Narrelle M. Harris's Blog, page 3

Crocs, Trains and Equino-mobiles

Beautiful street art in Darwin

Once more, I am travelling! On the fifth attempt! Postponed several times due to pandemic restrictions and most recently by flooding, Tim and I finally managed to fly to Darwin to begin our long-awaited journey down the middle of Australia via the Ghan.

Darwin’s tropical heat has taught me to never again travel here in the wet season. The rigours of being slowly poached in tropical humidity at least had the compensations of beautiful foliage, excellent dining, a lively street art scene, and me gleefully embracing the touristy trappings of a crocodile adventure park, as well as an actual crocodile!

Not Kakadu (much too wet to trek out there) but one of Darwin’s croc parks, Crocosaurus Cove..

Me and my li’l murder buddy.

The croc I embraced was very young, which did not prevent it from having developed a resting bitch face to die for and a clear intent to take a cold and sharp-toothed revenge upon me at the first opportunity. Look at that little face! (The croc’s, not mine.)

I am aware my li’l murder buddy is plotting my demise, but I confess I enjoyed cuddling its soft li’l belly and well taped up Jaws of Death. The ranger said that while a croc’s downbite is spectacularly strong they have a lot more difficulty opening their jaws against pressure. So the lesson is… maybe always carry some duct tape? (Maybe this is not the lesson, but it was my takeaway).

I wasn’t either brave or agile enough to attempt the Cage of Death with a full adult croc, like this pair here, but it did look kinda fun.

diving with a croc…. for certain values of ‘fun’.

It’s a good thing that Journey Beyond’s famous train, The Ghan, covers such spectacular scenery (as well as being a delightful travel experience in its own right). I cuddled no more crocs, but met an echidna and visited Katherine Gorge, where I saw Aboriginal rock art that was older than the Egyptian Pyramids.

Ochre hands

We continued southward, like we were unzippering the nation. We skirted Alice Springs proper to visit the Desert Park (other groups with more agility and better knees took on long walks) where we met a roly poly hand-raised echidna who at least had a friendlier expression when defeinding itself with spikes.

Narrelle and Tim at the end of the trip!

That night, we stopped in the outback to view the stars. The flaming bonfire made that kinda difficult at first, but a few steps away you could stand in the red dirt and look up to see the smear of white as we looked into the distant spiral arm of our galaxy, the spilled milk of the Milky way which I never saw as a child. The first time I saw it – in Sassafras, walking with Tim – I was dumbfounded. I had no idea it could be seen with the naked eye!

And here it was again. So lovely, despite our imperfect world, and there we were, this gathering of imperfect people, gazing up. Strangers who became friends for a few days, under that beautiful sky.

The horse-drawn tram at Victor Harbor

Now we’re in Adelaide, a nice little town. We popped along to Victor Harbor (it’s spelled without the ‘u’ for arcane reasons) and rode in both a heritage train and a horse-drawn tram.

The massive Clydesdale and several stable-mates take the tram out, stolid and unfussed by much. As one of the handlers said, “I’m not sure I could convince a horse that big to do anything it doesn’t want to do.”

Richard III has a coffee stall…

And of course, no matter where I go, Richard III lurks like a panto villian in the background.

Don’t you know I’m on your side, Dickon?

If only I could remember where I saw the place, I could swing by and see if their coffee is to die for, or is better used to despatch enemies. Or at least to ask how they came about the name and where they stand on the nephews business.

Tea for the Undead

Reichenbach Recovery blend art

I first discovered the delights of US tea experts, Adagio, ten years ago through the Sherlock Fandom. Adagio produces some wonderful blends, including herbal infusions, and bless them, they also have a whole section of ‘Fandom blends’ designed by aficionados of both tea and their favourite media (books, films, TV shows, music).

The timing was right for what has become my Comfort Tea of Choice – Reichenbach Recovery. I’ve recently bought a 5oz tin of delicate Earl Grey Bravo blend with orange, bergamot, blue cornflowers and caramel and hazelnut. It smells divine! Their Dr Who-inspired TARDIS blend has a similar base but with vanilla and blackberry notes. Mmmmmmmm.

Recently, I’ve enjoyed blends inspired by Good Omens, River Song, Halloween and some other Sherlock Holmes blends.

And then I discovered how to make my own blends!

So you bet your dear little teapot cosy that this is exactly what I did!

Behold: the Vampires of Melbourne blend! Inspired by my books The Opposite of Life and Walking Shadows, vampire novels set in contemporary Melbourne.

A tin of tea!

I created it then bought the sample tin to see if I actually enjoyed the flavour, given I’d chosen the blends based on what I thought made great vampire motifs: Earl Grey Moonlight (an Early Grey infused with Vanilla & Creme flavours) with hazelnut, blood orange and ginger accents.

The teas of the Vampires of Melbourne blend

On Adagio, I describe it thus:

A tea to delight the vampires of Melbourne – Earl Grey Moonlight for the vibe. Blood Orange for the tang. Hazelnut for the body. Ginger for the bite.

I made a little pot of tea for two, because Tim was to be my control, in case I was biased in favour of my own creation.

We steeped the tea for 3 minutes and sipped it black.

Readers.

My people.

It was lovely.

It felt like a tea that a Melbourne vampire could love. A Melbourne hipster too. The mellowness of an Earl Grey with that gentle, nutty aroma of the hazelnut, an underlying, deep subtle citrus (faintly sweeter than lemon, and a tad more intense) and, at the end, a wee spicy zing of ginger.

So – there you have it!

I AM NOW THE INVENTOR OF TEAS!

My tea!

If that sounds appealing to you at all, you can check it out at Adagio’s signature blends as ‘Vampires of Melbourne’. You can get the adorable little sample tin if you want to just try it out – and then you get a sweet little tin when you’re done! I’ve chosen to donate 5% of any sales to The Trevor Project, too

Postage to Australia is around US$20 so I usually buy several different teas (in different sizes!) to get good value. Adagio often also offers free samples. And it’s just heaps of fun to have a look at all the fandom blends! (I have such a wish list!!)

I’m so delighted by this experience that I’m wondering what blend I might attempt next. Something inspired by Kitty and Cadaver and the music project, maybe!

(You know, I’ve only just now noticed how apt this blog title is, not only for a vampire-inspired tea but for the Reichenbach Recovery blend. Oh, Sherlock Holmes, you’re a caution.)

Leave a comment and let me know what you think should be in it? Or what else I should try next!

2022: Wow, I’m going to be busy!

We’re just over a month into the new year and I’ve been giving all my commitments for the year the side-eye!

My year as an image!

Please understand that I am very very very excited about every single one of these projects! And I’m going to list them here in the hopes that it keeps my honest and also perky when the work gets hard (as it inevitably does; writing isn’t all champagne and inspiration: mostly it’s too much coffee and making words happen even when you’re feeling far from inspired).

So what’s going on? What isn’t?!

Anthologies

I so loved the process of editing my first anthology – The Only One in the World – that I asked my publisher if I could do it again! She said yes, and I’m about to start reviewing the curated submissions.

Then two other editors suggested two other anthologies and invited me to co-edit, and I said yes there too, so during the year I will be editing/co-editing THREE anthologies. Count ’em! THREE!! Can’t wait to share them with you in due course.

Novels

A few of the novels that are likely to come out in 2022-3 are mentioned under the Patreon title, but another one I’ve decided to work on is a crime novel set in Melbourne. I haven’t yet begun it, but the plan is to have it ready for submission by the end of the year.

Short Stories

I’ve already written a short story due for publicatoin in a crime anthology later this year – a story that is set in the same universe as the previously mentioned novel!

I have also been invited to submit short stories to a few other anthologies this year – all of which look to be great fun, so I’m looking forward to those!

SongsSongs by Duo Ex Machina

I’m continuing with my music project, which is funded both by my Patreon and by the things I make and sell at Dangerous Charm. You can hear the three songs to date, all from the Duo Ex Machina crime series – at The Song Project.

Currenty, the producer, Josh King, and I are working on two songs inspired by some Sherlockian themes, but the long term plan is to do an album’s worth of the Duo Ex Machina songs, an album of Sherlock-inspired songs, and an album of Kitty and Cadaver-inspired songs. We won’t get to them all this year, but I’m going to have a ball doing as many as possible!

As an adjunct to this, I’ll continue to craft things to support the costs of studio time and singers! (Some of my Patreon supporters also get bling in the post a few times a year).

PatreonThe She Wolf of Baker Street

The She Wolf of Baker Street reached the end of its serialisation on my Patreon – and now all I need is the time to edit it properly, get someone else to review and edit it, and organise the publication in partnership with Clan Destine Press. This may take a little while, but when it comes together, all my Patreon supporters will get the ebook! And then it will be available to all.

What is it? Why, it’s a contemporary take on Baker Street, focused on a werewolf Mrs Hudson, several other werewolves, a plot against the supernatural heart of the United Kingdom, two non-supernatural flatmates falling in love, and Sherlock trying to work out whether discovering the supernatural will break him or change him.

With so many other projects on this year (read on for those) I’ve decided the next books to be serialised are the currently out of print Vampires of Melbourne books – The Opposite of Life begins this month, and when that has run its course, it’ll be followed by Walking Shadows. The aim is that by the time the latter is near the end, I’ll have written the third and final book in the series, Beyond Redemption, which I will then serialise. So that’s a lot of Melborne Vampire Action coming up.

Bee earrings!

In between I’ll be posting about my library, my research, my city and the occasional flash fiction. More Holmesian fiction will pop up early this year, as I write stories for prompts suggested by my Booked out supporters! I’m particularly looking forward to completing the Sherlock Holmes In Space story that one of them asked for!

I’m also sporadically writing and posting a series of 221B ficlets called The Haunting of Baker Street – set in the present day where the current tenants of Baker Street are being gently haunted by a pair of famous Victorian Husbands!

And let’s not forget the aforementioned bling!

*stops to breathe*

So that’s it! A packed year of editing, short fiction, long fiction, songwriting and crafting ahead of me.

Possibly followed by a year of sitting quietly in a cupboard.

If you want to support me or any of my projects, you can buy or even review my books (or ask your library to get them in!)

You can also support me on Patreon, buy things (or gift cards) from Dangerous Charm or just listen to any of the songs on  on Apple Music, Soundcloud, Amazon Music, Spotify or YouTube.

Or just follow me on Twitter and laugh quietly to yourself as I try to keep up with my commitments!

Happy Birthday, Sherlock Holmes

For reasons that are obscure and buried in ancient Holmesian fandom, 6 January is traditionally considered to be Sherlock Holmes’ birthday. He’s also traditionally considered to have been born in 1852. So happy 170th birthday, good sir!

Here’s a Holmesian playlist I created on Spotify in celebration.

New Release: Branch and Root

I’m so delighted to be able to announce the release of the Branch and Root anthology from Shooting Star Press.

This charming little book contains my story, “The Marbletree Wood”, set in the universe of The Witches of Tyne, but hundreds of years after the events of the initial books so you don’t really need to have read those books to follow the events of this story.

It’s a delight to be sharing ToC space with the likes of Pamela Freeman and Gillian Polack

The Blurb:

A select group of premier horror and spec fic writers ponder the trees, and their places in our lives.

13 tales of trees gathered together in one volume and printed on the very bark and flesh of the forest. Horror, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, life and death are all here. Visit with the trees… if you dare…

Buy Branch and Root

Order the paperback from Shooting Star.Order the ebook from Smashwords

Quintette of Questions: Louisa Bennet

Quintette asks writers five quick questions. This week’s interview is with:

Louisa Bennet

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

The Bone Ranger – the book was originally going to be called something else but at the final stages of the edit I was starting to write book three in the Monty Dog Detective series and I realised that the title we had picked would be better suited to book three. Because a key character in the novel is known as The Bone Ranger by Monty and the other dog characters, I suggested we named this book, The Bone Ranger, which caused Lindy, the publisher, to burst out laughing. This was exactly the response I had been hoping for.

2. If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?

The central character is a golden retriever called Monty so it would need to be a dog in the lead role – woof! The story is inspired by my golden retriever, Pickles, and his younger sidekick, Lilly, who are clever and mischievous dogs. Perhaps one of them could play the role in a movie but they might steal all the catering. They wouldn’t be able to resist all the enticing smells!

The secondary character is Detective Constable Rose Sidebottom who is struggling with anxiety and is desperate to prove she is a good detective. She is only twenty-one years old and petite but ‘doggedly’ determined (I couldn’t resist the pun!). think the actress who was in the Star Wars movie The Force Awakens would be good in the role – Daisy Ridley. Or perhaps Felicity Jones who starred in Rogue One.

3. What five words best describe your story?

Uplifting, funny, loveable, dogtastic, howlathonic!

4. Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?

Inspector Lorenzo Fabbri and Rex (a German Shepherd) – from an Italian TV series that went global.

5. What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?

I Love My Dog by Cat Stevens (1966)

About The Bone Ranger

Meet Monty, the food-obsessed and totally lovable Golden Retriever who will do anything for his owner, Detective Constable Rose Sidebottom.

Of course, as these things go, Monty is no ordinary dog and Rose is no ordinary hooman. Monty has a super-smart nose; while Rose has an uncanny ability to know when people are lying. Together they make a formidable team.

When a stranger begs for their help to find a missing person, little do they know their adventure will lead on a trail of mystery, mayhem, and murder…

Funny and heart-warming, The Bone Ranger will have you smiling from ear to ear.

Buy The Bone Ranger

The Bone Ranger at Clan Destine Press

For readers in the US:

Monty & Me at Improbable PressThe Bone Ranger at Improboble Press

About Louisa Bennet

Louisa Bennet studied Literature at the University of London and went on to learn Canine Linguistics from her golden retriever, Pickles, which is how she discovered what dogs really get up to when we’re not around. Truth be told, Pickles came up with the story for the Monty Dog Detective mysteries, and Louisa just transcribed it. She’s faster on the keyboard and less easily distracted by food and passing squirrels.

There are two books in this series: Monty & Me and The Bone Ranger (published Dec 2021)

Louisa divides her time between writing novels and running courses on crime fiction and creative writing. Pickles runs courses on wee-mailing, duck toppling and drool management. To find out more about Monty the sniffer super-sleuth, please go to:

https://lalarkin.com/cozy-mysteries/

Louisa Bennet also writes thrillers as L.A. Larkin. 

Social Media

https://lalarkin.com/cozy-mysteries/https://www.facebook.com/authorlouisabennethttps://twitter.com/MontyDogD@PicklesandLilly

On Doyle, Holmes and Fairies: Inspiration for A Fey Tale

Today, author Karen J Carlisle is my guest!

I’m Karen J Carlisle, author and Sherlock Holmes fan, which is one reason why you’re reading this. The other is to introduce my latest book, and second book in ‘The Aunt Enid Mysteries’, A Fey Tale.

A Fey Tale is a story based on fact. Well, facts. Well, there are facts on which the story is based. That’s a fact.

Fact 1: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited Adelaide, South Australia in late September 1920, to kick off his lecture tour of Australia and New Zealand. In February 1921, he returned to Adelaide to board the ship, SS Naldera, and return home.

He stayed at the Grand Central Hotel, one of the best hotels in the world at the time, with a dining room that seated 600 people. You could relax with a pot of tea in the Winter Garden Room amid exotic ferns, while a live string orchestra played (which I’ve used for a couple of scenes in A Fey Tale). Famous guests, other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, included the then-Prince of Wales, Dame Nellie Melba, Mark Twain (and, more recently, The Kinks).

He visited local vineyards – Penfolds and Hamilton Ewen – and sampled wine. He described South Australian wines as “purer than the corresponding wines in Europe, especially the champagnes“!

He also visited the Art Gallery, the Botanical Gardens, had lunch with the Governor, and visited the South Australian Museum to view Thomas Bellchambers’ Mallee Fowl Exhibit. Doyle had read about noted conservationist, Mr Bellchambers, in a UK magazine and was determined to meet him. His first introduction to Mr Bellchambers was at the Grand Central Hotel. He visited Humbug Scrub, Bellchambers’ wildlife sanctuary – one of the first wildlife sanctuaries established in Australia – on 29th September.

Fact 2: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a Spiritualist and believed in fairies.

He also attended a small meeting of Spiritualists in the hotel sitting room, was ‘entertained to dinner’ by local Adelaide doctors. (He was himself trained as a doctor in Edinburgh, and worked as a ship’s doctor and an ophthalmologist for some time, before ‘retiring’ to write books.). Interestingly, he noted in his memoirs one ‘elderly Professor’ at the dinner was named Professor Watson!

Most of us know Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the creator of the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes. His four lectures in Adelaide Town Hall weren’t related to his books, but spiritualism and Pictures (photography) of Psychic Phenomena. He also wrote many books on spiritualism, and a book, several articles and letters regarding fairies. On the Coming of Fairies discussed the controversial Cottington Fairies photographs, a series taken by two girls (since proven to be a fraud). The article, Fairies Photographed, appeared in The Strand.

He wrote of his visit to Adelaide (and Australia and New Zealand) in his book, The Wanderings of a Spiritualist, first published in London in 1921. Humbug Scrub was described in Chapter three.  He wrote that he asked of Mr Bellchambers: “You are a man living close to nature. Do you ever see any fairies?” Bellchambers replied he hadn’t.

Interestingly, there are local stories about strange lights in the area – you can read about them in ‘The Haunts of Adelaide’, written by Port Adelaide historian Allen Tiller.

Fact 3: Adelaide has mysterious ‘fairy doors’ on the footings of several buildings in the city centre. Well, used to have several of them. There’s only three left (as of writing this article). The rest are gone.

Local lore and rumour suggest the first door may have appeared in the 1880s, but there’s little to no written information on them. More recently, Google Maps have shown one appeared after 2007. Another is of a different style to the others – a simple arched door in plaster, likely contemporary to the building where it’s found, which was rebuilt in 1888.

And Holmes?

As I mentioned, A Fey Tale is book two (and prequel) in ‘The Aunt Enid Mysteries’. In Book One we meet Great Aunt Enid:

Aunt Enid is just your average seventy-something year old. She loves to cook, is a regular at bingo and spends hours in her garden, talking to her army of garden gnomes and fussing over the colour of her hydrangeas…

She’s also a fan of mysteries, her favourite being Sherlock Holmes.

Before I go any further, be warned: This way be spoilers…

When I wrote book one, I knew Aunt Enid had met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in her past; there’s a hint in Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire (p 53), when Enid Turner and Agnes Farrow are talking to their new friend, Alfred:

Alfred: “This is just like an Agatha Christie novel”

Enid: “I prefer Sherlock Holmes, myself.”

Agnes: “Oh, Arthur was such a nice man.”

Alfred: “He would have died before you were born, wouldn’t he?”

Enid (finger to lips): “Agnes means that, having read his books, she feels like she knows him.”

But what does Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, fairies, and miniature art installations have to do with a mystery set in Adelaide? This is how my thought process worked.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had written about fairies,He’d asked Thomas Bellchambers if he’d ever seen fairies at Humbug Scrub.There are stories about strange lights in Humbug Scrub.There was even an article written in September 1927, linking all three: Humbug Scrub: Sir Conan Doyle’s Fairies.And there are ‘fairy doors’ hidden throughout Adelaide city centre.

So, Humbug Scrub provided a link between Doyle’s visit in 1920 (time setting for A Fey Tale) and the fairies in the story – perfect for a Fae encounter at a picnic. Add in some ‘fairy door’ portals to Otherworlds, a troll bounty hunter, and a Fae deal…

Obligatory book blurb: Or, how it all comes together.

A deal with fairies… to solve a mystery… and prevent a war.

Enid Turner is invited to a picnic in honour of the creator of the world’s most famous detective, currently on a lecture tour in Adelaide, where they are caught in a web of treachery and betrayal from the Otherworlds.

It’s up to Aunt Enid and the Protectors, with a little help from the self-appointed Fairy Hunter, to solve the mystery, return the kidnapped heir and save the humans from Otherworldly retribution. It’s now a race to save the Earth from becoming a battleground for a magical war.

GET YOUR COPY AT BOOK BLOG SPECIAL LAUNCH PRICE:

Paperback (post to Australian addresses only) AUS$18+post (RRP us$22.99) – https://karenjcarlisle.com/product/a-fey-tale/eBook: 50% RRP (via Smashwords only) – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1119230 . Use VOUCHER CODE: YH63W (Expires: January 13, 2022)\For more stops on the book blog tour, visit: . https://karenjcarlisle.com/2021/12/17/a-fey-tale-book-blog-tour-schedule/

About Karen J Carlisle

Karen J Carlisle is a writer and illustrator of steampunk, Victorian mysteries and fantasy. She was short-listed in Australian Literature Review’s 2013 Murder/Mystery Short Story Competition.

She is currently writing the second book in her cosy fantasy mystery series, set in Adelaide. Her short stories have featured in the 2016 Adelaide Fringe exhibition, ‘A Trail of Tales’, ‘Where’s Holmes?’ and ‘Deadsteam’ anthologies.

LINKS

Website: www.karenjcarlisle.comPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/KarenJCarlisleKo-fi: https://ko-fi.com/karenjcarlisleNewsletter: https://karenjcarlisle.com/sign-up-email-list/Books2Read: https://books2read.com/ap/nmAy7z/Karen-J-Carlisle

Social Media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenjcarlisle/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenJCarlisleTwitter: https://twitter.com/kjcarlislePinterest: http://pinterest.com/riverkat42/

New Release – Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging (Volume Blue)

I’m delighted to share that the Improbable Press anthology, Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging (Volume Blue) containing my story “The Volcano and the Butterfly” and over 40 other incredible, delightful, delicious cryptid stories is now available!

Buy Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging (Volume Blue)

If you’re in the US, you can pick up a copy from Improbable Press in the New Year.Australians can get it from Clan Destine Press.

Listen to extracts from Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging (Volume Blue)

And if you’d like a taste of what to expect, you can check out the Clan Improbable YouTube Channel, where many of the Volume Blue writers have read excerpts!

(Don’t forget to check out other readings and writing advice – some by me – and subscribe for future goodies!)

Review: Writ in Blood by Julie Bozza

I confess that, while I have no particular affinity for westerns, I love books by Julie Bozza. Whatever theme she’s tackling, I know there’ll be nuance and depth, explorations of queerness and friendship, examinations of complex people with difficult personalities who may be hard to like, let alone love – and yet I know before the end I will love at least some of them. Often, she’ll include a smidge of the paranormal.

Writ in Blood contains all of these things, in its thorough, inventive and rivetting take on the events that led up to the infamous 30-second shoot-out at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona on October 26, 1881, and its murderous aftermath.

The lead-up to the gunfight is pretty Byzantine. Lawmen weren’t always particularly law-abiding and gamblers like Doc Holliday weren’t necessarily gunslingers, even if they weren’t especially law-abiding either. Allegiances get slippery and keeping track of all the people named Billy is a task unto itself. Then there are all the killings and revenge killings and the vendettas seeking payback for the revenge killings, and so on, almost ad infinitum.

Bozza takes these tangled skeins of personalities, allegiances and events and carefully selects the threads to weave a gripping story about honour, love, revenge and hope in those dangerous times. She also weaves in some colourful new threads of her own making.

Wyatt, Doc and Ringo are the triple focus of Writ in Blood, which begins with John Ringo under arrest for his first killing. His story proceeds to weaves in and out of the Earp/Holliday story, as his fluid allegiences reflect his tactiturnity and loneliness, and his mind becomes as grey, tattered and ephemeral as the soul he has lost somewhere in the western wilds, unwanted even by hell. (We know this because Ringo offered it to the ethereally beautiful son of the devil in trade for a one night stand. The sex happened, but his threadbare soul doesn’t seem to have been claimed. Ringo has several sexual encounters with this golden demon, and it’s deliberately unclear whether these are real or products of Ringo’s muddled psyche.)

Ringo is a deeply disturbed soul, who has done bad things but does not feel like he’s a bad man. While his darkness carries curious elements of light and honour, Wyatt Earp is effectively his opposite: a man of honour who in time gives in to dark deeds when the law fails him.

And between the two of them sits Doc Holliday, another contradiction: a deliciously devil-may-care gambler and gunslinger with a sense of honour – given only months to live in his early days as a dentist, and now living high and wide and handsome in expectation of imminent death by TB.

Doc Holliday, cheerfully bisexual, conducts a torrid affair with Ringo for a time – all sex, no love – before finally falling in with the Earps, where he falls in unrequited yet steadfast love with Wyatt. For his part, Wyatt clearly values his friendship with a man who skirts the edge of the law, finding comfort in Doc’s company, particularly in the worst of times.

With this emotional backdrop, which explores motivating forces for Ringo, Holliday and the Earps, Writ in Blood charts a course from Ringo’s arrest in 1877, through all the winding paths towards the 1881 gunfight and what followed, to Ringo’s violent, lonely death and, finally, to a last reunion between Doc and Wyatt in 1885.

It’s chronologically linear, but the character journeys are deep and often contradictory. Bozza gently unfolds their changing relationships, fears, ambitions and confrontations, maintaining clarity while providing satisfying complexity and depth. While the men of legend take centre stage, the women – the wives of the Earp men and Doc Holliday’s common-law wife, sex worker Kate Elder – have more presence and agency than they get in most retellings.

Through these three men, and all the acts of love and violence they commit, Bozza gives us a vibrant and compelling view into the brutality and romance of the tumultuous and untamed American west. It’s another complex work of art by Julie Bozza, writ in dust, blood, grief and love – made more wonderful by the actual art by Mags Kulbicka within its pages.

Buy Writ in Blood

From the author’s websiteUniversal Buy Link

If you’d like to learn more, Bozza has written several blog posts exploring the real history of these people, and discussing the liberties she’s taken with facts (where they’re known) and her choices in selecting elements of history for what is after all fiction.

Quintette of Questions: Hugh McGinlay

Quintette asks writers five quick questions. This week’s interview is with:

Hugh McGinlay

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

Bodysurfing. For years the manuscript was called Nightswimming, I’m a huge REM fan and when I started writing a coastal thriller it just seemed right. Then I found out there were several books called Nightswimming, so I meditated on something that sounds both beach going and murderous.

2. Which of your characters do you want to have your back in a fight?

Boris will lie down for you in traffic, he’s tough and quick, but I’d have to say Britt. Boris will give you heroic failure and some great stories, Britt will just go for the throat and you’ll be sure to walk away.

3. Which one would you pull a heist with?

Britt would never pull a heist, but she’s the only one who would get away with it. Catherine will give you the most laughs though, in and out of prison.

4. In your dream film of the book, which one actor would you like to cast, and in which role?

I think Aubrey Plaza as Catherine would be delicious if she could nail the Aussie accent. For Australian actors I would say the delightful woman in the trivago ads (I don’t watch much TV, sorry all).

5. What should be your book’s theme song?

Catherine’s theme song has always been Don’t make me a target by Spoon. I often put it on when I’m stuck. There’s also any jazz by Brenton Foster seems to get the stories going. I recommend him to all writers (or non-writers).

About Bodysurfing

Milliner sleuth Catherine Kint and her friends on a coastal rollick of mystery and hot chips. Political intrigue, seahorse poaching and poor life choices all included.

Buy Bodysurfing

Clan Destine Press

Buy the first two books in the series, Jinx and Pachyderm.

About Hugh McGinley

Hugh McGinlay is a writer of offbeat fiction, songwriter and singer. These poor life choices have also seen him do several day jobs and release three books, four albums and regular opinions on the state of Australian Politics.

His series – the Catherine Kint Mysteries – are based on the life of Catherine Kint, milliner, raconteur and hedonist. Now in it’s third story, Catherine and her friends, Boris (barman and muscle), Britt (homicide detective) and Andy (voice of reson and frog enthusiast) all life in Hugh’s head and keep him company through the long long day.

Hugh is amazed at how his imaginary friends have become so popular.

Social Media

www.hughmcginlay.com https://www.facebook.com/hugh.mcginlay.1https://twitter.com/hugh_mcginlay