The Caretaker has a cover – and is available for pre-order!
Well, now it’s starting to feel real. On August 2, for the first time in two years, I’ll have a new physical book out on shelves and I can finally show off what that book’s going to look like.
The Caretaker is a big shift from The Hunted and The Inheritance. It’s still a dark thriller about a woman on the run, but that woman is not Maggie and the darkness comes less from extreme violence and more from character driven tension. As such I think this stark, ominous cover suits the book perfectly.
I’ll be honest, I’m a bit scared. You never really know how a book is going to be received and when that book is trying something different to ones that have worked previously, you can’t even make an educated guess. All I can promise is that I’ve tried to write something that delivers a haunting atmosphere, shocking twists, tantalising mysteries, a sympathetic but troubled protagonist, a twisted villain and, yeah, okay, maybe a little bit of extreme violence.
Anyway. Advance copies are about to go out into the world so it won’t be long until reviews follow and with them the first hints of whether I’ve hit the mark or not. For now though, the book is available to pre-order here, or from your local bookstore. On which note - pre-orders are immensely important as the more a bookstore gets, the more they’ll support the book, so please do consider it.
I hope you like it.
Mansfield Readers and Writer’s Festival
Over March 4 and 5, I was back up in my hometown for the inaugural Mansfield Readers and Writer’s Festival. It was something I was as excited for as I was nervous about – previously I’d only ever done one guest spot at festivals. Here, I’d be front and centre on four panels, sharing the stage with some pretty massive authors.
Naturally it was full on and draining, but it was so much fun. There were so many great conversations and big laughs both onstage and off. I dove deep into rural crime with Margaret Hickey and Lyn Yeowart, discussed life as an author with Jock Serong and Anson Cameron, and the complexities of editing with Dani Vee, Ryan Butta and Mick Looby. And in between the panels and lunches and whatnots, I met so many readers and signed plenty of books.
One funny little twist of fate; the opening party was hosted at the Magnolia in Mansfield, a stately old house that is now a cellar door venue for a vineyard, but during my childhood was a restaurant and Bed and Breakfast run by my family – in which we also lived. Kicking off the festival in the shadow of my childhood bedroom was just a little surreal.
Project Updates
This is one of those months without any enormous announcements because, well, I’ve been so flat out trying to juggle everything. But in the interests of updating you on all this big projects, this is where they’re at:
Andromache Between Worlds has gone through its first round of edits and been accepted by Harper, which means it’s all on track for a February ‘24 release. More notes will be coming my way soon as it goes into a line edit, but for now that book looks to be in a great place and I couldn’t be happier.
As of this month I’ve plotted and started writing The Lodger, which has been a huge amount of fun so far. The development of this one has been funny – initially it was a very direct sequel to The Hitchhiker, which I then decided to develop into something that could stand alone, while still continuing the story from that book. However, in doing so it ended up also becoming a bit of a sequel to The Inheritance and The Caretaker, picking up on plot points from both books. It’s still first and foremost a Hitchhiker sequel and one that can be read with no prior knowledge, but I think you’ll particularly enjoy it if you’re across most of my thriller work.
Then there’s The Retirement Plan, which is being edited as we speak. I’ve seen a rough cut of the film and am really excited by the shape it’s taking. It will still be a little while before it’s ready to be seen by wider audiences, but I’m more optimistic than ever that it’ll be great.
The Hunted #6 on BorrowBox
This was a really awesome little surprise – The Hunted, which last year made it into the top ten eBooks in Australian libraries, seems to still be there, being the 6th most borrowed book via BorrowBox. Sometimes as an author you can feel like a book dominates your life before and immediately after it’s released, then quietly slips away as if it never happened. So reminders like this that it keeps chugging along and finding new readers tend to be day-makers when they happen.
Class of ‘07
I want to briefly break from our usually scheduled programming to not talk about what I’ve been up to, but what a close friend of mine has been up to. If you’re one of the few readers who was aware of my stuff before the release of The Hunted, then you’ll almost certainly be aware of Rose Flanagan. In 2016 Rose stole the show in my play The Critic, before getting great reviews for directing the same play in 2019 – in between, we collaborated on the (no longer available) web series Bogan Book Club before reuniting for The Pact, our lockdown project, in 2020.
Rose has always been a staggering talent and consequently I felt lucky to collaborate with her whenever I got the chance, knowing that it was only a matter of time before some heavy hitters noticed and skyrocketed her to stardom.
Well, that’s gone and happened. A couple of years back Rose scored a major role in the Amazon show Class of ’07, which last month hit screens and went straight to #1. And deservedly so – it’s a fantastic show, funny and sharp and surprising with great performances across the board. I might be biased in claiming Rose steals the show, but then you watch and try to tell me otherwise – she masterfully underplays every moment she gets and in the process draws the biggest laughs.
Anyway. I’m really proud of her and this is only the beginning of what I suspect will be a pretty stratospheric rise for Rose. Check out the show here!
Recommendations
This month for me has been dominated by the returns of three of my favourite current shows – Yellowjackets, Succession and Ted Lasso. At the time of writing, one of them comes out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday respectively, which is a treat and a half for me.
All three are massively popular so there’s not a whole lot of point in recommending them, but I’ll touch on why I like them in case you haven’t given any of them a look yet. Ted Lasso combines heartfelt warmth with surprisingly clear-eyed perspective on the psyches of its characters. The series could easily be saccharine and sometimes is, but always undercuts the hopeful messaging with doses of rough reality. The balance works beautifully.
Yellowjackets, meanwhile, was one of the freshest things I’d seen in years when it first came out. It’s funny, scary, deviously clever and genuinely cool, bolstered by great performances and sharp writing. It’s a series that starts with revealing its main characters have a history of cannibalism, and only gets more twisted from there. I love it.
Succession, of course, has just kicked off a final season victory lap after years of being probably the most well written show on TV. It’s still hilarious, with lines that have me chuckling days later. It still somehow makes you care about awful people. And it still has the potential for stomach clenching tension. All of which it pulled off in only its first episode back.
But my biggest recommendation this month has to be All Quiet on the Western Front, which I only watched because I was trying to see all the Best Picture nominees ahead of the Oscars. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it – I’m already annoyed at the trend of ballooning film lengths and a two and a half hour long war movie didn’t much appeal to me. But from the brilliantly bleak opening scenes, electrified by an utterly haunting soundtrack, I was hooked.
I wonder if American and British war movies tend towards heroic narratives because, well, in both World Wars they won. But whether it’s Saving Private Ryan or 1917 there usually tends to be an emphasis on bravery and heroism.
Not here. Here, war is bleak and awful and destructive and cruel. The characters are brave and endearing, but they’re just kids and the injustice of some of their almost accidental fates is gutting. Add to this the film’s deliberately jarring tendency of hard cutting to the opulent rooms where generals and bureaucrats discuss ending the war at leisure while gorging themselves stupid, and you have a uniquely impactful look at the pointless short-sightedness that characterised the First World War. The ending had me yelling at my TV.
All Quiet On The Western Front was far and away my favourite of the Best Picture nominees. The Oscars it did win were beyond deserved, but I worry it’s the most likely to be overlooked. Don’t make the mistake I almost did. See it if you can.
The Caretaker – New Excerpt
Since things are heating up where The Caretaker is concerned, I thought I’d share another little glimpse of the book, taken from the first chapter.
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Liam was gruff, heavyset and maybe in his late thirties, with a broad, stern face and a goatee. Charlotte did not like the way his brow furrowed as he watched her.
‘Everything okay?’ she asked.
‘Course,’ he said. ‘I mean, just … how old are you?’
She nodded to the papers in front of her. ‘Thirty-one. It’s in my resume.’
He made no move to pick it up. ’You look young for thirty-one.’
She might have to amend that for future applications. If she made it that long. She did her best to smile but didn’t hold it too long. Any discomfort would make him look closer.
‘Right then,’ Liam said. ‘The job. You read the ad properly?’
She nodded.
‘You sure?’ Liam pushed. ‘I only ask ’cos we’ve had applicants in the past who thought it’d be like winter. A big nonstop party. Mount Skillion’s not like that in the off-season. There’s no-one else up there. National Parks might stop by occasionally. If we’re really lucky somebody’ll book a lodge. Had a footy team do a buck’s party there last year, no idea why until I saw the damage. Figured nobody would call the cops on ’em. But that’s rare. Chances are, it’ll be you by yourself from now until autumn. You clear on that?’
The whole reason she had applied for the job would, to just about anyone else, be reason to stay the hell away from it. But at least Liam’s surprise seemed more to do with seeing a skinny young woman applying rather than him having recognised her.
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I’m actually, um …’
Use as much reality as you can afford to make the lie ring true.
‘I’m kind of an aspiring writer and like, the isolation is what I need, you know? No distractions?’
Liam didn’t bother to hide his eyeroll. ‘Right. Whatever. Well, as long as you don’t let the great Australian novel get in the way of your job, I couldn’t care less what you do up there. I’ll put it all in an email for you, but it’s not rocket science, especially if no-one else is around, which so far no-one else will be. Keep an eye on the lodges. Keep ‘em tidy. Most of them are pretty well insulated but every now and then there’s some wear and tear we miss and mildew starts happening. Keep on top of that, the smell can be a prick to get out once winter starts and guests get complaining. Watch the windows too – sometimes idiot birds smash into them and if it rains or there’s an unseasonal snowfall with no-one there to check, it can be a killer. There’re only six lodges on Skillion – take one out of commission and that’s a big fucking blow to the profits. That happens, board the window up, call me.’
‘Do you live down here?’ Charlotte asked.
Liam scoffed. ‘Shit no. Couldn’t pay me to live here. Skillion’s alright during winter, rest of the time it’s, well, you’ll see. Burnley isn’t even good in the winter. Nah, I’m over in Stratton, but I’ll still be managing the emails and the admin and shit. Anyone books a lodge, I’ll give you the heads up, you can make sure it’s good for them. All the lodges have combinations so no need for ’em to bother you for keys or anything. Now, you get into any trouble up there—’
Charlotte did her best to maintain a neutral expression.
‘Well, my advice is, don’t.’ Liam sipped his coffee.