A few short notes
on capturing clouds and other adventures
Where dreams come to die
Project type: Novel
Status: Developmental edit
Synopsis: Erin McCleod returns to her hometown with her tail between her legs, leaving a failed relationship and a failed business in the city. Struggling to hide her failures and regain control, she finds herself confronted by ghosts of the past and demons from the present. Things become more complicated when a dangerous visitor, Jack, attaches himself to her, while the perceived threat of great white sharks forces the dying coastal community to confront its own ghosts.
Excerpt: The massive fish coasted over the reef. Like a ghost, it faded in and out of view as it circled the diver. It wasn't a monstrous killing machine. This wasn't a frenzied attack. It was calculated. The shark closed in again. Its mouth widened. Skin wrinkled back over protruding jaw. Teeth clamped around the bars of the cage. The dark, menacing eye rolled back into its head. The cage rattled like a toy in the hands of a toddler. The flimsy structure offered no protection against the determined predator. Desperate, Erin struck at pointed snout of the beast. The shaking stopped. Seemingly mesmerised by her touch, the shark released the cage from its terrible jaws and drifted backwards. It awoke from its daze and sidled up to the cage again. Erin's eyes locked on the dark ball the examined her. Tiny details stuck out: the deep scar underneath the eye; the dark blue of the iris. A greater terror than before flooded her heart. The monster wasn't interested in the cage anymore. It wanted what was inside.
Other: "Where dreams come to die" is a working title only. Half of this was written for NaNoWriMo 2017 (winner).
The art of self importance
Project type: Novel
Status: Completed first draft
Synopsis: Getting started was easy. Getting famous enough to live off it was harder. Evan, known online as VandalHates, was well on his way to online success through making humorous but cruel video critiques of art uploaded to an art sharing site. It all blows up in his face when he mistakenly finds out too much about one terrible artist and he is forced to evaluate his own life choices.
Excerpt: I went to bed that night more confused than ever and without a single video finished. It took forever to fall asleep, but I couldn’t reconcile the real Cake Girl with her online persona. She was so earthy and sincere. It was hard to believe she had the ability to pretend to be someone else. Something didn’t add up. Something else was going on. The answer came quicker than I thought.
I eventually dozed off, only to wake up to a barrage of texts on my social media accounts. A quick glance through them and my thoughts of Cake Girl consolidated into one single word: hypocrite.
“Alex! Alex!” I bellowed, running down the hallway with my phone in my hand.
I barged into his room. He was asleep on his bed, fully clothed and with a comic covering his face.
“Alex! Have you seen this?” I yelled.
He sat up with a start. The comic book tumbled to the floor.
“Wha? Whas goin on?” he mumbled, rubbing his bleary eyes.
I shoved my phone into his face.
“What do you see here?”
He squinted. “Dude? I can’t really see anything. What time is it?”
“It doesn’t matter what time it is. I’ve been banned from SelfExhibit!”
Other: "The art of self-importance" is a working title. Most of the draft was written for Camp NaNoWriMo (April 2018) (Winner).
Unhinged
Project type: novel
Status: Developmental edit
Synopsis: Miku thought she knew what it meant to struggle hard as an outsider. Growing up as one of the only Japanese kids in her suburban community and forging her own success as a creative, she thought the struggles were over. That was until her worst fears were realised and she found herself in a place where the rewards of hard work could be snatched away, violence was the order of the day and the real struggle was staying alive. And her first acquaintance in this new world seemed hell bent on making sure she wouldn't survive.
Excerpt: The dampness was the first thing she noticed, something wet and spongy against her forehead. It was quickly followed by the feeling that the world was upside down and something sharp was stabbing her stomach. Gingerly, Miku opened her eyes. She was face down in the dirt, her body slumped over her backpack. A groan escaped her lips as she tried to move her stiff, aching body into a sitting position.
Blinking, she glanced around. She was in a small clearing, circled by stunted trees and shrubs. A sharp, peppery eucalyptus smell filled the air. There was the low rumble of thunder as a storm rolled off into the distance. She brushed the dirt off her face and tried to remember what she was doing there. A cool gust of wind whipped through the stifling air, rustling something at her feet. She picked it up. The inflight magazine. Oh shit, the plane!
She jumped to her feet.
“Hello? Hello?” she yelled, only a it wasn’t a yell. Just a dry croak from her parched throat.
Where was the smoke? Where was the debris? Where were the bodies? The sirens? The help?
There was nothing, not a sound but the occasional whisper of the leaves as a breeze rustled through them. And then she heard it, the heavy crunch of footsteps and the jingle of metal.
“Help!” she croaked as loudly as she could.
Comments: "Unhinged" is the working title. A previous draft was written and lost. A new draft was started for NaNoWrimo (2018).
Watermark
Rising. Falling. Steady. The tendency of rivers after rainfall.
Watermarks, the stains left behind when the water recedes, show the heights floodwaters have reached. The white bark of river red gums bear witness to some of the more severe flood events, even decades later.
Watermark is a collection of poems about things that leave behind marks: world-changing events, life-changing experiences, and everyday occurrences. A mix of the historical, personal, and imaginative, the pieces within this book are written in a sparse and non-floral style that draws strongly from the harsh Australian landscape.
Excerpt from Poppies:
In Flanders Fields the poppies grew
And now they adorn
Each solemn breast
In polyester red
And PVC black
With a safety pin stabbed
Right through the back.
Status: Watermark is available for purchase as an e-book and paperback here.
