He wasn’t asking for the great love, the grande affair, the unforgettable one or the lightning bolt of love at first sight. He yearned for the real thing and if it didn't come his way, then at least someone to walk joyfully and contentedly besid...

The Queensland sun does things to people. Everybody is tanned, relaxed and wants to talk. That’s alright with me. I am a waiter in a busy tourist restaurant and it’s my job to listen. People want me to know the most amazing, the weirdest and s...

Australia: the island continent. Strange animals, unfamiliar plants, beautiful beaches and scenery plus: a trap for young players. Beware, all is not as it seems.

An Australian public servant had the audacity to tell world leaders to disarm. While he was around, there would be no nuclear war. He held all the trump cards and so would his son. Penberthy was a happy man when the wall fell, the U.S.S.R. implode...

“Martin goes floundering” in Tasmania's Marion Bay. Pause and retreat. What could possibly go wrong? Pause and retreat. He has been there before and made TV news for all the wrong reasons... This is a light-hearted short story of what happens ...

This is a brief (400 word) guide to writing and assessing short stories. Especially my own. Some writers object to a structure for stories. That is fine as long as you realize that no structure is a structure still. You just write and hope to pull...

Be scared, be very scared: this is the “classic universal tale”* of good and evil, power and corruption. This unabridged version of the “Highly commended” short story in the Stringybark 2010 Short Story Award concerns a man who believes th...

After another fight with his father, the 16 year old walked out. He severed connection with what he thought were his parents. He wandered the world and only stopped to work and save. He walked till the money ran out. He had walked North and South ...

If you’re good for a laugh, wear a name badge in Tasmania. Otherwise-don’t. If your name is Smith or Jones or Williams, the tour guide will leave you alone. He picks on people named Gilberthorpe, Worthington, Gillespie, Markgrunder or Thistlet...

A young actress celebrates her stage debut at an opening night party. The well meaning host introduces her to another first. An instant, all consuming, intoxicating and lifelong infatuation and obsession ensues: Udolpho Wolfe. Her infatuation brin...