A couple of weeks back, I had the surreal experience of having a radio interview recorded in my rooms at Baulkham Hills. Vincent O’Donnell runs a radio show in Melbourne for Arts Alive; a program that has been running for ten years dealing in arts and culture. As he was in Sydney we had the opportunity to record a face to face interview.

Please click on the following link to hear the interview. If you fast forward within the browser you can skip directly to our chat.

Please note the following disclaimer: No patients were neglected or harmed during the course of this interview…

A couple of nights ago, a few of my friends texted me about a documentary on the ABC.

Matt, in particular, said: “Tune in but give it five minutes… don’t find out what it’s called.”

I turned on the set to watch a wonderfully conjured CGI iceberg, breaking away from the Arctic shelf. Images of its journey south were mingled with weathered shots of an ocean liner undergoing its sea trials- I have to admit, I started to have a bad feeling about this. It wasn’t looking good for our trusty iceberg. It was given a name, a destination,  and imbued with some dark agenda.

I later learned that the show was titled, ‘The Iceberg that sank the Titanic’- which strikes me as a bit of a spoiler. I mean where’s the suspense?

Having said that, I was intrigued that someone thought of telling the story from the iceberg’s P.O.V.

It reminded me of that fact that Churchill (I think it was Churchill, I ain’t going to look this up) or someone equally interesting, used to deal with their insomnia by telling themselves the story of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, from the point of view of the bird.

I like the idea of approaching a story from a skewed perspective, such as Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and March. Having said that, telling the story of the Titanic, from the iceberg’s point of view, sounds about as tasteful as describing the Great Fire of London from the point of view of the flames. Actually, that could be kind of interesting…

In keeping with my promise I am back for more bloggoriffic hijinks.

Six weeks since the books release and there is clearly no pleasing me. If I don’t see my book in a store I wonder why it isn’t being stocked. If I do- I am wondering why it ain’t sold out…

It appears to be getting out and about though.

I recently was directed to John Burmingham’s website. His father had shown him  my interview with Gary Kemble (see below), The subject of interest being the demise of Agents Burmingham and Reilly in my novel. It was cute to see that I am clearly not alone in ’slaughtering’ other writers for the sake of a little bloodshed.

Speaking of Gary, amateur that I am, I was unaware of his own intriguing body of work. I suggest popping here to check out some of his own fiction.

So, in closing, I know you guys are out there reading this stuff. (I have my means.) Please feel free to drop a comment or two- let me know what you think, feel, etc- and stay out of trouble…

Just a quick update folks…

Brisbane-based writer, Gary Kemble, interviewed me for a recent article posted this week at ABC ONLINE.

An associated blog, at Articulate, directs the reader back to this site and the image of my first hand written page for the book.

Just wanted to share…

Kristie and Danny, a delightful couple I have the pleasure of looking after, told me at their recent visit that they often pop on to this site only to find that my updates are too infrequent.

I told them that I find it kinda hard to talk about myself and my doings on this site. (Those of you who know me well can stop sniggering now.) What I’m trying to say is that I’m not sure what you guys would like to hear about. So… I have set up this ‘writing’ category. Bearing in mind that I consider myself the consumate amatuer when it comes to writing, please feel free to comment at this post if you have any questions about the book in terms of what went in to the research, writing, publishing etc… of Company.

I thought I would take this opportunity to share something with you guys, however. Recently, while clearing out my garage, I came across some of my original notes for the novel. I actually found some of the first hand written drafts, started back in 1996. So I thought I’d submit the first page I ever wrote for the book.

It’s overwritten, appallingly scrawled, and bears a creepy resemblence to the finished product.

Just wanted to share, and hope to hear back from you guys soon.

Last Tuesday, I had the chance to pop down to Melbourne and do a series of interviews. It was quite a surreal experience. Having not had much call for dealing with the media to date I have to say it was quite fun. Apart from a series of quick radio spots I managed to have a great chat with Rob Jan, from 3RRR (see pic below).

I also was interviewed by Claire Sutherland of the Melbourne Herald Sun.

My ususal Tuesdays are spent supervising a fairly busy obstetric clinic at Blacktown Hospital, so believe me when I tell you that I managed to spare my colleagues a brief thought as I stared out across the Yarra on that beautiful sunny afternoon.

The Company of the Dead was lauched with full fanfare on August the 9th at Ariel Books. We had a full house with over 150 people crowded among the book stands.

With Finnegans Wake playing a selection of Tradional Irish music, and bottomless glasses of champagne all round, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Having dreaded the event myself, I have to say that I had the time of my life. I’d like to thank everyone who managed to attend.

Angela Meyer, who runs her own fascinating Blog, has posted material that first appeared in the July 2007 issue of BOOKSELLER + PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2007 Thorpe-Bowker (a divison of RR Bowker LLC).

For her review of the book, please click here.

For a recent interview. Please click here.

A second review is available at the Infinitas web site. Click here to check it out.

Despite a release date for August 1st, I am pleased to inform you all that the book is now available.

Having spent the last few months counting down to D-Day I was pleasantly surprised to find ’Company’ on display at a number of my favourite Book stores.

Check it out and please feel free to let me know what you think…

Just saw the season finale of Doctor Who, and without giving anything away, the last 60 seconds were a lead up to the show’s Christmas special.

The scene featured the prow of a gigantic ocean liner tearing apart the Doctor’s time machine. Then a life preserver falls at his feet bearing the legend, ‘S.S. Titanic’.

The title of the Christmas Special is going to be ‘The Voyage of the damned’. I have to wonder at how it’s going to play out?

Talk about timing…