The Reviews Are Coming In

Okay, I'm taking the time to sit here and regale you all with tales of what your humble (not really) blogger is up to. For most of the past few days I've actually been working. A lot. I finally got around to sweeping my floor today, a task I loathe (like most housework), but made more bearable by having Status Quo blaring from my iPod. No, I didn't play 'guitar' on the broom as I worked, but by the living Harries, it's hard to resist doing some kind of air guitar when listening to the Quo. Speaking of the iPod, last night I downloaded Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks. I'm a big fan of the Kinks, and Waterloo Sunset is a sublime number.

Yesterday, I gave an author talk at my local library. I didn't get many sold, but I enjoyed the talk and I was asked very interesting questions. One addressed the issue of my book being set in 1982, and had I written with a modern day audience in mind, given language would be different. My thoughts on this are that for a story's integrity, era-appropriate jargon and references should be used. If the author has done his or her job, then the reader should be able to glean an unusual term or phrase from the context of the work. In any event, this is the age of Google, and there is no excuse to not look up something.

I must duck out, and I want to write some more about what's been irritating me lately (clue: media, politicians, and Centrelink), but for the meantime, I will leave you with a review for my latest book, and you can check out the first chapter here:
 http://www.zeus-publications.com/Howling%20on%20a%20concrete%20moon.htm?fbclid=IwAR3Gxa4aEDBumJhb0c0ghXm_HR71KLeSbD3s9LSWwz023lydot4InnRMtmE

BOOK REVIEW
Howling on a Concrete Moon
By Simone Bailey
It’s 1982 and Tess Saxon is an introverted seventeen-year-old living in a small, rural NSW town with her parents and sister, Julianne, three years her junior
Tess is overwhelmed by a need to write a memoir that details the events of her life from about the age of twelve, as she goes through the usual teenage growing pains with much reflection and self-doubt, whilst constantly purloining her father’s typewriter and study in the pursuit of this endeavour.
In the wake of an isolated, relatively innocuous incident one night, the local council heavy-handedly invokes a 10.00pm curfew for the young people of the town, and Tess is inspired to found an anonymous underground newspaper, much to the chagrin of most of the community’s adult population.
All the while, Tess maintains a friendship with Sebastian, the most unpopular boy in town, and in spite of the disapproval of her closest friend, Megan, she discovers that he is not so bad after all and that they have quite a bit in common. However, Tess does not see Sebastian as a potential boy-friend, although she does harbour intermittent crushes on two other boys in town, including Megan’s brother, Greg.
The author sews plot threads early in the book that are neatly stitched together towards the end and our journey culminates in the revelation of a very dark and ugly betrayal that leaves the Saxon sisters bitter and traumatised.
Ms. Bailey has stated that she believes this to be her best work thus far, and I totally agree with that assessment. This novel is her first that is written in the first person, providing a depth and intensity not previously seen and taking her craft to a higher level. It is a powerful coming-of-age story written with passion and insight, and as always, with characters that are so authentically Australian. I highly recommend Howling on a Concrete Moon and it is available through its publisher, Zeus Publications.