My father turned 70 earlier this year and, in keeping with a longstanding tradition of familial ‘burban’ (combo of bush and urban) poetry, I penned a little tribute:

‘The Net’.

It centres on the legendary cricket net Dad built for his eldest boy (that would be me) in our suburban Brisbane backyard.  It still stands today, some thirty years after the concrete slab was first poured.  Last year, during my little family’s return to Australia for the Kindling book tour, a small ‘inukshuk’ was erected beside the net to honour our Canadian links and watch over the Old Faithful.

Read it and raise a glass: To fathers, fantasies and fields of dreams!

The Net

We all sat around sharing a few beers
The Canucks and one lone Aussie lad
And a question was raised that pricked up our ears
What comes to mind when you think of your Dad?

As the answers poured forth, I must confess
There were too many memories of fun;
Coolum Beach, the Pope and shared Maroon stress
How could it be narrowed to just one?

Cryptic clues hinting treasure of a BMX bike,
Gaythorne’s last train docking bay;
There was the ‘Sheriff of Richmond’ patrolling the dike
And the ‘Blowfly’s wobbly jaunt the next day

Then one gem burned bright like a hinterland fire,
An epic surely penned by the Bard;
A bastion of dreams, a fort of desire:
The cricket net Dad built in our yard

Continue reading “My Dad and The Net” →

You can tell a lot about a writer’s stuff in ten pages.

Want to know where your stuff sits?

Ask the ‘Ten Page Sage’!

This special, limited-time-only mentorship service is suitable for beginners, emerging authors and Booker Prize winners (well, some of the ones I’ve read).  Perfect as a gift – for a birthday, bat mitzvah, wake, gender re-assignment or dishonourable discharge from the army.  Your special someone will be eternally grateful.

Interested?  Drop me an email:

choco_mcconaghy@yahoo.com

‘Are You Seeing Me?’ – Darren Groth

This adventure will have earth-shattering consequences…

The Richter twins are on a road trip.  Weeks from turning eighteen, they watched their beloved father, Dan, lose his battle with cancer.  Two years on, they remain defined by their symbiotic bond: sole, at-home carer, Justine; and disabled, extra-sensory Perry. But with Justine thinking of resuming her interrupted studies and Perry having been accepted into an assisted-living residence, their reliance on each other is set to shift.

Before they go their separate ways, the twins seek to create a gilded memory, embarking on a two week adventure in the Pacific Northwest.  For Perry, the trip is a glorious engagement of his favourite interests: mythical sea monsters, Jackie Chan movies and the study of earthquakes.  For Justine, it is a chance to reconcile the decision to ‘free’ her twin and offer long-absent mother Leonie – still single and living alone in Vancouver – the chance to atone for past wrongs.

The instability that has shaped their lives, though, will not subside.  Torturous tears result when Justine decides to end her relationship with boyfriend Marc, who’s back in Brisbane but wants to be heard.  A ruse perpetrated on the streets of Seattle sees Perry alone and distressed at the West Precinct police station.  In Vancouver, Leonie’s sincere but flawed efforts to connect with her children jeopardizes the family reunion.

Then the seismic event that Perry forewarned threatens to reduce all their worlds to rubble.

An ambitious and captivating story of humanity, Are You Seeing Me? is a timely portrayal of youthful courage in a shifting world, and reminds us our ultimate reliance on others is unshakeable.

Are You Seeing Me? is set for release with Random House Australia in August 2014.

So, my friend Angela Law – the inimitable Ange of All Trades – recently went galavanting across Europe and, for her reading pleasure, she packed a copy of Kindling.  

Not only did she devour the story over a two day stretch (and she assures me she loved it), she also took the little Aussie novel on some sight-seeing adventures: most notably in Amsterdam, Denmark and Italy.  To get a close-up of Ange’s ‘Kindling Tour’, click the photos above.

Now, let me ask the question: As Kindling nears its one year anniversary of release, can anyone add to Ange’s unique locales?

Get snappin!

 

The Taiwanese publication of Kindling (titled ‘Emerald Boy’…I really like that…) is now available and, though I’m sure the literary translator did a fine job, the Google translation back into English of the TW version is pure comedic gold.  Here’s a taste of Chapter One, originally written in Australian English, translated into Complex Chinese, then re-translated back into Google’s own warped vortex of the Queen’s tongue:

I pulled the door hard. 門鎖住了。 The door was locked. 理智衝破混亂的思緒，向我發聲： Break through the confusion of thoughts sensible to me voice:
他不可能在屋裡。 He can not in the house.
「基倫！」我大喊，手伸進口袋笨拙地摸索。 “Kieren!” I shouted, reached into his pocket awkwardly groping.
他沒有鑰匙。 He did not key.
「基倫！」 “Kieren!”
我開鎖、甩開門，手扒向電燈開關。 I lock, throw off the door, hand picking the light switch. 哪裡不對勁？ Wrong with you? 哪裡？ Where? 就算是再細微的變化也好──我在心裡祈禱。 Even subtle changes in re-Ye Hao ─ ─ I pray in my heart. 移動過的玩具？ Moved the toys? 扔在地上的抱枕？ On the floor of the pillow? 令他安心的小玩意兒有哪一樣不見了？ Make him feel at ease with which one small thing missing? 某樣東西、任何東西，只要能透露我兒子的蹤跡、移除哽在我喉頭的恐懼都好。 Something, anything, as long as my son said the trace, remove the fear of choking in my throat all good.

  Continue reading “Google Transmangulation” →

The Brothers Groth have teamed up to do a bit of good for once…

Myself and Simon have put together the smallest anthology in the history of literature to aid the flood victims of Queensland – a little gem called Surface Water. 

I’ve written a short memoir piece of the recent disaster from my rather distant vantage in Vancouver called Sympathy via Satellite.  Simon has contributed his brilliant story Twelve Years, One Month & Thirteen Days, a piece set in Brisbane’s last significant flood from 1974.

The PDF download via donation of Surface Water will be available exclusively from simongroth.com for a limited time only.

I do like a good title.  Not as much as a good story, of course, but I think it’s important to catch a reader’s ear with a strong tag; just as it’s vital to capture a reader’s eye with a striking front cover.  Thus, after a slight change in narrative direction and much hand-wringing over its implications, the working manuscript of The Mantle has a new name:

Finding Fault

To remind yourself of what it’s about you can click here and here.

BTW, the best title I ever came up with is for a story that is yet to see the light of day.  What is it, I hear you ask?  I’ll let you know if and when it ever gets done 😉 

 

For all those disciples of Steve Jobs, my work has now moved beyond the page and into the Apple ether.

For the very reasonable outlay of $12.99AU, you can now purchase the non-tree murdering version of  Kindling from the Australian iBookstore.

Of course, if you’d rather just keep playing ‘Angry Birds’, I completely understand…