Garry Disher ‘Kill Shot’ Book Review

Wyatt is almost spectral as he shifts unseen through a corrupt world, an inscrutable villain doing what he does best––stinging the stingers.

No qualms from Wyatt as he tracks ruthless, avaricious people and their hidden treasures, taking back what is not rightfully theirs and passing it on.

Wyatt was doing specialist break-and-enter jobs when his friend and fixer Sam Kramer contacted him. Currently incarcerated and relying on prison networks and outside contact from his daughter Phoebe, Kramer gets a message through to Wyatt offering him a lucrative job. Lucrative yes, easy no.

After some quick research, Wyatt learns his target is corporate financier Jack Tremayne who is being investigated by the Probity Commission and facing jail time for a Ponzi scheme which ripped off innocent people and made him rich. Tremayne appears likely to abscond with the lot. Before he escapes the country, Wyatt’s task is to find the assets he’s hidden, a million in cash, shares and bonds.

The trouble is several other felonious characters are interested in the hidden million, working just as hard as Wyatt to find it. And we know there will be inescapable violence along the way.

Author Garry Disher is adept at getting inside the morally deficient minds of the criminal fraternity Wyatt encounters, tearing down their respectable facades, releasing their foibles bit by bit until cruel, cunning personalities emerge––those who will fight hard to steal a valuable prize. And fight even harder when they find out Wyatt is closing in.

There is plenty of action in this thriller and as the tension builds, the main players emerge. Trophy wife Lynx Tremayne; Will DeLacey the Tremayne lawyer; Mark Impey nervous investor; prison gofer Brad Salter; Kramer’s sleazy son Josh: ex-commando Nick Lazar; none are particularly agreeable. Apart from the incomparable Wyatt, my other favourite person is Property Crimes DS Greg Muecke who gets in the way of Robbery & Serious Crimes division as he relentlessly follows Wyatt’s trail. A knowing man but usually one step behind.

The drama starts in Sydney and unfolds around the beachside homes in Newcastle before progressing through to yachting marinas and beyond. Wyatt has various identities and travels in understated disguises as he tracks his target. No slang but unashamedly Australian with place names and businesses, author tributes e.g. Corris, Throsby, and an atmosphere so evocative you can smell the eucalyptus and fresh sea air.

Full of plot twists, ‘Kill Shot’ is number 9 of this tightly written series. The ending is not what I expected which makes the story all the more enthralling and earns my Five-Star rating.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Wyatt Crime Series

Kickback             (1991)
Paydirt          (1992)
Deathdeal           (1993)
Crosskill            (1994)
Port Vila Blues (1995)
The Fallout     (1997)
Wyatt               (2010)
The Heat        (2015)
Kill Shot             (2018)

Stats

Title: Kill Shot
Author: Garry Disher
Pages: 320
Publisher: Text Publishing Company
Publish Date: 3-Dec-2018
Country of Publication: Australia
https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/kill-shot-a-wyatt-thriller

In addition to the Wyatt series, Garry Disher has written a variety of books
https://www.garrydisher.com/

Tea Towels and a Missed Opportunity

Before you yawn in boredom, let me explain. A local bookshop promotes a new title ‘The Art Of The Tea Towel’ by Marnie Fogg, hardback 144 pages and selling well.

That author could have been me!

Last year I posted about my cotton tea towels, their history and some photographs. Nobody, as far as I could tell, had done this before and I was rather proud of my efforts. This year Marnie’s book comes out and I’m kicking myself.

The ‘what ifs’ start – what if I had ironed my linen tea towels, what if I had borrowed my great aunt’s classic designs, what if I had posed them with kitchen utensils and what if I had pitched to a nostalgic publisher who loves tea and scones?

Would I have my name on that cover if I’d taken the initiative? Would, could, maybe…

Of course, there’s always the option of publishing my own tea towel book, but there would be the whiff of ‘copycat’ about it. I doubt the literary world is ready for another one.

Interested in my meagre effort (I even designed my own) click here:
https://thoughtsbecomewords.com/2017/10/01/teatowel-of-ignominy/

Interested in Marnie Fogg’s selection, click book cover:

Both links explain the versatility of a tea towel and its usage in today’s world.

So, writers, you can guess the moral of this story.

I’m slinking off to find a handkerchief to dab at my eyes…hmm, handkerchief. There’s another drying piece of serviceable domestic textile…

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

IMG_20180519_111152 — Tea Towel “Ayrshire Cattle Society” © By appointment to Her Majesty The Queen, suppliers of kitchen textiles, Ulster Weavers Home Fashions Limited, Belfast.

IMG_20190428_100040 — My well-used Scottish tea towel but I’ve never tried the Haggis recipe.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Happy New Year 06

Happy New Year 2019

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

A VERY SOMBRE POSTSCRIPT

April 2024

We all know what happened, COVID-19 pandemic descended on the world.

A universal killer, a blight on humanity, a wake-up call.

Weakness is left in its wake, has corona virus truly gone?

Stay safe, stay clean, still wear a mask if it makes you feel comfortable.

Never take your life or any other lives for granted. GBW.

Friendship

IMG_20171125_204159

A thought put into words for the New Year.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Happy Christmas, Readers and Writers

IMG_20181204_123500 — December 2018 courtesy of Red Tractor Designs http://www.redtractor.com.au/general-store/

We celebrate on Christmas Day in whichever way the universe imparts to us, but my wish is that you experience a safe, happy, holy, calm and peaceful Christmas 2018.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Blogging Pleasure and Pain

I’m reading blog posts which say ‘Posting has become a chore’ or ‘It’s hard to post regularly’ or ‘Feeling the pressure to post’—-stop right there!

Take a break, the earth, the sky and the stars will still be there, the world will still turn.

Conversely there are serious blog posts coercing, er, cajoling the writer into a formula. Or worse, a winning formula to be the best blogger in the blogosphere.

There’s even a blog ideas generator, how unoriginal can you get!

YOUR WORDS, YOUR WORLD, CREATE YOUR WAY!

Does a technique overcome bloggers block? Better blogging supposedly comes with strategies, structure, schedules, regularity, planning…bah, humbug I say! There’s probably enough pressure in your world without adding more via your blog. If anything, blogging should be

a freedom,

a release from the daily grind,

your little patch of calmness,

a zone of personal creativity,

a focus on what you want,

how you want to say it,

and most of all, don’t worry,

let your originality take over.

The old hippie saying ‘go with the flow’ is appropriate when doing morning pages and you may like writing in the morning or writing in the evening. Don’t push yourself to write to someone else’s rule, someone else’s timetable. Free-writing is better than no writing. You can actually write anywhere, anytime, and I don’t mean social media.

Self-control up to a point.
Yeah, I know people who have to have a hammer hanging over their heads on a piece of string. If they stand up, the hammer hits them on the head, they sit back down and do another 500 words of pain. One famous writer actually tied his body to the chair to write.
Then there’s that annual trial by acronym.
Which does not spell g-o-o-d w-o-r-k to me.

Do you really want a target audience? Do you personally know anyone who is making a decent living from blogging? They’re the ones in the pressure cooker. If you are not commercially selling, I say ‘Do your own thing!’ and that’s exciting.

I speak from experience. You will find your own rhythm if you truly want to write. And nobody, least of all me, will help you or hinder you. You’re on your own, kid.

YOUR WORDS, YOUR WORLD, CREATE YOUR WAY!

‘Work hard to create great content’ – if it’s too hard it won’t work.

‘Blog often while controlling quality’ – we all know quality varies.

‘Find your competition and observe them’ – nothing worse than a lurker.

‘Write to please your readers’ – first ask yourself ‘Am I pleased with it?’

‘Improve your blog writing formula’ – your creativity is not a prescription.

‘What is your target market searching for?’ – don’t pander to the people.

‘What type of content do readers prefer?’ – write your content and let them Follow.

‘Start internal link building’ – in other words Liking but not liking.

‘You need to know the right audience for you’ – other bloggers will work that out.

‘Make your blog post titles catchy’ – why get hung up on headings.

‘Don’t have time to write then reblog or hire a ghost-writer’ – ha ha ha ha ha.

‘Images are important to highlight your post’ – keep them relevant, naturally.

‘Good eye-appeal in formats and layouts’ – beauty is in the eye of the blogger.

‘Learn basic SEO’ – because it’s basic but not life threatening.

‘Reply to Comments daily’ – meaning a proper reply or else deactivate Comments.

‘Bill Gates once said Content Is King’ – well, hey, that’s a given.

‘Keep wordcount down’ – there are people who can still read lots of words.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

YOUR WORDS, YOUR WORLD, CREATE YOUR WAY!

Typewriter 15 — A refreshing nap or agony for hours…

‘Early Riser’ Jasper Fforde Book Review

A winter nightmare in snow-bound Wales.

Imagine a world where human inhabitants must bulk-up and hibernate through brutally cold winters, watched over by armed Winter Consuls, a group of officers who diligently guard the susceptible sleeping citizens. Or do they?

“Early Riser” is the latest novel from bestselling author Jasper Fforde.

A unique and inventive writer, Welsh resident Jasper Fforde creates a mystery novel with skewed social values, high level corruption, bureaucratic cover-ups, bad dreams, mindlessness and the ever-present fear of freezing to death, all set in a bleak yet frighteningly droll otherworld in Wales.

Perfect for the cold northern hemisphere and a cool read for the hot southern hemisphere.

SPOILER ALERT – Jasper Fforde should have his own genre, writing a review is difficult! Please note the book contains references to real food brand names.

Jasper Fforde is known for creating strong female characters and in “Early Riser” he does not disappoint. Aurora and Toccata immediately spring to mind but I won’t go into details. Let’s just say they are not related to Thursday Next, although there are a couple of fan-fic moments.

In this speculative postmodern standalone, the protagonist is Charlie Worthing, a novice Winter Consul who has been trained to stay alive through the bleakest of winters.

Although rather young and innocent, Charlie is chosen to accompany notable Winter Consul and hero, Jack Logan, to the Douzey, a remote sector in the middle of snow-covered Wales. It’s an honour but Charlie is not at all prepared for what awaits in frigid Sector Twelve.

Part of Charlie’s job is to deal with Tricksy Nightwalkers whose consciousness has been eroded by hibernation and, first up, there’s the care and delivery of a vacant Nightwalker Mrs Tiffen which causes an unexpected disaster.

With a deformity which quickly earns a nickname, poor Charlie learns dreaming is not encouraged. Especially not about a mysterious blue Buick or a large beach parasol, part of the main “Early Riser” plot. There’s floating in and out of another Charlie’s dream, and also problems with a young woman, Jonesy, who decides to create their own backstory.

Winter Consuls carry a Thumper and a Bambi which are deadly guns or, for extra grunt, a Vortex Canon is deployed when necessary to blast snow and anything in it. Thus Deputy Charlie begins Pantry Duty, guarding the winter pantry, under the tutelage of seasoned campaigner Fodder – and things get even weirder!

"Dark humour and entertaining pseudo geek-speak punctuate an otherwise intense novel which touches on community issues relevant today" GBW.

In “Early Riser” prominent themes are human relationships, mental health, bad coffee and sugary food as the isolated enclave carbo-load in preparation for the enforced SlumberDown. Certain behaviour, although legal in this story, is reprehensible by our standards. In Sector Twelve nothing is wasted, so-called Vacants become unpaid workers or body-farmed for those who have lost limbs due to rat gnawing or frost bite.

In most of Jasper Fforde’s tales, the world is run by an evil corporation and here we have HiberTech which supplies Morphenox drugs and encourages the growing of a winter “coat” for hibernation. Charlie encounters The Notable Goodnight, shivers hearing the maybe-less-than-mythical Gronk, and has a shock meeting with posh Villains. Snowy dangers abound, like WinterVolk and Campaigners For Real Sleep. Classic Fforde!

First I listened to the “Early Riser” audio book and narrator Thomas Hunt does a variety of accents which keep the pacing levels high. His Attenborough-like chapter introductions are hilarious, a blend of hushed tones and Fforde’s dry humour. Wales comes across as a kind of decimated never-never land, and I’m sure it’s not, but thankfully snow is a rare commodity in Australia otherwise I’d be shaking in my shoes.

+ PLUS Innovative story with a world in a world, the snowbound and the dream-state.
– MINUS Some repetition and some chapters are heavy with world-building.

Book rating 5-Star and recommended for readers who can handle comprehensively quirky writing.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

“Jasper Fforde writes…authentic tales of metafictional mystery and murder most horrid lashed with literary wit and a generous helping of humour.” by Niall Alexander of tor.com Fri Aug 3, 2018 1:30pm.
https://www.tor.com/2018/08/03/book-reviews-early-riser-by-jasper-fforde/

STOP THE PRESS! JASPER FFORDE WILL BE IN BRISBANE AUSTRALIA FOR BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL, SOUTH BANK, FROM THURSDAY 5 SEPT TO SUNDAY 8 SEPT 2019.

https://bwf.org.au/2019/brisbane-writers-festival/artists/jasper-fforde-1

Jasper Fforde itinerary will be:

Event 1 – Workshop ‘Writing Futures’ with Jasper Fforde at QWC: Learning Centre, State Library of Queensland.

Event 2 – Panel ‘Dream Worlds’ at Cinema B, Gallery of Modern Art, South Bank.

Event 3 – Conversation ‘Early Riser’ at The Edge, State Library of Queensland.

Event 4 – Book Club ‘Meet Jasper Fforde’ River Decks, State Library of Queensland.

Event 5 – Lecture / Special Closing Address by Jasper Fforde, The Edge, State Library of Queensland.

Pre-Christmas Reading Done

IMG_20181209_134705

Was going to wait for the holiday season but…four authors, perennial and well-seasoned storytellers who can spin a yarn which kept me absorbed to the final chapter. Highly recommended!

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

The distinction is…?

Berneray Beach Scotland UK 02 — “Dune grass blows in the wind as a storm brews over Sound of Harris, Berneray beach, Outer Hebrides, Scotland” Image by Cody Duncan 2010.

Quotation from Ivan Illich (1926-2002) who was a Croatian-Austrian philosopher, one of the world’s great thinkers, a polymath whose output covered vast subjects. He was a critic of modern Western culture and addressed contemporary practices in education, medicine, work, energy usage, transportation and economic development.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/dec/09/guardianobituaries.highereducation

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Drought Ain’t Over Yet

Australian farmers, east and west, north and south are facing challenges on the land. As we head into summer, the drought has reached drastic proportions right across the country. Imagine no water, cattle dying, crops withering and red dust coating everything you touch. We have to think about farmers livelihoods, they put the food on everyone’s table.

So far Rural Aid have…

• Helped over 4500 farmers have registered for various types of assistance.

• 2000 farmers have received Buy-a-Bale hay, currently numbers growing at 30 a week.

• 1000’s of hampers, water trucks, fuel cards and vouchers.

Since 1 July 2018 Rural Aid have…

• Employed 11 mental health counsellors with committed funding of $5.5m over 3 years.

• More than $20m in total cash donations has been accepted by Rural Aid.

• Over 2200 counselling telephone one-on-one calls or face to face visits to farmers in 4 months.

• $3m paid for hay distributed to farmers in need.

• $2.3m paid in freight to deliver the hay.

• $6m for bill relief for farmers.

• Forward commitment to purchase $11m of hay and transport for next 6 months.

• More than $1.2m provided to farmers in the form of gift cards which can be spent locally.

• Expanded their team by 7 people so they can respond to enquiries and provide help faster to those most in need.

Rural Aid have moved 76 and 88 trailers respective, almost 3500 tonnes of hay in the last two weeks alone, delivered to over 300 farmers. This is amazing work by hay teams, truckies and hay producers who are all pulling together, a super support effort. But the battle continues.

Read the blog of a drought-stricken cattle farmer Paula Stevenson
http://paulastevensonwriter.com.au/day-266/

My thoughts into words…

It’s a hard way to earn a living. You can help dedicated farmers to keep growing our country’s food. Consider Farm-sitting, Farm Army volunteering, Farm Rescue groups, buying hay bales or donating to—
Rural Aid www.ruralaid.org.au
Buy-a-Bale www.buyabale.com.au

As Rural Aid wraps up another year, their 2019 calendars are now selling. Help out by placing an order for this great Christmas gift and have it mailed—
Calendar Grab a 2019 calendar

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward