Last Thursday my new book Son of Death was officially launched at Readings bookshop in Carlton. There were blood-spattered cupcakes, skeleton outfits and lots of signed books. What follows is a photo essay of sorts, detailing the book launch and featuring some of my favourite snaps from the night. To begin with here is Leanne …
This is an article I wrote for the Readings blog last week. They’ve kindly allowed me to cross-post it here. Thanks Readings! A friend asked me recently why I’d written a novel about death for children. They asked with eyebrows raised, as if to suggest that the topic of death was surely not an appropriate …
As of today my new children’s novel Son of Death is out in the world, ready and waiting for the eyeballs of future readers. Happy publication day to me! In celebration I’m pleased to present the very first chapter of the book for you to read – right now, right here, totally free. All you have to do is keep …
I am so excited today that I might vomit. The reason for this excitement (and potential spew) is this announcement: I have a new book for young readers out in February. Woohoo! The book is called Son Of Death and here’s the cover: Son Of Death is the story of a fourteen-year-old called Sod who discovers that his …
Robin Klein was one of my favourite authors when I was a youngin’ and Hating Alison Ashley might just be my favourite of all her books. It’s a wonderful novel – a comedy really – featuring one of the great comic creations in Erica Yurken and her (mostly one-sided, but hugely entertaining) rivalry with Alison Ashley. …
For the past month I have been taking part in the Artists in Residence program at Caldera in Central Oregon. What that means is: some nice folks here have allowed me to live in one of their fancy A-frame cabins (as pictured below) for a month so I can Get Writing Done.
As a kid I loved all the Sherlock Holmes stories but it was the irresistibly mysterious novel The Hound of the Baskervilles that captivated me the most. The imagery of that menacing hound and the moors enveloped in mist have stayed with me ever since (although the answer to the whodunnit-style mystery faded in time – conveniently …
A while ago now I had an idea for a story. It would feature a character who was haunted by visions of a scabby black claw that climbed and clambered around the edges of doors, walls and other objects in his life. And each time this poor guy spotted the claw he would see it …
So it happened. Hordes of people covered the beaches. The moon covered the sun. And the clouds covered the eclipse. But only for a minute or so. In the end, we had a clear view of the total solar eclipse in Far North Queensland for one of the two minutes of totality. Did it live …