. If you find it interesting or useful I would love to hear about it (or even if you don’t, I’m interested to hear that too!). Jump in now to read the intro.
My first full-length novel is The Great Biscotti Standoff, a slightly whimsical
urban fantasy novel that is a blend of sci-fi / action mystery / love story. Tim Black is a thrice-expelled ex-student whose instinctive sense of quantum physics enables him to build a device that can see around corners into overlapping universes where close copies of familiar people and places can unexpectedly be found. Large men with red beards, axes and an unhealthy obsession with biscotti are on the loose across several universes, and Tim’s best friend Adam Stanley has rather made himself a target by inadvertently claiming to be the best baker of the stuff on the planet, a seemingly innocuous role which turns out to be surprisingly in demand and dangerous. Luckily Adam’s mum has a fantastic hiding place in an abandoned underground hotel, and a strange working relationship with an obscure government security agency. Computers are stolen, pandas are insulted, doors are shattered, people are kidnapped – and in the end it would be a shame if someone didn’t end up with the girl given all their other troubles.
In 2023 this reached the point of printing some Beta Reader versions with my sister Diana’s fabulous artwork, and who knows – maybe in the next year or two I will find an agent or publisher. That’s the hope.
For fun, here is the original version of the first chapter. It has changed a lot now, but I kind of like keeping this version too, because it was the very first bit of it that I wrote.
Forthcoming Sequels: You can kiss the postman goodbye [in progress]; Revenge is best served cold – unlike instant noodles [aspirational]; Jacqueline [less likely then the postman one, but more likely than the noodles].
The Footy Almanac is a long time project of a good mate of mine, John Harms, and a bunch of other people in and around sports journalism. From 2008-2018 I contributed pieces to quite few of their annuals – reviews of every AFL game by the fans. The last few years the physical books have focused on the Premiers – and given I write as West Coast Dave at the Almanac, I got a few pieces in the Eagles 2018 Premiership edition. Sadly, not much since then!
Travel is a big thing in my life – as you will see in the photography galleries too. I’ve had the joy of being able to make a number of pretty big trips, and writing a travel blog to capture the experiences and feelings and places while they are fresh and real is a big part of the way I personally experience these places, and the rhythm and occasional stresses of the travel itself.
If you’re interested in what it was like for me to spend time in these places, then jump in and have a look and a read. Like all blogs, they finish up in reverse order at the end, so read them back to front for something like the linear version I experienced!
It looks optimistically like 2024-25 will be a big travel 12-18 months, so there should be three more blogs by mid-2025!
Everything in one place 