September 21, 2018
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Navel Gazing
Authors, Books, Brothers Grimm, Brothers Groth, Fabulism, Fairytales, Fiction, Infinite Blue, Literature, Magic Realism, Novels, Writing, YA, YALit
Infinite Blue — a collaboration between myself and younger brother cum San Francisco Giants tragic, Simon Groth — has now officially hit the shelves. As this little fabulist novella makes its way into readers’ hands, I thought I might provide some insight into the IB inspiration we derived from our brothers-from-another-mother: Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm.
It’s short.
Despite what Disney would have you believe, The Brothers Grimm fairytales were brief affairs. So brief they crammed 86 tales into the first edition collection. We weren’t into that level of abbreviation — IB comes in at just under 180 pages — but we did want to honour the Grimm tradition of concise legend.
It’s archetypal.
Characters in IB, though contemporary in construct, should still call to mind those populating the pages of Grimm lore. The Caregiver, The Hero, The Villain, The Mentor, The Sage, The Jester, The Orphan. Even water — our constant presence and ‘shadow narrator’ — could be tagged as The Ruler, perhaps even The Lover.
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April 24, 2017
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Fireproof Garage Podcast
Authors, Beer, Books, Books Podcast, Brothers Groth, Douglas Adams, Fiction, Fireproof Garage, Literary Podcast, Marcus Clarke, Margaret Atwood, Nick Hornby, Podcast, Steve Toltz
July 17, 2014
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News
Are You Seeing Me?, ASD, Authors, Autism, Autism Fiction, Autism Writing, AYSM, Books, Brothers, Daughters, Disability, Fathers, Fiction, Inspiration, New Books, New Release, New Work, New YA Lit, Random House, Random House Australia, Random House New Zealand, Siblings, Sisters, Sons, Twins, Writing, Writing Books, YA Lit, Young Adults
With Are You Seeing Me? having just hit the shelves in Australia, I’d like to share with you some insight into what inspired me to write the novel.
Anyone who’s spent any time with me knows I am Dad to a set of twins: one girl, one boy. My daughter is ‘neurotypical’, which is how people in the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) community sometimes refer to regular, everyday kids who do not have autism. She is amazing. She plays trumpet, creates short animated films and adores The Hunger Games. My son, who is three minutes younger than my daughter, is diagnosed with autism. He is amazing, too. He is awesome at Minecraft, swims like a champ and enjoys Pixar films. They will officially be teenagers in 2014.
Are You Seeing Me? is a gift to my daughter. She was due a book – my previous novel, Kindling, was a gift to my son. (By the way, all of my books are gifts for my beautiful
wife). When I first started considering what to write, I kept coming back to a message I held dear for my daughter: ‘You should never feel like you must be your brother’s keeper. Love him, as he loves you, but live your own life to the full.’
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May 15, 2014
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Arguwrite
#WeNeedDiverseBooks, Another, Are You Seeing Me?, Authors, Autism, Autism Fiction, Autism Writing, BookCon, Books, Children's Books, Difference, Disability, Diverse Books, Diversity, Fiction, Kindling, New Work, Novels, Other, We Need Diverse Books, Writing, Writing Books, YA Lit, Young Adult Books
First, the good news:
The recent #WeNeedDiverseBooks Twitter coup was an admirable rebuff of the longstanding hegemonies in children’s and young adult fiction. It doesn’t look like a flash in the pan either, so that’s good too.
Now, the bad news:
The whole exercise has further illustrated – dare I say, reinforced – the pecking order of minorities in both the book debate and the wider society looking on.
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April 6, 2014
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News
August 2014, Authors, Book Covers, Books, Coming Soon, Earthquakes, Fiction, Jackie Chan, New Books, New Work, New YA Lit, Novels, Publishing Deal, Random House Australia, Sea Monsters, YA Lit, Young Adults
Behold the cover for Are You Seeing Me?, formerly Master Disaster, formerly Finding Fault, formerly The Mantle. How did a novel with this much schizophrenia finally make it across the line? I’ll let you know in a little while…
In the meantime, dream of earthquakes, sea monsters and Jackie Chan.
Are You Seeing Me? will be published by Random House Australia in August 2014.
April 4, 2014
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News
Authors, Babies, Books, ebooks, Fertility, Fertility Problems, Fiction, Kids, Kindle, Novels, Parenthood, Parenting, Pregnancy, Twins, Writing
With our twins now on the cusp of becoming teenagers, it seems a lifetime gone since their very existence was in question.
It wasn’t that long ago, though. Latter part of the nineties, turn of the millennium, to be precise. While couples worldwide were daily adding millions to Generation Next, we were trying – and failing – to supply just one.
Difficulty having a child was not something I’d ever imagined. Not in high school (all too easy to get a girl knocked up); not in university (I’m never having kids anyway); not when my beautiful wife and I married (let’s have some fun first), not as a school teacher (I’m not ready to have one of these jokers). Not even when we decided to give it a go, see what happened.
Nothing happened.
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March 6, 2013
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News
Authors, Autism, Autism Fiction, Autism Writing, Book Covers, Books, Darren Groth, ebooks, Exciting Press, Fiction, Kindle, Kindling, Novels, Will Entrekin
With the US/Canada ebook release of Kindling mere days away, here’s an insider’s view of the hot new cover (you see what I did there?). Two burning thumbs-up to Exciting Press Creative Director, Will Entrekin, for his fine work.
One thing about this confronting image – it ought to make fans concerned for Kieran’s safety very angry. I can imagine the hate-mail arriving already:
You sent your 10 year old, autism-diagnosed protagonist into this fiery maelstrom!? Really!? What sort of sicko author does that!? What sort of monster are you!?
(Note to self: send your next 10 year old, autism-diagnosed protagonist to a lovely inviting forest, full of marshmallows and rainbows and dolphins…and zombies.)
Myperbole 