Strangers in Our Own Lands: Cast Adrift in Aotearoa

by G.A. De Forest

This is a work of "Creative Nonfiction," a deeply personal account as seen through a child's eyes, and reviewed from an adult's viewpoint still often childlike in its frankness. Family events from the writer's early life are observed and related to the unfolding fate of the family caught in an existential, psychological tug-of-war. Quirks of both American and New Zealand outlooks are seen and interpreted with some humor and personal insight.

392 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

Born in Hawaii a USAF brat in 1955, my Coalinga father had met his bride to be on shore leave from the "USS Mintaka", USN, in Albert Park, Auckland during WWII. (His brother Orrin De Forest Jr would later publish "Slow Burn", about his own attempts to reform brutal interrogation techniques as head of Bien Hoa province's CIA section in the Vietnam War.) We were constantly on the move, returning to San Diego a recurrent theme in lieu of a hometown before Maw upped stakes to bring her brood back to her home city and the shelter of her own family, she thought. The results of this are tragicomically related in "Katy & Kula and the Kervil Kids" (2009), a popular local historical work of creative nonfiction telling how we settled or didn't into New Zealand society in 1960 and what life was like then for little kids (and our mothers) in that time and place, like stepping back thirty years in Western civilization. Something must have taken because I've lived here in West Auckland ever since.

I decided to be a writer on enrolment day for my MA, February 1978, turning on my heel from the halls of academia, and eight months later copped my first job as a professional, writing encyclopedia articles for a Sydney-based publisher. Some 250,000 words written and edited later, project over, I had written my character out of a job and began a bohemian life on and off Grub Street. Through the long-suffering indulgence of my mother (though not quite as long as G. B. Shaw's maw), a seven-year stint at a "real job" allowed me to live off the fat of the land. And the Internet revolution has been an enabler for my own projects.

First came the aborted murder novel; then a play/novel set in renaissance Florence with its volatile pool of geniuses; and a prototype book on early cinema (to be revisited). Finally finding a distinctive voice, my print-on-demand book distributed by Booklocker.com (2007), "Beach Boys vs Beatlemania: Rediscovering Sixties Music", could turn your view of the Sixties upside down. It's not just about the Beach Boys and the Beatles. It fits into my constant theme: turning the "obvious" on its head and erecting an alternate view. Whatever the subject (or as Hitchcock called it, the "macguffin") my take is unorthodox. What other reason is there to write? I'm gratified this book rose as high as #23 on Amazon.com's Music History & Criticism sales ranking; #8 Amazon-Canada in the same category, and #7 Performing Arts.

A book editorship with Savant Books, Honolulu, brought "Path of the Templar" published 27th December 2012, second in the JUMPER CHRONICLES series by W C Peever, who credits me as co-writer of this volume. For Aignos Publishers, similarly located in Paradise, my essay "Being Psycho in New Zealand" is in the anthology THERE IS NO CHOLERA IN ZIMBABWE, due out the northern summer of 2013. This led to me embark on a series of short novels based closely on Auckland street life featuring thinly disguised actual events thrown up by prevailing economics and failures in mental health.

My current commercial enterprise is my Sixties Rock project revised, expanded and illustrated with photos from the public domain. Split into a series of five books, each 210 to 260 pages, the first four are under the title SIXTIES WHITEBOY ROCK, distributed as ebooks at $US 9.99 each through Amazon Kindle under my imprint Best Books (Auckland); the fifth and final one has the working title "Black Sixties Rock and its White Disciples". They all have plenty on your favorite rock genres, Brit and Yank groups, solo performers, Motown, Atlantic, EMI/Capitol and other disc labels and trends and statistics of the era -- something on everything you ever wanted to know about the Music Biz in the Sixties.

At some point a collection of my essays from Wordpress.com will also appear on ebook. A personal project in progress is a fictional play, "The Trial of Hone Heke", on the rebel Maori chief, c.1846. The play poses what might have happened had

Reviews

[Rowan Maddox]

I have read this memoir and it opened my eyes to 1960s New Zealand culture. The cultural clashes are sometimes funny, sometimes painful. It’s an unforgettable look at displacement.

[Arden Solace]

I have read this and admired how strong the children remained through constant change.

[Briar Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this memoir, I was struck by how vividly childhood confusion is portrayed.
The emotions feel real and unforced.

[Lyraen Thistwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading, I noticed how restrained the tone is.
It sticks to facts rather than hype.

[Blythe Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

By the time I finished this memoir, its themes of belonging and identity stayed with me.
A thoughtful and memorable read.

[Rhodes Ellington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going through this memoir, I admired the courage behind telling this story. It feels deeply personal.

[Elowen PierceElowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this book, the emotional weight slowly built.The writing captures both beauty and loss. A quietly powerful memoir.

[Marceline Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

What struck me most was the child’s-eye view of dislocation. It makes the emotional weight feel immediate and real.