Justin Sheedy's Blog, page 6
May 8, 2013
“I cannot remember when a novel so engrossed me” – ‘Nor the Years Condemn’ by Justin Sheedy – Review by Author Marc H. Stevens
“I cannot remember when a novel so engrossed me” – Nor the Years Condemn by Justin Sheedy - Review by Marc H. Stevens – Author of Escape, Evasion and Revenge‘Nor the Years Condemn’ by Australian novelist Justin Sheedy draws the reader in and simply will not let go.
This story follows the war of an Australian law student who leaves school to volunteer in the RAAF as a fighter pilot. Beginning with the highs and lows of pilot training, the plot continues on to England and the early, uncertain and scary days as a new Spitfire pilot. Inexperienced pilots had no chance unless they could find a way to stay alive long enough to learn how to kill. Not an easy task, and one very well covered by Sheedy. Lucky and not so lucky accidents and incidents take their toll. Action prevails, both in and out of the cockpit.
The plot and character development show a wealth of research. It is clear that Sheedy consulted with warriors who lived the actual events, and no fault in fact or concept was evident. This is not, by any means, a pretty story; rather, it shows war the way it really was: gory and nasty. In short, this book is as real as it must have been.
I cannot remember when a novel so engrossed me and forced me to read all hours of the day and night. Sleep and work may have interrupted my progress, but I made it through in 5 days, a near record for this plodding reader. I was honestly disappointed that I had to spend time to sleep before my reading could continue. This is a fine novel, and one that begs a sequel.
The cover art says it all: “First time overseas. With a unique job. Stop Hitler.” Well done to the Allied fighter pilots, and to Justin Sheedy.
Marc H. Stevens
Author of ‘Escape, Evasion and Revenge: The True Story of a German-Jewish RAF Pilot Who Bombed Berlin and Became a POW’ – CLICK the Link to View!
http://www.amazon.com/ESCAPE-EVASION-...
NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN by Justin Sheedy – E-BOOK PUBLISHED AT SMASHWORDS! PRINT-ON-DEMAND PAPERBACK AT AMAZON. AND AT DYMOCKS GEORGE ST SYDNEY, CHATSWOOD, NORTH SYDNEY, MACQUARIE CENTRE, ROUSE HILL, BROADWAY, BONDI JUNCTION & CAMPBERWELL (VIC) stores. ALSO NOW AT GLEEBOOKS, BERKELOUW BOOKS PADDINGTON AND THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL. Click the Link!
http://www.dymocks.com.au/ProductDeta...
EXCELLENT REVIEWS! CLICK the Link to READ.
http://crackernight.com/2012/01/17/gr...
http://crackernight.com/2013/05/06/i-...
May 4, 2013
Rising Author Justin Sheedy Interviewed by an Acclaimed one
My E-Chat With… Justin Sheedy - Author Justin Sheedy Interviewed by Kristen Alexander, 1 May 2013 – Originally Published at KristenAlexander.com.au
Author Kristen Alexander
The book world is changing. Print books are challenged by ebooks; traditional publishing houses are threatened by self publishers and niche publishers. Even the way readers think about books is changing: is a book something to treasure; is it disposable; is it something to read on a smart phone, ipad, ereader, or something to listen to on the ithingy. Writers, of course, face the greatest challenge, that of finding a readership when traditional publishers are becoming more choosy about what they print, and ebook lists are flooded by thousands of new titles every day. And, assuming they have found a readership, writers can’t just close the attic door and get on with their writing. They have to market themselves continuously. They have to be available for interviews and signings—or book tours if they have cracked the big time—constantly twitter, blog and facebook. How on earth do they succeed in a rapidly changing world where social media is king?
As I anxiously await the results of my agent’s attempts to pitch my next opus to a traditional publishing house, I watch, fascinated, as one writer successfully navigates through this strange new world. Justin Sheedy started his self publishing career with Goodbye Crackernight, a memoir of growing up in 1970s Australia. He followed this with Nor the Years Condemn, a fictional tribute to the boys of the Empire Air Training Scheme who flew Spitfires and Typhoons against the Luftwaffe. He is currently poised to release hosts of the Empire, which focuses on one of the characters from Nor the Years Condemn. I wondered, how does Justin do it? I thought, it wouldn’t hurt to ask, would it? And so I did. In the week he prepared for an in-store appearance at Dymocks Chatswood and an interview on a local radio station, Justin kindly answered a whole raft of questions about his life and writing experience.
Author Justin Sheedy
First off, I asked Justin how he overcomes the challenges of self publishing, the limited distribution networks, the miniscule publicity budgets. The secret of his growing success, Justin told me, is ‘employing the three Golden Rules of Writing and Publishing. 1. Persistence. 2. Persistence. 3. Persistence.’ And Justin works hard at being persistent. He almost daily posts on his facebook pages, he puts in personal appearances at bookshops, chats with radio interviewers, produces a blog to publicise his books, and attended the 2010 Byron Bay Writers Festival. All this, even as he holds down a day job and works on his next book.
I am always intrigued about the person behind the book. Cover blurbs hardly ever tell you much about the author, so being happily married myself and a potty pet lover, I like to know that others are in a similar state. And if they are, how they manage to balance their home and writing lives. (OK, I’ll admit it, I’m just trumping up the fact that I am a sticky beak, but I bet you’re interested too!) Justin currently has no conflicts between ties at writing. ‘I am bound to meet my significant other any day now. I see her all the time. But I have yet to meet her.’
Still stickybeaking, I then asked for a potted version of Justin’s life and passions. ‘I grew up in the suburbs of 1970s Australia, back when a child’s proudest possession was not a PlayStation but a second-hand bike’, he reminisced, and my mind instantly turned to my own childhood of the 60s and 70s when I was desperate for a bike so I could range around the neighbourhood (not that we used that term then. Somehow, that was too American). How well I remember those wonderful, carefree days. But hang on. This is not about me. It’s about Justin, who ‘wrote all about this amazing childhood in my first book, Goodbye Crackernight’.
Childhood behind him, what does Justin do to earn a crust? ‘My first job out of school was as a go-go dancer in a 60s psychedelic night-club, I studied Fine Arts at Sydney Uni (qualifying myself to drive a cab), sang in bands, and worked in the Australian Public Service for a time though made a full recovery.’ I am glad to see that the service (or ‘the circus’ as we fellow escapees not so fondly refer to it) did not knock out Justin’s creativity and sense of humour. They (you know, the ubiquitous ‘they’) always tell you to make the most of your life experiences, and Justin certainly did. He worked for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, ‘where I was privileged to speak to many WWII aircrew veterans, brilliant research for my latest book, Nor the Years Condemn’. Now, Justin works for ‘a not-for-profit organisation who are really supportive of my writing and writing commitments such as radio interviews to promote my in-store events, writers’ festivals etc.’
As part of my research for this first Echat With…, I listened in on one of his interviews thanks to the wonders of internet streaming. It was held at 11.30 on a work day, and as well as promoting the aforementioned Nor the Years Condemn, it heralded the Dymocks signing session. Justin has obviously had lots of radio experience. He deftly fielded the announcer’s questions and told just enough about his book to whet appetites and have the local listeners bounding into the bookshop that weekend. His enthusiasm for his subject shone through; his passion was clear. And on the subject of passions, writing, of course, is one of Justin’s but only one. ‘My passions are women, military history, cooking, women, mountains, fogs and snow, also skiing so am counting on becoming a best-selling author so I can earn enough cash to keep doing it. Please help.’ Love that sense of humour!
Just for a laugh (and to see if our tastes coincided in any way) I said to Justin: You have a gift voucher for the world’s biggest DVD shop. It stocks every film, TV series, doco, one off special ever made. What five all time greats would you spend your voucher on. With barely a blink, Justin proved something I have long believed, that maths is not a strong point of the creative types: ‘First Light, the story of Geoff Wellum, youngest allied pilot of the Battle of Britain, and possibly the best docu-drama I have ever seen, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, the House of Cards series, the Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Oh, and The Italian Job with Michael Caine. Sorry, that’s six, no, seven. Doh!’ Interestingly, all bar the classic caper film are based on books. Just proves that Justin is a reader from way back, and so, naturally, I asked who or what was the greatest influence on his reading life. ‘Many’, he told me, ‘but a key three would be Tolkien, for his mastery of the “journey story”. Michael Herr (Dispatches), for his capture of the perverse “sensuality” of war, and Bill Bryson for his hilarious, warm and wonderful humanity’.
Influence aside, Justin has any number of favourite books, too many really to designate just one as his ultimate, all time favourite ‘but in the context of my latest work, Going Solo by Roald Dahl for the way he portrays the adult world (in WWII) with the involuntary unrestrained perfection of a child’s eye. In the context of my first book, Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James which a senior English teacher friend of mine recently maintained as “one of the funniest books ever written”’. Going Solo was a must read for me when researching Clive Caldwell’s experiences in the desert. I have not read any Clive James yet but with such a good (double) recommendation, I will have to add Unreliable Memoirs to the pile next to my bed. And with that, we turned from the personal to the creative, and Justin’s personal book philosophy.
Justin believes ‘that a book must make me read it. It should never be a struggle but a constant reward. In precisely this spirit, I try to make anything I write constantly reward the reader for buying my book. One of the nicest things I’ve been told by readers about my latest book Nor the Years Condemn is that they feel IN the history I’m writing about, that the characters become “friends” to them, even that they “become” the characters. And to my blessed relief and delight I’ve been told this a few times now’.
I always wonder how writers start off. Was there a spark that made them pick up the pen, or was their desire to write as innate as breathing. For Justin, it was ‘When I met an Australian Korean War RAAF veteran who flew Mustangs there in low ground attack. Despite all the death and destruction he meted out and narrowly survived, including the loss of dear mates, he looked at me square in the eye and said, “Justin, it was the best time of my life.” And I knew that I had to write and hopefully capture that monumental human irony.’
There is usually a long journey from spark to first published piece, and many hours hunched over a desk writing or typing, scrawling notes on scrubby bits of paper or in a writer’s journal if you are really organised, or even wandering around, just thinking. Given I try to write in a cluttered office where my creative life is constantly in conflict with the demands of my ‘real’ life, what, I wondered, is Justin’s special writing place: ‘The floor of my flat in Glebe’ but he would forsake that spot in a flash: ‘If I won the lottery I would move it to on the water at Kirribilli’.
That floor in Glebe has seen the creation of two works now, and another that is still in the works. Goodbye Crackernight, the first, was Justin’s ‘personal portrait of growing up in 1970s Australia (when it was still the 1950s!). The story is full of laughter, tears, simplicity, in a way a “shared” memoir for a few generations of Australians, a “mirror” to them. It traces the demise of Crackernight in parallel with the passing of our youth, showing how, just as we were growing up, so was Australia, and turning from a “white-bread” world into the multi-cultural Oz we know and love today’.
Justin was inspired to write his latest release, Nor the Years Condemn ‘to bring to life a truly great Australian story which is so exciting, so heroic and tragic, in a word so dramatic as to seem the stuff of science fiction and yet it is true: The story of the young Australians who flew Spitfires and Typhoons as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, WWII. The true facts on which my story is intensively based really are the stuff of Star Wars, the attack on the Death Star. I wanted to bring this largely untold chapter of our history alive for Australians and in doing so make them even prouder of who we are. I wanted to tell the story of how the best and brightest of an Australian generation ironically picked one of the fastest ways to die of WWII and yet did so much to win it. The loss of any young person in war is a tragedy, yet these young Aussies were the shining stars of their era, which (given the true history on which it’s based) can’t help but render my story a heart-rending read, and the anti-war portrait that it is intended to be.’
As you would expect, Justin put in the hard research yards. It took ten years to research Nor the Years Condemn. His ‘main research resource' was the internet, 'and the access it gave me to the amazing range of WWII historical experts and institutions who so selflessly aided me. (It’s a massive list, included at the end of Nor the Years Condemn.)’
Justin’s trawling of the sources has paid off. He has a feel for the cut and thrust of battle and an affinity with military aviation. Why then, did he decide to write a fictional account of young airmen’s lives, rather than history? For Justin, fiction was the best way ‘to bring alive the stunning true history on which my book is based by engaging readers in a way that only the descriptive powers of Fiction can allow, and thereby have readers feel the loss of such young Australians as vividly as it deserves to be felt. Also, it’s only via Fiction that a reader can be put ‘in the cockpit’, not just reading “about” the history, but entering “into” it.’
One thing I have discovered is that other writers are usually all too happy to help others. I have enjoyed assistance from seasoned writers as well as on-going chats with new authors, all the while gaining much from their different experiences. Justin was recently asked to be a mentor to a budding writer and I asked him about the sort of advice he would pass on. (I will confess to a lot of self interest here, over and above the sheer altruism of sharing Justin’s words of wisdom). ‘Find a subject you are passionate about’, advised Justin. ‘Readers will want to buy your book because of your passion’. Next, he encourages, ‘write the book. Then re-write it ten times, after which your book may just turn out to be the book it should be. Then when it is, LOVE talking about it to people in radio interviews and at your in-store book-signing events. I do.’ Such sound advice. Justin also willingly shares the most important advice he has ever received: ‘No askie, no gettie.’
Once they have enjoyed one book (or two!), readers want to know what else the author is working on. I am no different. Happily, Justin is currently in the latter stages of a sequel to Nor the Years Condemn, entitled Ghosts of the Empire. Its ‘hopeful’ due date is at the end of June 2013. Just over two months away, so not much time left to wait now! ‘This is the ‘parallel journey-story of one character from NTYC who flies the awesome “Wooden Wonder”, the de Havilland Mosquito against Nazi tyranny. One key theme of Ghosts of the Empire is, if all those young aircrew who flew Lancasters had been flying Mosquitos instead, they’d have most likely died of old age.’
Like any author worth his salt, Justin is already thinking about what will come next. There is a sequel to Goodbye Crackernight in the pipeline with the working title Memoirs of a Go-Go Dancer.
Well, I think that is enough of picking Justin’s brains. For more details of his writing life and practice, hop onto his blog at Crackernight.com. You can befriend him at his Facebook Page, ‘like’ his “Nor the Years Condemn” Facebook page and “Goodbye Crackernight” Facebook page, or follow him on Twitter. Yup, Justin certainly has social media all wrapped up!
For those who haven’t already read Nor the Years Condemn, Sydneysiders can obtain it at Dymocks Sydney, Chatswood, Macquarie Centre, Broadway, Bondi Junction, Rouse Hill and North Sydney; at the iconic Gleebooks; and at Berkelouw Paddington. It is also available at Dymocks Camberwell and the Australian War Memorial. You can order a print on demand paperback at Amazon, download the ebook from Smashwords or take a sneak at Amazon LOOK INSIDE.
Happy Reading! – Kristen Alexander
I am delighted Justin Sheedy agreed to be the subject of my first Echat With… Stay tuned for next month’s where Charles Page, former commercial pilot and author of Vengeance of the Outback. A Wartime Air Mystery of Western Australia and Wings of Destiny. Charles Learmonth DFC and the Air War in New Guinea, reveals the secrets of his life and writing success, including the influence of his very special co-pilot.
http://crackernight.com/2013/05/04/ri...
Author Kristen Alexander
The book world is changing. Print books are challenged by ebooks; traditional publishing houses are threatened by self publishers and niche publishers. Even the way readers think about books is changing: is a book something to treasure; is it disposable; is it something to read on a smart phone, ipad, ereader, or something to listen to on the ithingy. Writers, of course, face the greatest challenge, that of finding a readership when traditional publishers are becoming more choosy about what they print, and ebook lists are flooded by thousands of new titles every day. And, assuming they have found a readership, writers can’t just close the attic door and get on with their writing. They have to market themselves continuously. They have to be available for interviews and signings—or book tours if they have cracked the big time—constantly twitter, blog and facebook. How on earth do they succeed in a rapidly changing world where social media is king?
As I anxiously await the results of my agent’s attempts to pitch my next opus to a traditional publishing house, I watch, fascinated, as one writer successfully navigates through this strange new world. Justin Sheedy started his self publishing career with Goodbye Crackernight, a memoir of growing up in 1970s Australia. He followed this with Nor the Years Condemn, a fictional tribute to the boys of the Empire Air Training Scheme who flew Spitfires and Typhoons against the Luftwaffe. He is currently poised to release hosts of the Empire, which focuses on one of the characters from Nor the Years Condemn. I wondered, how does Justin do it? I thought, it wouldn’t hurt to ask, would it? And so I did. In the week he prepared for an in-store appearance at Dymocks Chatswood and an interview on a local radio station, Justin kindly answered a whole raft of questions about his life and writing experience.
Author Justin Sheedy
First off, I asked Justin how he overcomes the challenges of self publishing, the limited distribution networks, the miniscule publicity budgets. The secret of his growing success, Justin told me, is ‘employing the three Golden Rules of Writing and Publishing. 1. Persistence. 2. Persistence. 3. Persistence.’ And Justin works hard at being persistent. He almost daily posts on his facebook pages, he puts in personal appearances at bookshops, chats with radio interviewers, produces a blog to publicise his books, and attended the 2010 Byron Bay Writers Festival. All this, even as he holds down a day job and works on his next book.
I am always intrigued about the person behind the book. Cover blurbs hardly ever tell you much about the author, so being happily married myself and a potty pet lover, I like to know that others are in a similar state. And if they are, how they manage to balance their home and writing lives. (OK, I’ll admit it, I’m just trumping up the fact that I am a sticky beak, but I bet you’re interested too!) Justin currently has no conflicts between ties at writing. ‘I am bound to meet my significant other any day now. I see her all the time. But I have yet to meet her.’
Still stickybeaking, I then asked for a potted version of Justin’s life and passions. ‘I grew up in the suburbs of 1970s Australia, back when a child’s proudest possession was not a PlayStation but a second-hand bike’, he reminisced, and my mind instantly turned to my own childhood of the 60s and 70s when I was desperate for a bike so I could range around the neighbourhood (not that we used that term then. Somehow, that was too American). How well I remember those wonderful, carefree days. But hang on. This is not about me. It’s about Justin, who ‘wrote all about this amazing childhood in my first book, Goodbye Crackernight’.
Childhood behind him, what does Justin do to earn a crust? ‘My first job out of school was as a go-go dancer in a 60s psychedelic night-club, I studied Fine Arts at Sydney Uni (qualifying myself to drive a cab), sang in bands, and worked in the Australian Public Service for a time though made a full recovery.’ I am glad to see that the service (or ‘the circus’ as we fellow escapees not so fondly refer to it) did not knock out Justin’s creativity and sense of humour. They (you know, the ubiquitous ‘they’) always tell you to make the most of your life experiences, and Justin certainly did. He worked for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, ‘where I was privileged to speak to many WWII aircrew veterans, brilliant research for my latest book, Nor the Years Condemn’. Now, Justin works for ‘a not-for-profit organisation who are really supportive of my writing and writing commitments such as radio interviews to promote my in-store events, writers’ festivals etc.’
As part of my research for this first Echat With…, I listened in on one of his interviews thanks to the wonders of internet streaming. It was held at 11.30 on a work day, and as well as promoting the aforementioned Nor the Years Condemn, it heralded the Dymocks signing session. Justin has obviously had lots of radio experience. He deftly fielded the announcer’s questions and told just enough about his book to whet appetites and have the local listeners bounding into the bookshop that weekend. His enthusiasm for his subject shone through; his passion was clear. And on the subject of passions, writing, of course, is one of Justin’s but only one. ‘My passions are women, military history, cooking, women, mountains, fogs and snow, also skiing so am counting on becoming a best-selling author so I can earn enough cash to keep doing it. Please help.’ Love that sense of humour!
Just for a laugh (and to see if our tastes coincided in any way) I said to Justin: You have a gift voucher for the world’s biggest DVD shop. It stocks every film, TV series, doco, one off special ever made. What five all time greats would you spend your voucher on. With barely a blink, Justin proved something I have long believed, that maths is not a strong point of the creative types: ‘First Light, the story of Geoff Wellum, youngest allied pilot of the Battle of Britain, and possibly the best docu-drama I have ever seen, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, the House of Cards series, the Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Oh, and The Italian Job with Michael Caine. Sorry, that’s six, no, seven. Doh!’ Interestingly, all bar the classic caper film are based on books. Just proves that Justin is a reader from way back, and so, naturally, I asked who or what was the greatest influence on his reading life. ‘Many’, he told me, ‘but a key three would be Tolkien, for his mastery of the “journey story”. Michael Herr (Dispatches), for his capture of the perverse “sensuality” of war, and Bill Bryson for his hilarious, warm and wonderful humanity’.
Influence aside, Justin has any number of favourite books, too many really to designate just one as his ultimate, all time favourite ‘but in the context of my latest work, Going Solo by Roald Dahl for the way he portrays the adult world (in WWII) with the involuntary unrestrained perfection of a child’s eye. In the context of my first book, Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James which a senior English teacher friend of mine recently maintained as “one of the funniest books ever written”’. Going Solo was a must read for me when researching Clive Caldwell’s experiences in the desert. I have not read any Clive James yet but with such a good (double) recommendation, I will have to add Unreliable Memoirs to the pile next to my bed. And with that, we turned from the personal to the creative, and Justin’s personal book philosophy.
Justin believes ‘that a book must make me read it. It should never be a struggle but a constant reward. In precisely this spirit, I try to make anything I write constantly reward the reader for buying my book. One of the nicest things I’ve been told by readers about my latest book Nor the Years Condemn is that they feel IN the history I’m writing about, that the characters become “friends” to them, even that they “become” the characters. And to my blessed relief and delight I’ve been told this a few times now’.
I always wonder how writers start off. Was there a spark that made them pick up the pen, or was their desire to write as innate as breathing. For Justin, it was ‘When I met an Australian Korean War RAAF veteran who flew Mustangs there in low ground attack. Despite all the death and destruction he meted out and narrowly survived, including the loss of dear mates, he looked at me square in the eye and said, “Justin, it was the best time of my life.” And I knew that I had to write and hopefully capture that monumental human irony.’
There is usually a long journey from spark to first published piece, and many hours hunched over a desk writing or typing, scrawling notes on scrubby bits of paper or in a writer’s journal if you are really organised, or even wandering around, just thinking. Given I try to write in a cluttered office where my creative life is constantly in conflict with the demands of my ‘real’ life, what, I wondered, is Justin’s special writing place: ‘The floor of my flat in Glebe’ but he would forsake that spot in a flash: ‘If I won the lottery I would move it to on the water at Kirribilli’.
That floor in Glebe has seen the creation of two works now, and another that is still in the works. Goodbye Crackernight, the first, was Justin’s ‘personal portrait of growing up in 1970s Australia (when it was still the 1950s!). The story is full of laughter, tears, simplicity, in a way a “shared” memoir for a few generations of Australians, a “mirror” to them. It traces the demise of Crackernight in parallel with the passing of our youth, showing how, just as we were growing up, so was Australia, and turning from a “white-bread” world into the multi-cultural Oz we know and love today’.
Justin was inspired to write his latest release, Nor the Years Condemn ‘to bring to life a truly great Australian story which is so exciting, so heroic and tragic, in a word so dramatic as to seem the stuff of science fiction and yet it is true: The story of the young Australians who flew Spitfires and Typhoons as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, WWII. The true facts on which my story is intensively based really are the stuff of Star Wars, the attack on the Death Star. I wanted to bring this largely untold chapter of our history alive for Australians and in doing so make them even prouder of who we are. I wanted to tell the story of how the best and brightest of an Australian generation ironically picked one of the fastest ways to die of WWII and yet did so much to win it. The loss of any young person in war is a tragedy, yet these young Aussies were the shining stars of their era, which (given the true history on which it’s based) can’t help but render my story a heart-rending read, and the anti-war portrait that it is intended to be.’
As you would expect, Justin put in the hard research yards. It took ten years to research Nor the Years Condemn. His ‘main research resource' was the internet, 'and the access it gave me to the amazing range of WWII historical experts and institutions who so selflessly aided me. (It’s a massive list, included at the end of Nor the Years Condemn.)’
Justin’s trawling of the sources has paid off. He has a feel for the cut and thrust of battle and an affinity with military aviation. Why then, did he decide to write a fictional account of young airmen’s lives, rather than history? For Justin, fiction was the best way ‘to bring alive the stunning true history on which my book is based by engaging readers in a way that only the descriptive powers of Fiction can allow, and thereby have readers feel the loss of such young Australians as vividly as it deserves to be felt. Also, it’s only via Fiction that a reader can be put ‘in the cockpit’, not just reading “about” the history, but entering “into” it.’
One thing I have discovered is that other writers are usually all too happy to help others. I have enjoyed assistance from seasoned writers as well as on-going chats with new authors, all the while gaining much from their different experiences. Justin was recently asked to be a mentor to a budding writer and I asked him about the sort of advice he would pass on. (I will confess to a lot of self interest here, over and above the sheer altruism of sharing Justin’s words of wisdom). ‘Find a subject you are passionate about’, advised Justin. ‘Readers will want to buy your book because of your passion’. Next, he encourages, ‘write the book. Then re-write it ten times, after which your book may just turn out to be the book it should be. Then when it is, LOVE talking about it to people in radio interviews and at your in-store book-signing events. I do.’ Such sound advice. Justin also willingly shares the most important advice he has ever received: ‘No askie, no gettie.’
Once they have enjoyed one book (or two!), readers want to know what else the author is working on. I am no different. Happily, Justin is currently in the latter stages of a sequel to Nor the Years Condemn, entitled Ghosts of the Empire. Its ‘hopeful’ due date is at the end of June 2013. Just over two months away, so not much time left to wait now! ‘This is the ‘parallel journey-story of one character from NTYC who flies the awesome “Wooden Wonder”, the de Havilland Mosquito against Nazi tyranny. One key theme of Ghosts of the Empire is, if all those young aircrew who flew Lancasters had been flying Mosquitos instead, they’d have most likely died of old age.’
Like any author worth his salt, Justin is already thinking about what will come next. There is a sequel to Goodbye Crackernight in the pipeline with the working title Memoirs of a Go-Go Dancer.
Well, I think that is enough of picking Justin’s brains. For more details of his writing life and practice, hop onto his blog at Crackernight.com. You can befriend him at his Facebook Page, ‘like’ his “Nor the Years Condemn” Facebook page and “Goodbye Crackernight” Facebook page, or follow him on Twitter. Yup, Justin certainly has social media all wrapped up!
For those who haven’t already read Nor the Years Condemn, Sydneysiders can obtain it at Dymocks Sydney, Chatswood, Macquarie Centre, Broadway, Bondi Junction, Rouse Hill and North Sydney; at the iconic Gleebooks; and at Berkelouw Paddington. It is also available at Dymocks Camberwell and the Australian War Memorial. You can order a print on demand paperback at Amazon, download the ebook from Smashwords or take a sneak at Amazon LOOK INSIDE.
Happy Reading! – Kristen Alexander
I am delighted Justin Sheedy agreed to be the subject of my first Echat With… Stay tuned for next month’s where Charles Page, former commercial pilot and author of Vengeance of the Outback. A Wartime Air Mystery of Western Australia and Wings of Destiny. Charles Learmonth DFC and the Air War in New Guinea, reveals the secrets of his life and writing success, including the influence of his very special co-pilot.
http://crackernight.com/2013/05/04/ri...
April 23, 2013
ANZAC DAY! Author Justin Sheedy Signing Copies of his latest at GLEEBOOKS
GLEEBOOKS have invited me to sign copies of my book latest book "Nor the Years Condemn" in-store on ANZAC DAY! From 11am All Day. Gleebooks is at 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe, Sydney. I'd love to share with you my passion for the great Untold Story in our Anzac Tradition on which my latest book is based. -- Justin Sheedy
http://crackernight.com/2013/04/23/an...
http://crackernight.com/2013/04/23/an...
April 13, 2013
Author Justin Sheedy Interviewed in The Glebe Society Bulletin on his Latest Book, “Nor the Years Condemn”
Glebe novelist Justin Sheedy’s new book
Vanessa Witton recently interviewed Justin Sheedy at his local, the Toxteth Hotel on Glebe Point Rd.
The first thing that strikes you on meeting Glebe author Justin Sheedy is that he’s a man of passion. It’s a trait which shines through in his writing and is one reason – combined with the fact that he tells a great Australian story – that his latest book has been so warmly received. Nor the Years Condemn is a tale of shining young men destined never to grow old, an historical fiction based on the stunning true and untold story of the young Australians who flew Spitfires against Nazi tyranny in WWII.
VW: What was your inspiration to write this story?
JS: First of all I wanted to tell a truly great Australian war story of which, by contrast to our Gallipoli story, most Australians are unaware. Gallipoli is so important to us, as there we discovered who we were as nation: a young people looking after each other in the midst of the worst situation imaginable, all while fighting a heroic defeat for our imperial masters. Nor the Years Condemn is based on a true story of Gallipoli magnitude; not one of heroic defeat but of stunning victory, albeit at tragic cost.
VW: These Australian Spitfire pilots – how young were they exactly?
JS: In their late teens and early 20s. Hadn’t had a girlfriend yet. 1939, England, alone against Nazi Germany, calls out to its British Empire, “HELP. Send us pilots”. Every young Australian male says “Pick ME!” yet to fly a Spitfire, only the “best and brightest” could be picked. With staggering irony, this “best and brightest” had volunteered for one of the fastest ways to die of the War. First time on a ship, if they survived being torpedoed they got to England where they flew Spitfires against young German gentlemen; when they should all have been Olympians against each other, Formula 1 drivers; for this was the kind of young men they were – because they had to be.
VW: Riveting stuff…
JS: Precisely! It’s a saga so exciting, so tragic, so dramatic as to seem the stuff of science fiction, and yet it’s true! And it’s just so rewarding for me that readers are engaging with my story as the anti-war portrait I intended; one of young people doing with such brilliance, style and world-beating heroism what they should never have been asked to do: end a war. Which they did.
VW: Who do you see as your readership for this book?
JS: It’s been to my delight and relief that I’ve had grandmothers vowing, “I laughed and cried, didn’t want it to end, I was right in the cockpit with the main character!” Also, it’s very much a mothers’ story too, as for every shining young man who flew a Spitfire, there was the poor mother cursed to let him go.
Vanessa Witton – (Full issue of The Glebe Society Bulletin April 2013 Issue at the Link below)
http://bulletin.glebesociety.org.au/2...
Justin Sheedy will be signing copies of “Nor the Years Condemn” at Dymocks Chatswood on Saturday 20th April from 10am, an ANZAC Day 2013 lead-up event. The book is available at GLEEBOOKS, BERKELOUW BOOKS PADDINGTON & THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL, also at DYMOCKS GEORGE ST SYDNEY, DYMOCKS MACQUARIE CENTRE, CHATSWOOD, NORTH SYDNEY, BROADWAY, BONDI JUNCTION, ROUSE HILL & CAMBERWELL (VIC) stores. ALSO AT THE BOOK DEPOSITORY, AMAZON, AMAZON UK, as an Ebook at SMASHWORDS and via all Ebook sites and via ALL good bookstores. REVIEWS at the below Link!
http://crackernight.com/2012/01/17/gr...
http://crackernight.com/2013/04/14/au...
Vanessa Witton recently interviewed Justin Sheedy at his local, the Toxteth Hotel on Glebe Point Rd.
The first thing that strikes you on meeting Glebe author Justin Sheedy is that he’s a man of passion. It’s a trait which shines through in his writing and is one reason – combined with the fact that he tells a great Australian story – that his latest book has been so warmly received. Nor the Years Condemn is a tale of shining young men destined never to grow old, an historical fiction based on the stunning true and untold story of the young Australians who flew Spitfires against Nazi tyranny in WWII.VW: What was your inspiration to write this story?
JS: First of all I wanted to tell a truly great Australian war story of which, by contrast to our Gallipoli story, most Australians are unaware. Gallipoli is so important to us, as there we discovered who we were as nation: a young people looking after each other in the midst of the worst situation imaginable, all while fighting a heroic defeat for our imperial masters. Nor the Years Condemn is based on a true story of Gallipoli magnitude; not one of heroic defeat but of stunning victory, albeit at tragic cost.
VW: These Australian Spitfire pilots – how young were they exactly?
JS: In their late teens and early 20s. Hadn’t had a girlfriend yet. 1939, England, alone against Nazi Germany, calls out to its British Empire, “HELP. Send us pilots”. Every young Australian male says “Pick ME!” yet to fly a Spitfire, only the “best and brightest” could be picked. With staggering irony, this “best and brightest” had volunteered for one of the fastest ways to die of the War. First time on a ship, if they survived being torpedoed they got to England where they flew Spitfires against young German gentlemen; when they should all have been Olympians against each other, Formula 1 drivers; for this was the kind of young men they were – because they had to be.
VW: Riveting stuff…
JS: Precisely! It’s a saga so exciting, so tragic, so dramatic as to seem the stuff of science fiction, and yet it’s true! And it’s just so rewarding for me that readers are engaging with my story as the anti-war portrait I intended; one of young people doing with such brilliance, style and world-beating heroism what they should never have been asked to do: end a war. Which they did.
VW: Who do you see as your readership for this book?
JS: It’s been to my delight and relief that I’ve had grandmothers vowing, “I laughed and cried, didn’t want it to end, I was right in the cockpit with the main character!” Also, it’s very much a mothers’ story too, as for every shining young man who flew a Spitfire, there was the poor mother cursed to let him go.
Vanessa Witton – (Full issue of The Glebe Society Bulletin April 2013 Issue at the Link below)
http://bulletin.glebesociety.org.au/2...
Justin Sheedy will be signing copies of “Nor the Years Condemn” at Dymocks Chatswood on Saturday 20th April from 10am, an ANZAC Day 2013 lead-up event. The book is available at GLEEBOOKS, BERKELOUW BOOKS PADDINGTON & THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL, also at DYMOCKS GEORGE ST SYDNEY, DYMOCKS MACQUARIE CENTRE, CHATSWOOD, NORTH SYDNEY, BROADWAY, BONDI JUNCTION, ROUSE HILL & CAMBERWELL (VIC) stores. ALSO AT THE BOOK DEPOSITORY, AMAZON, AMAZON UK, as an Ebook at SMASHWORDS and via all Ebook sites and via ALL good bookstores. REVIEWS at the below Link!
http://crackernight.com/2012/01/17/gr...
http://crackernight.com/2013/04/14/au...
April 12, 2013
Beautiful Reader Review Received in lead-up to ANZAC Day Author Book-Signing for “Nor the Years Condemn” by Justin Sheedy
Author Justin Sheedy was delighted today to receive the following Reader Review of his latest book, “Nor the Years Condemn”, in the lead up to his latest in-store book-signing event on the eve of ANZAC Day 2013. “Nor the Years Condemn” is an historical fiction bringing to life an amazing (untold) chapter in Australia’s great ANZAC tradition – the saga of the (very) young Australians who flew Spitfires against Nazi tyranny in World War II.
I CANNOT PRAISE THIS BOOK ENOUGH! – From Ms Glen Knight, UK.
“I cannot praise this book enough, it is written with a real understanding of people, aviation and era… A superb depiction of life, love and war in the 1940′s. The research for it must have been thorough and extensive, but that leaves even more credit to the author who writes in a way that makes you believe you are actually there… his characters are friends. Anyone who thinks this is just another “War Book” is in for a pleasant surprise.” – Glen Knight.
The author expressed his most sincere thanks to Ms Knight. His response to her as follows…
“Dear Glen, thanks from the bottom of my heart for your so very kind words. I am truly touched that you’ve engaged with Nor the Years Condemn in the way you describe. You are Spot On, too: My greatest hope for the story is that it should be a homage to the People who made the history and to the Era, and also that it might educate people even now learning about this stunning period of our history by putting them RIGHT IN that history – especially by engaging them with the Characters who made it, and ‘characters’ they were: in order to become fighter pilots, the best & brightest of a generation, their loss so tragic. And that was indeed my inspiration to write this story. To write an Anti-War Story.” – Justin Sheedy 2013
For full blog post on this Review, click the following Link.
http://crackernight.com/2013/04/12/be...
Sheedy will be signing copies of “Nor the Years Condemn” on the eve of ANZAC Day 2013 at Dymocks Chatswood on Saturday 20th of April. This will be Sheedy’s 10th Dymocks in-store book signing event since the book was published. For more REVIEWS of “Nor the Years Condemn”, click the following Link.
http://crackernight.com/2012/01/17/gr...
NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN IS NOW AVAILABLE AT DYMOCKS GEORGE ST SYDNEY, DYMOCKS MACQUARIE CENTRE, CHATSWOOD, NORTH SYDNEY, BROADWAY, BONDI JUNCTION, ROUSE HILL & CAMBERWELL (VIC) stores.
AND NOW AT GLEEBOOKS, BERKELOUW BOOKS PADDINGTON & THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ALSO AT THE BOOK DEPOSITORY, AMAZON, AMAZON UK (where reviewer Ms Glen Knight purchased & posted her review), as an Ebook at SMASHWORDS and via all Ebook sites and via ALL good bookstores.
I CANNOT PRAISE THIS BOOK ENOUGH! – From Ms Glen Knight, UK.
“I cannot praise this book enough, it is written with a real understanding of people, aviation and era… A superb depiction of life, love and war in the 1940′s. The research for it must have been thorough and extensive, but that leaves even more credit to the author who writes in a way that makes you believe you are actually there… his characters are friends. Anyone who thinks this is just another “War Book” is in for a pleasant surprise.” – Glen Knight.
The author expressed his most sincere thanks to Ms Knight. His response to her as follows…
“Dear Glen, thanks from the bottom of my heart for your so very kind words. I am truly touched that you’ve engaged with Nor the Years Condemn in the way you describe. You are Spot On, too: My greatest hope for the story is that it should be a homage to the People who made the history and to the Era, and also that it might educate people even now learning about this stunning period of our history by putting them RIGHT IN that history – especially by engaging them with the Characters who made it, and ‘characters’ they were: in order to become fighter pilots, the best & brightest of a generation, their loss so tragic. And that was indeed my inspiration to write this story. To write an Anti-War Story.” – Justin Sheedy 2013
For full blog post on this Review, click the following Link.
http://crackernight.com/2013/04/12/be...
Sheedy will be signing copies of “Nor the Years Condemn” on the eve of ANZAC Day 2013 at Dymocks Chatswood on Saturday 20th of April. This will be Sheedy’s 10th Dymocks in-store book signing event since the book was published. For more REVIEWS of “Nor the Years Condemn”, click the following Link.
http://crackernight.com/2012/01/17/gr...
NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN IS NOW AVAILABLE AT DYMOCKS GEORGE ST SYDNEY, DYMOCKS MACQUARIE CENTRE, CHATSWOOD, NORTH SYDNEY, BROADWAY, BONDI JUNCTION, ROUSE HILL & CAMBERWELL (VIC) stores.
AND NOW AT GLEEBOOKS, BERKELOUW BOOKS PADDINGTON & THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ALSO AT THE BOOK DEPOSITORY, AMAZON, AMAZON UK (where reviewer Ms Glen Knight purchased & posted her review), as an Ebook at SMASHWORDS and via all Ebook sites and via ALL good bookstores.
April 1, 2013
Authors Thomas Keneally & Justin Sheedy Side-by-Side!
Thomas Keneally & Me side-by-side. Well on the Dymocks Literary Events website we are anyway. Actually, I'm sort of Under... Anyway a Once in a lifetime event for Me so I'm showing ya. See the link & scroll down. http://www.dymocks.com.au/LiteraryEve... 
http://crackernight.com/2013/04/01/au...
http://crackernight.com/2013/04/01/au...
March 24, 2013
Great Australian Bookstore Helping Struggling Author
Dymocks Chatswood are MASSIVELY supporting me, a still-struggling author. See the Link for their Facebook page & Like to help me THANK them. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dymocks...
March 14, 2013
Justin Sheedy, Author of “Nor the Years Condemn” at ANZAC Day Lead-Up In-Store Book-Signing Event!
In the lead-up to ANZAC Day 2013, rising Australian author Justin Sheedy will be signing copies of his latest book,
“Nor the Years Condemn”
, at Dymocks Chatswood. Based on a true Australian war story of Gallipoli magnitude yet one unknown by most Australians,
“Nor the Years Condemn”
is a ripping historical novel bringing to life the untold saga of the young Australians who flew Spitfires against Nazi Germany in World War II.
“Nor the Years Condemn”
is also a story of the mothers cursed to relinquish their wonderful sons to war, of first love, of strategic deception and betrayal, of brotherhood and once-in-a-lifetime friendship on a knife’s edge. It is a story of shining young men destined never to grow old, and of those who do: the survivors ‘condemned by the years’, and to their memory of friends who remain forever young. (Read More below…)
http://crackernight.com/2013/03/14/ju...
In 2012 Sheedy broke Dymocks in-store event sales records with this, his latest book, perhaps as he tells a Great Australian Story. Come and meet him at Dymocks Chatswood on Saturday 20 April. He’ll be in-store all day from 10am and would love to sign you a copy of his book, and share with you his passion for the true story on which it is based, a story in our great ANZAC tradition.
http://crackernight.com/2013/03/14/ju...
In 2012 Sheedy broke Dymocks in-store event sales records with this, his latest book, perhaps as he tells a Great Australian Story. Come and meet him at Dymocks Chatswood on Saturday 20 April. He’ll be in-store all day from 10am and would love to sign you a copy of his book, and share with you his passion for the true story on which it is based, a story in our great ANZAC tradition.
March 12, 2013
Justin Sheedy, Author of “Nor the Years Condemn” on NSW Writers’ Centre Panel – “Success Stories – Publishing from the Author’s Point of View”
Author Justin Sheedy’s appearance on NSW Writers’ Centre Panel “Success Stories – Publishing from the Author’s Point of View” on Sunday 10 March 2013 was, in a word, Successful. Sheedy began for the packed room with his opening lines to his NSW Writers' Centre-commissioned magazine article on the benefits of bashing one’s head against a wall. THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE. (Read at the Link Below.)http://crackernight.com/2012/04/21/th...
This was very well received by students and the day just got better for Sheedy, ending with one student asking him if he did Literary Mentoring. Sheedy has just received the following email via this website’s ABOUT page: “I attended the publishing seminar at the Writers’ Centre at the weekend. It was brilliant, mostly because of professionals like you. Thank you for being so generous with your time and candid with your knowledge. I really appreciated it. I wish you every success – and a fierce bidding war for your next book. Cheers, Wendy (Fellow head basher)”.
A major highlight for students on this closing day of NSW Writers’ Centre seminar “The Essentials of Getting Published” was the appearance of Sheedy’s fellow author, Walter Mason, a truly shining soul with whom Sheedy was blessed to be re-united on the day after 20 years (!). Mason (who described the day as “A Hoot”) is a truly talented writer whose irrepressible spirit, Sheedy was elevated to find, has not altered a jot in 20 years. Mason’s latest book is the (fabulous) “Destination Saigon”.http://crackernight.com/2013/03/11/ju...
Sheedy’s latest book NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN NOW AVAILABLE AT DYMOCKS GEORGE ST SYDNEY, DYMOCKS MACQUARIE CENTRE, CHATSWOOD, NORTH SYDNEY, BROADWAY, BONDI JUNCTION, ROUSE HILL & CAMBERWELL (VIC) stores. AND NOW AT GLEEBOOKS, BERKELOUW BOOKS PADDINGTON & THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL.
E-BOOK PUBLISHED AT SMASHWORDS! PRINT-ON-DEMAND PAPERBACK AT AMAZON. EXCELLENT REVIEWS! CLICK BELOW TO READ.
http://crackernight.com/2012/01/17/gr...
February 19, 2013
THE INNOCENT CASUALTIES OF WAR – An excerpt from “Nor the Years Condemn” by Justin Sheedy
THE INNOCENT CASUALTIES OF WAR - An excerpt from “Nor the Years Condemn” by Justin Sheedy: The story’s main character, Daniel Quinn, having crossed the planet from Australia and having been in fighter combat already, is on London Leave, September 1942…
FULL Post and Pics at the link below...
http://crackernight.com/2013/02/19/th...
CHAPTER ELEVEN
He’d walked for blocks, hardly thinking, just walking, from cross-street to cross-street the bombed-out sites becoming more and more frequent, the people less and less. Most vehicles had followed detour signs way back, a soul shuffling along here and there, one pushing a child’s pram filled with what looked like rags.
By the time he was nearing St Paul’s Cathedral, the city’s bomb damage had grown to desolation. With the dome looming, he realised he was walking down a canyon of ruins, on each side of him windows framing only grey sky – skeletons of buildings where once people had lived, worked? Impossible to tell. Rounding a corner of high empty walls, ahead of him lay a city block.
Completely flattened.
Around its vast perimeter was a frayed pale red ribbon on sticks, fallen down in places.
Quinn looked out across the plain of rubble. About a hundred feet across it, he thought he caught sight of some small animal. Until it stood, and he saw the tattered cap – a small boy, dwarfed against the backdrop of the cathedral dome.
Quinn lit a cigarette. And trod carefully out over the broken bricks and masonry towards the child.
Still with around fifty feet to go and almost losing his footing over the foundation of a shattered wall, Quinn dropped his cigarette and called out.
‘You alright, son?’
A tiny face glanced up like a squirrel on its guard, only to turn slowly back away. No answer came.
Quinn continued towards the boy and, drawing closer, saw he was digging in the rubble at his knees. ‘Are you alright there, mate?’
The digging continued.
Drawing up to the child, Quinn saw his face was dirty, hair matted.
‘Yes…’ the child said.
Quinn noticed a toy to one side – a tin model car of some kind, its green paint chipped and faded. ‘Having a game, are we?’ Quinn put his age at about five, just a bit younger than Angie, at least, the last time he’d seen her. Yet the child at Quinn’s feet had an air wholly unlike his little sister – one of complete detachment… As if Quinn wasn’t even there.
‘No,’ came the answer finally. ‘…I find things sometimes.’
Quinn paused before asking. ‘What kind of things?’
‘My toys.’
Quinn saw the model car was rusted. ‘Well,’ he smiled cheerfully, ‘maybe you shouldn’t leave them out in the rain, eh?’
‘I didn’t.’
Quinn remembered it was a Monday. ‘Shouldn’t you be in school?’
The child didn’t answer.
‘Do your parents know you’re here?’
The child seemed to have to think about this.
‘I suppose so.’ He kept digging. ‘…The lady at the shelter said you can see everything from Heaven.’
Quinn paused again. ‘…I’m sorry, mate.’
The child extracted another sad little object from the rubble. ‘I used to cry… When I was four. But I don’t anymore.’
‘Do you live near here?’
‘…I used to.’
Quinn scanned the area – not a soul in sight, no sign of inhabited dwelling. ‘Do you have any brothers and sisters?’
‘Yes.’
‘Maybe you could tell me where they are?’
‘…Wiv my mum and dad.’
Quinn shook his head minutely. Jesus. Poor little thing.
He wished to his core there was something he could do, something to help the kid but what? Give him some money? Quinn realised he’d none on him – hadn’t stopped at Australia House to draw any. A thought struck him and he fished in his tunic breast pocket. No sooner had he handed the chocolate bar down to the boy than he’d snatched it, ripped the paper open and was devouring it hungrily. As he did so, for the first time since Quinn’s arrival, he cast furtive glances upwards.
After several eager mouthfuls, the child spoke with chocolate teeth. ‘Are you a soldier?’
‘…Yes.’
‘Have you killed many people?’
Quinn considered his total. So far, three fighters, two bombers… So nine men. He couldn’t be sure precisely. ‘…A few.’
The child simply kept munching.
Then it came to Quinn: He’d quietly report the kid’s plight to someone at Australia House. Better still, he’d put a notice up on the board at the Boomerang Club: Maybe some of the blokes’d pop by now and then, bring him this and that. In fact, the more Quinn thought about it, it sounded like an idea that just might catch on at the Boomerang Club. It was something anyway. He couldn’t think what else – He was back on ops tomorrow, and a special op no less. He considered the boy a final time, and moved to go. ‘Well. You look after yourself, little mate.’
There came only more munching, and a vacant stare.
Quinn started to make his way back across the rubble, already considering what best to write for the club noticeboard, when, nearing the perimeter ribbon, he fairly stumbled on a plank of old wood. Dusting himself off, he noticed a sign at the end of the plank, his misstep having unearthed it from shattered bricks. Out of frustration more than anything, he flipped it over with his shoe.
RESTRICTED AREA. DANGER OF UNEXPLODED BOMBS.
BY ORDER. A.R.P. DEPT. HOME OFFICE. 1940.
Quinn spun around back to the child.
No Way… If I’m gonna get blown to bits let it be doing what I joined up for, not for some kid I never met playing with Death every day for two years already – Not on your Life.
Quinn knocked off his cap and started determinedly back out over the broken stone.
In his next moments, his mouth went completely dry – Maybe the kid had survived this long due to body-weight alone! Quinn knew his every next step could bring the blinding flash of an explosion he’d never hear. No. No sound. Only a pounding between his ears – his own heartbeat. Drawing ever closer to the child, he felt a droplet of sweat trickle down his brow. It plopped off his nose and landed on a mortar dust-covered brick by the child as Quinn hooked an arm down, scooped the child up by the waist, spun and reversed in a single motion.On the way back across the ruined ground, Quinn became aware of another sound: Under his arm, the boy was howling – something about his home.
Quinn said nothing, to close the distance between them and the perimeter ribbon his only goal.
Reaching it, he slung the kid down on his feet to face him, gripping his shoulders as he bawled with tears.
‘You must never go back in there! Never! Don’t you know you could get killed?!’
Slipping Quinn’s grasp, the child was gone, his sobs echoing back off blasted walls. As they faded, Quinn bent slowly forward.
Placed a hand on each knee.
Vomited.
Spat.
And spat again.
NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN by Justin Sheedy is now available at GLEEBOOKS Glebe, Sydney, also at DYMOCKS Sydney, Chatswood, North Sydney, Broadway, Bondi Junction, Macquarie Centre, Rouse Hill and Camberwell (VIC), also at BERKELOUW BOOKS PADDINGTON and at THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL, Canberra. Also as a Print-on-Demand Paperback at AMAZON and at THE BOOK DEPOSITORY (Free International Shipping!) also in all Ebook formats at SMASHWORDS and at ALL major Ebook sites.
To read further excerpts of NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN, click the link below.
http://crackernight.com/2010/09/15/gh...
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