March 2018

Train Surfers revisited

An odd incident this week. A kid on a bike – maybe about 13/14 – came riding past the station and slowed to a stop.
“Hello! Do you recognize me?” he called out. “You used to yell at me and my friends for riding on the back of trains.”
I’ve been doing this job for 14 years now and I expected abuse at this point.
“I was only trying to save your lives,” I said defensively.“ It’s a very dangerous thing to do.”
“Yeah! We’ve stopped doing it now,” he said
And he turned round and cycled back up the hill.

Marco Pool?

It’s been New Year’s Spring Break in China and the Zoo has been busy with Chinese families coming here to see the astonishing Australian wildlife.  I was fascinated when I saw a little Chinese boy with a most interesting windcheater bearing the words.  Marco Pool since 1254.  I wondered what was going on with this windcheater.

I assumed it was a knock off of the Marco Polo clothes company, but why since 1254.  When I looked it up on line I couldn’t find a clothing company but I discovered a very nice looking swimming center in the Philippines called Marco Pool.  But its unlikely to have been established in 1254 which was before the days of chlorinated pools.

The oddest thing is that the date is the famous traveler’s birth date.  So if you are going to get the birth date right why not the rest.  Alas I will never know what was in the mind of the designer of this windcheater but I can’t help suspecting there is a leg pull somewhere here.

 

New Book coming!! The Melded Child

The new novel of the Archipelago and the Tari.

Coming out April 7

In Print on Demand from Bernarra Press through Amazon and in ebook from Clan Destine Press

 

An ancient prophecy has come to pass.

The peace negotiated by the Tari has held firm for ten years, but a new Demon Master is rising.

When Yani the Raven is kidnapped, sorceress Marigoth and her companion Ezratah are drawn into a trap set by a brutal necromancer and his insane sister.

Meanwhile Elena Starchild’s daughter Alyx, heir to the throne of the Mori, finds herself wounded and on the run in a forest full of dark magic; and in the company of her bitter enemy.

Can the insular Tari, dreaming in the secret land of Ermora, be awoken before the demon fire consumes them?

And can a Melded Child bring harmony before it is too late?