Book Launch at Tropical Writers' Festival.

In conversation at the Cairns Tropical Writers’ Festival with my two learned colleagues, Dr. Louise Henry and Dr. Elizabeth Smyth. Thanks for the memories. My Book Launch Speech for those who asked for it… On the surface, The 9th District tells a story about forbidden love between an immigrant cane cutter and the boss’s daughter, but at a deeper level it is a story about one man’s journey from…

View On WordPress

Discord in Paradise.

A Short Story… Wallabies nibbling the lawn were cute, but how many shots of cute creatures could you post in one day? Wallabies, ducks, and Tom. How much could friendship stand? Every post, every comment: Living the dream! You are so lucky to have escaped lockdown. I wanted to scream. I’m still in lockdown. Fewer comments on my posts now. I’m losing my edge. Out of sight, forgotten completely…

View On WordPress

Will Social Media Kill Art in Fiction?

What is art in fiction? Is it the subjective aesthetic appeal of a word, the rhythm, the structure, or the carefully crafted sentences that create a paragraph? Using another medium as a metaphor, is it the brushwork and colour choice? Is art in the composition or is it in the meaning conveyed? Painting and architecture calls for, among other things, a geometric design that reflects the golden…

View On WordPress

Greenwash

View On WordPress

The prologue in fiction is much maligned.

A prologue in fiction is often seen as taboo by novelists, at least those who engage in social media groups. I have even heard some reading-group-members complain, and claim they skip the prologue and go straight to chapter one. I must declare my bias upfront. I am a fan, but I also wanted to understand why the prologue has such a bad name. So, what is a prologue in fiction, and should it…

View On WordPress

Buy a book this Christmas

Buy a book this Christmas

View On WordPress

Becoming Helen

A gripping new WWII novel by Gillian Long If you enjoy Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, and Kate Quinn’s The Alice Networkyou will love Becoming Helen.

View On WordPress

Putin’s Ukraine Invasion

Where will it lead? What can we learn from history about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how will history remember this war? For several years, I have been deeply engaged in historical research for two historical novels about young Australians’ radicalisation and motivations to fight in the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. My research examines the Spanish war as a part of the lead-up to World…

View On WordPress

Left, Right, Socialism vs Libertarianism

Left, Right, Socialism vs Libertarianism

I have been doing research for my historical novel series Shadows. The first novel Shadows in the Cane is about the 1930s bitter industrial battles in the cane fields of North Queensland and deals with themes of class, race, and forbidden love. I base the story on real historical events and people, which leaves questions about how history repeats. The second novel (writing now) carries on from…

View On WordPress

Watershed

A novel by Gillian Long It’s the end of the 2020s and Australia is in the grip of an evil oligarchy. After three years’ service as a convicted conscript, Blake Lincoln comes home from the protracted and increasingly bloody Middle Eastern wars. Injured and fated for gallantry, he’s not the man he was, and he knows his greatest challenge will be to wrestle the country back from the grasp of evil…

View On WordPress

Jack Henry

Jack Henry was an exceptional man, and I have written a very brief account of him, published in Jacobin Magazine Here.

Jack Henry

Uncovering history in one’s own neck of the woodsis an exciting moment for a writer. Imagination takes flight, and a story hammers to get out. This was what happened to me when I stumbled across Jack in the archives, a historical figure who fired my imagination with…

View On WordPress

Quarantine - Day Fourteen

Quarantine – Day Fourteen

My bags are packed and I’m ready to go but still I must remain until a police officer will arrive to escort me from the hotel tomorrow morning when I fly home

I am certified Covid free so why, is the question I keep asking. The food gets worse and my patience wears thin.

New arrivals take up residence in the hall across the way and in the room next door. They are noisier than the last but…

View On WordPress

Quarantine Day Thirteen

I awoke this morning in a fuzzy state. Days and hours seem to merge in a grey blancmange of unendingness. I was late; the breakfast was late, and I hadn’t the motivation to get up. Eventually I dragged my reluctance with me to the bathroom. A refrain went through my mind like the old-fashioned gramophone needle, stuck in a groove. What if I can’t leave on Monday because I have Covid?

When I…

View On WordPress

Quarantine - Day Twelve

Quarantine – Day Twelve

Nearly there. Yesterday I had my Covid test. Eweeh-  it made me sneeze. One up the nostril the other down the throat.

The people who did the test arrived at my hotel door all kitted out in PPE, and placed a chair inside the doorway where I was to sit. They remained in the corridor. They had already tested 67 other hotel guests and I wish I had asked if they had changed their PPE before…

View On WordPress

Quarantine – Day Eleven Cleaning across the hallway. Only three more days and four more sleeps to go. Yay! Although I’ve run out of real coffee and am back to the black powdered stuff.

Quarantine - Day Ten

Quarantine – Day Ten

My Rental

Today I returned momentarily to the dark ages. It was a frightening experience. Whatever did we do without technology? Last night while watching London Spyon Netflix, my laptop without warning, crashed. There was no groan or sigh. There was no flutter of breath, no scream of anguish – nothing – the screen just went black and refused to flicker. I left it alone hoping that by some miracle…

View On WordPress

Quarantine – Day Nine

Quarantine – Day Nine

Fresh Linen

The first day of spring 2020 and I am over the hump, although I must admit yesterday was disappointing. The promised change of linen didn’t materialise, but this morning I found a bag outside my door. So perhaps my day eight and the hotel’s day eight are different ways of counting. I count tomorrow as day ten when I expect my Covid test. Perhaps if our counting is different, then I…

View On WordPress