So, purchase the acclaimed Aussie YA novel from here.  It’s only $3.99.  It will do wonders for your book smarts.

And, as an added little bonus, why not get some insight into the collaborative process of the Brothers Groth via the younger BG, Simon.  Here’s a snippet:

We have tried collaboration before a few times. We tried taking alternate chapters. We tried taking on different characters. Nothing really worked and I consigned the whole endeavour to the ‘revisit one of these days’ file. Little did I know Darren was hatching his own variation on the concept.

What we eventually hit on was taking alternate drafts. The result was similar to writer-editor only with the editor taking a far more active role adding character layers and additional narrative. Our model was less ’50 per cent text each’ and something more like what Joel and Ethan Cohen do: share the writing credits where one or the other might take the lead on any individual project. Seems to work well for them. Why not us? We are already brothers after all.

Catch the rest of it at Simon’s fine online home.

The North American Kindle edition of the acclaimed Brothers Groth novel Concentrate – titled The Focus and the Freak – is now available.

Quality young adult/crossover writing for the price of a cup of coffee…What reader could ask for more?

Behold the covers for The Brothers Groth e-book, Concentrate and its North American edition, The Focus and the Freak.

Would you pay $3.99 each for these smoking jackets?  Of course not (unless you have taken leave of your senses and become Premier of Queensland).  So, to assuage your understandable frugality, we will very, very soon be attaching thousands of words to these jackets; words that, when read in sequence, form an exceptional story of loss, hope and heartfelt belief.

Until those words appear, feel free to stare at the pictures.

The Premier of my beloved home state of Queensland just killed the Literary Awards named after him.  Murdered them.  In cold blood.  No motive.  With extreme prejudice.  And he didn’t even try to deny it.  Didn’t ask for clemency.  Didn’t plead insanity.  I think most people would contend he probably enjoyed it.

So, what is the appropriate sentence?  What does a man so lacking in remorse deserve for the untimely and unnecessary demise of an important institution?

Well, nothing short of the death penalty in my opinion.  The sort of death penalty that can only be enforced by the state’s writing fraternity.  Death by a thousand paper cuts.

Yes, Campbell Newman must be knocked off in as many future novels as possible.

And, for the good of our authorly sensibilities, in as many ways as possible.  Stabbed on a poorly lit street corner.  Drowned in a freak speedboat capsize.  Attacked by a local legion of the ravenous undead.  Just as long as he ends up as lifeless as the Awards he consigned to the grave.

And what will be the good of it?  When the QPLA returns – rest assured, they will at some future date – those Can-Do RIP tomes will lift a few of the major gongs.  The joyous writers will owe a debt of gratitude to the Premier who selflessly gave his life so that they could achieve their well-deserved recognition.

I’d die to see that.

“Details! Details!” I hear you cry.  Well, here’s what I can tell you at this stage:

• It will be available in early April
• It will only be available as a Kindle and ePub book
• It will retail for not much
• It will have an accompanying U.S. edition titled Focus and The Freak

And, of course, you recall Concentrate was shortlisted in the prestigious Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing in 2009.  What’s that?  You don’t recall?!  Seriously, you call yourself a fan…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as an author – and let’s face it, this might be the only thing I’ve learned – it’s the ‘never dead’ principle.  A manuscript, a short story, a book that for all intents and purposes appears to have been pine-boxed can rise up out of the ground and zombie along into new momentum.

I’ve experienced this with pretty much all my work, most notably my second published book, Most Valuable Potential (I won’t go into the gory details – suffice to say I believed it deader than a canary in a toxic mine the day it was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards).  And just this week, Kindling joined the resuscitated ranks of its predecessors.

What gave it the kiss of life?  Nothing so dramatic as a major award shortlisting; just a very kind, very affecting, very passionate review from someone who read Kindling for the first time, eighteen months after its joyous birth and twelve months after its doleful passing.  It demonstrated to me once again that work out in the world makes its own way, in it’s own time.  It assured me there is an immortality to words an author commits to the page; an unceasing story pulse that may vary between frenetic and faint, but ultimately won’t ever fail.

It was a timely reminder of the ‘never dead’ principle.

A Cartoon by Tom Gauld

2012 is here!  And before the Mayan calendar ticks over to its ‘Have a Jolly Apocalypse’ day, I thought I’d add my published shorts to darrengroth.com:

Sunday Matinee
Sleeping With Lionel Richie
True Patriot Love
Sympathy Via Satellite

In the coming weeks, I’ll spotlight each of the stories, giving you a little background to their inspiration and execution.  For now, read and enjoy.  Oh, and feel free to let me know your favourite.

The draft of the second B-Gro work, Wake, is underway and promises more YA lit of the highest order.  Here’s a blurb:

Wake

The Brothers Groth

Skye Sandalford’s boyfriend, Clayton Drummond, is earmarked for greatness.  Nineteen years old and propelled by size eighteen feet, he is the prototype of a swimming prodigy.  But his destiny won’t only be defined by world records.  Powered by ‘Team Drum’ – comprising career-plotting mother, Blythe, God-fearing father, Ray, and an entourage of consultants – this good looking, articulate Aussie dubbed ‘Wake’ can transcend the boundaries of sport and fire the imagination of a world paralyzed by economic and environmental gloom.

Skye, herself a gifted visual artist, is in awe of Clayton’s talent.  But their relationship stands apart from the vagaries of fame and fortune.  She adores the gentle, unaffected, grounded soul that resides within the star.  She appreciates that he’s more comfortable in the pool than in the public eye.  She delights in capturing his oneness of spirit when he’s immersed in water.  She loves him and senses they’ll be together forever.  And, though Clayton’s meteoric rise puts physical distance between them, though outsiders question the maturity and motive of their bond, she knows he feels the same way.

Unlike true love, sameness of feeling is never guaranteed in life.  A terrifying car accident, caused by a speeding drunk-driver, leaves Clayton a paraplegic; without feeling below the waist, bereft of the limbs that assured his glorious future.  Amidst the devastation and disbelief, Skye is by his side – caring, comforting, constant.  As rehab ensues and a return home initiates the pretense of moving forward, Clayton’s silent sadness remains palpable – a state Blythe attributes to the heartbreak of shattered potential.  Skye, though, understands the truth: it is not a lost career for which her soulmate grieves, it is a lost connection.  The knowledge that he can never be whole again in his beloved medium of water.

And that knowledge looms large as ‘Team Drum’ attempts to resuscitate its charge’s focus and hunger through a record-breaking, ‘Wake The World’ charity swim from Cuba to the United States.  Skye is fearful, both of Clayton’s resurgent eagerness for the challenge, and of the mysterious physical changes that seem to be pervading his broken body.  She is hounded by the devastating thought that this will be her man’s final swim, that one way or another he will choose the water over life.  And as the support vessel hauls anchor from Havana, and Clayton, surrounded by the shark-proof cage, commences the one hundred and twelve mile swim that will see him remembered forever, Skye is faced with a choice:

Do I hold on to my one true love?

Or do I set him free?

Wake is an elemental story of unconditional love.  Combining the best aspects of magic realism and literary fiction in a young adult work, it contends that life’s riptides are no match for a resilient heart.

‘Authors Compare’ is a terrific new initiative created by the Australian Literature Review that gathers writers from across the globe into one cyber-room to provide their thoughts on technique, best practice and the publishing game experience.

To discover my gospel on story, narrative style and the debut novelist’s lot, click here.  And, if reading my ramblings isn’t enough for you, keep an eye out for the site’s analysis essay contest in future days.