Dear Maggie

What value can an old man have, who no longer leaves his bed and seldom leaves his room located in the attic of his retirement home?

He’s irascible and impatient with his room-mate and any other residents who happen to call by his room.

Inside his head are memories which are alive. Life in a country town after migrating from Scotland at the age of five. Of his birth family he is the last man standing; there is no one who remembers things quite the way that he does. To Andy, his parents, his brothers and his cousins live on, if only in his memory.

For eighty years he lived a full life, but a runaway horse ten years ago, put a stop to his meanderings beside Sydney Harbour. He feels all but forgotten by all his own kith and kin who are busy living their own lives.

This might have been the end of his story, if not for the arrival of Maggie who inspires Andy to write again.

Daughter of Light

Kitty Katz’s mind is as crowded as Piccadilly Circus, the constant hubbub of conversation in her brain a relentless background to her own thoughts. Lying in hospital with concussion, a voice reaches out to her, forcing out the steady clamour of noise as it connects with her mind.

Dominic Peverell is a Guardian desperately seeking his soul twin to prevent his inevitable transformation into a demon. Dominic brings peace to Kitty’s chaotic mind – but he also brings danger. Unbeknown to Kitty, only she can prevent Dominic’s descent into darkness – and now evil forces have turned their attention towards her, intent on destroying her before she can save him.

Secretly shadowing Kitty is Dominic’s brother, Conan, a newly turned demon.  Kitty stands between the brothers and Conan is determined to destroy her.  However, Kitty is not as easily destroyed as he and his fellow demons assume…

Dante Fog

While other boys celebrated their raging hormones by scragging each other from one end of the sports field to the other, Angus Fog was the solitary figure that watched. While other boys played rugby in winter, tagged and bombed each other at the town pool in summer, he sat and did nothing because in his twelfth year, Angus lost his passion. He subconsciously suppressed the why and when the event took place but the repercussions would significantly impact his life.

Angus works for ten years as a theatre designer and builder in Wellington, New Zealand, before his mother, frustrated with his lack of artistic success, buys him a ticket to London. There he creates an alter-ego from the clique bohemian art world. He changes his appearance and name and becomes the successful artist, Dante Fog.

Dante’s initial subject matter is the beauty in other people’s childhoods. Later, he searches for beauty in the adult world but fails to find it, until he falls in love with Bronagh.

When Dante wakes on the floor of his studio hungover and fearing he may, in a jealous rage, have killed Bronagh or her suspected ‘new lover’ or both of them, the magnitude of that unknown childhood event resurfaces. Dante must return to New Zealand as Angus to uncover what he suppressed all those years ago.

Crab Apples

The Last Lady De’Ath is determined to keep her estates and villages as they have been for centuries. Her lion and tiger are not going anywhere either. She eventually theoretically sells out to a company that tells her they want to buy up historic sites, but all is not what it seems on the surface, neither in the villages nor in the company.

Battle lines are drawn at the Village Fete and war is waged in the High Court. The village and Lady De’Ath emerge triumphant as victory is based on hidden skills and by not judging books by their covers.

Cherry Pickers

18-year-old Bobby Kemp got to the ‘60s in time alright, no further than Leeds, and remembered all of it. What a year: school out and passed the 11+. So, being a white-collar worker for the council is his future. A steady job then, set for life. A steady girl, engagement, marriage, kids, house, car, pension. But steady on, is that all? He hasn’t done anything, yet.

His feeble rites of passage – steady as she goes, poop-poop, bleat – are dissed by a passing back-packing Californian, Ben Gaunt, who’s seeking his family roots near York. To Bobby’s ill-content at getting nowhere, slowly he offers, ‘It’s your life, man. Just go...’ And he does: he drops everything and goes on the road into the ‘60s.

Along this passage there are side alleys, little ginnels and dead ends, each with characters and their stories to walk with for a while, until he just goes...

Charlie and Charlene

This amazing book has been on its way for a number of years – I was urged on by my wife Wendy. “You should write that book,” she would say, “the world needs a laugh and a small child a giggle.”

This book is for all ages and it gives us all a laugh. A mixture of fact and fiction, human, wildlife and everyday happenings. 

Suddenly, we have a major change in the world, and with time on our hands, we can tidy the garden shed and have a makeover. 

Having a very intelligent 6-year-old great-granddaughter, this amazing book was inspired by me thinking that I should write to Lexi May to get her reaction. 

Bruny Island Girl

In the year 1879, William and Jane Burns from Durham, England, migrated to Newcastle, Australia, in the hope of finding a better life for themselves and their two children, Joseph, aged three, and Elizabeth, aged one. Stormy seas, interspersed with weeks of boredom, made their three-month-long voyage on the sailing ship, William Stonehouse, anything but pleasant. William, like his father, was a coal miner and found work easily in a Newcastle colliery. During this time, he befriended a German immigrant, Wilhelm Zschachner, and learned that a new coal discovery had been made in the state of Tasmania. The thought of moving to Tasmania was challenging to the Burns family now that they had two additional children. Nevertheless, they repacked their furniture and treasures brought out with them from England and moved to remote Bruny Island, off Tasmania's southeast coast. Here, they were true pioneers. Between working the new coal mine, William and his still-increasing family cleared a parcel of land on Coal Point and built themselves a cosy home from axe-split palings. Sadly, William died young after a rock fall at the mine, forcing Jane to become a midwife in order to keep the family together until they reached adulthood and married. Joyce - the 'Bruny Island Girl' - was born in 1899 to Louisa, one of Jane's daughters, and this book tells the story of her remarkable life on the island before marrying Cecil Cutcliffe. Max Cutcliffe is one of their sons and the author of this book.

Billy

Billy was very lucky to have been found and saved by the bin men. After being with the dog warden for quite some time and seeing all his friends get adopted he became very sad. Will Billy ever get adopted by the loving home he has dreamed of for so long now?

Australia We Didn’t See

A reception is being held at the prime minister’s official residence, The Lodge, to celebrate democratic multiculturalism in Australia, when a young guests suddenly attacks the prime minister.

Walking through the parkland to a jeweller to buy his wife a birthday present, the prime minister meets several seniors enjoying the sunshine. He also meets a man from Iraq who has no job but has been offered one by a terrorist group.

The prime minister also meets a young man who has a brother living in Bradford, England, connected to a formidable terrorist group responsible for terrorist acts all over Europe.

Trying to get his motorcade through a large crowd of protesters, the prime minister walks out to plead for access to his next appointment. A lunatic shoots for fun and hits him in the shoulder.

The story involves ASIO, terrorist recruitment, spy agencies and international connections.

Will the terrorists prevail? Will the prime minister survive?

Will China cause trouble next to an American Naval Base and RAAF Base?

All this, and much more, is revealed in this gripping political thriller.

Alexandra

Alexandra is a story set in a near future that is all-too-possible. Humans are changing the environment and ecology of the planet without thought to the consequences for the planet or human civilisation. Many civilisations have collapsed in the face of environmental change, and our current technology dependent society is also vulnerable despite the hubris of science and technology. The novel follows two young women who learn to cope in a world that changes completely in their lifetimes.

Alan’s Lesswilling Chronicles: the monologues of an unhappy man

Alan is trying hard to make sense of his world since his wife left him for Chuck in Morewilling and the local Co-op closed down.

21^st century technology is eating into his wallet and his soul, and the price of a night out doesn’t leave change from a tenner anymore. But he is sure about three things:

No one in Lesswilling needs a bidet or a hot tub.

There’s no place for preserved lemons on British supermarket shelves.

His mother was right about hindsight – it is a “wonderful thing to meet your own arse coming back.”

Abbie Brown: On the Cusp

Abbie Brown kicks off her 34^th year with an unexpected splash of fame: her Santorini vacation snap, featuring her in a vibrant yellow bikini atop a donkey, is plastered on billboards across London. (For clarity, the bikini is on Abbie, not the donkey!) Riding this wave of newfound celebrity, she lands a spot on Sir Giles Bromley’s BBC gardening show. Life seems perfect, until the universe serves her a slice of humble pie.

Navigating the chaos of single life (weighing in at 73kgs, if you must know), Abbie finds herself in the midst of an office medical drama, dealing with her nightmare flatmate Janice, and questioning if Rebecca truly is the refined acquaintance she seems. As for romance? Between George’s overbearing mother, Oliver’s youth, a married butcher, a BBC exec with a cringe-worthy habit, and the not-so-perfect ‘Peter Perfect,’ Abbie’s love life is a rollercoaster. Yet, she remains hopeful that her knight in shining armor is out there in the vast English countryside.

In the midst of it all, she gains a furry companion: Woofer, a lovable terrier with a quirky ear. Plus, there’s a promising spark with a dashing farmer from the Yorkshire Dales. The two are smitten. (We’re talking about Abbie and the farmer, not the dog, of course!)

But with Abbie’s track record, what could possibly go awry? Dive into a tale of unexpected fame, comedic misadventures, and the quest for true love.