It’s winter in Perth, so it’s cold by our spoiled standards, but the weather’s lovely up north at this time of year. So, when the West Australian government lifted the state’s internal COVID lockdown borders this month, we made a pilgrimage to the insanely beautiful places Val and Stella visited in Meet Me at the […]
No, that’s not a beach in the photo. It’s Wadi Rum in Jordan. I went looking for desert pictures and I couldn’t resist this one. What a beauty. It’s much more interesting than it should be to illustrate my theme, which is that the middle months of 2020 will be a world-wide literary desert. I […]
I flew in a plane for the very first time at the age of fifteen. The very last book I read before taking to the air was Unsafe at Any Height by Ralph Nader. It documented all the most famous commercial airline crashes in history to that point. So, as I stepped onto the Qantas […]
On a cruise last year, I got into it with a gun nut. Remember cruises? Before-COVID, children, we used to holiday on luxurious ocean liners. Last year we sailed from Rome to San Diego via the Panama Canal. Fantastic trip. No one got ill. We visited incredible places like Carthagena, Spain and Carthagena, Colombia. The […]
As a responsible, adult writer, I’m determined to lead the way on COVID-19 response. No jokes about Mexican beer here. We’re taking this pandemic seriously. Also, let’s be honest, that market was aced weeks ago with the fridge meme. This one’s pretty good too. I’ve been trying to work up something on Corona typewriters. Anyone […]
Writers don’t go on holiday. They just write somewhere else. This week it is Patong Beach, Phuket. Our visit is a small contribution to bolster the Thai tourist economy against the onslaught of coronavirus cancellations. That’s not entirely a joke. We’ve been here four or five times before, and I’ve never known it so quiet. […]
My beach of the week in the header photo is Puntaarena, Costa Rica It’s not the prettiest strip of sand I’ve ever wandered, but palm trees and all that jungle driftwood give it atmosphere. The tourist stalls were full of fabulous local craft. We bought beaded purses for the granddaughters. The locals were welcoming, the […]
Sebastien Ochoa, the main man in my action-adventure, The First Guerrilla, is nothing like Che Guevara. I hope that doesn’t disappoint you. It disappoints me. I really wanted to write a book about a guy like Che. The coolest of the cool for 1960s dropouts and cafe bar revolutionaries. I’ve been to Asia, the US […]
The First Guerrilla is in pre-order on Amazon. Buy it now for US90c – or whatever that is in your local currency. It will be delivered to your kindle on January 14.
It’s October, so Australia goes to daylight saving time. Well, half of it does. In Queensland and Western Australia we just plod on as normal. Believe it or not, despite four referendums on the subject – I only remember two but Facebook insists there were four, so that must be true – the debate about […]