A quick note before we get started: this email was sent from my new, way more profesh email address: news@jackheathwriter.com. So, if you're reading this, please add that address to your safe senders list. And if you're not reading this, please... uh... check your spam filter, I guess? Hmm. |
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I recently returned from Adelaide.
I love Adelaide—I've been there lots of times, and every time I discover something new. This time I learned:
- The buses drive above the ground on concrete rails rather than on roads, with terrifying drops on either side and in between
- Adelaide has those zippy electric scooter things available to rent, just like Canberra (and they lock themselves and hurl you off if you try to ride one into Rundle Mall—the scooter is judge, jury and executioner!)
- Adelaideans (is that the right term?) are all very friendly, but sometimes say ominous things like, "You can't be too careful around here" and "Oh, I love those scooter things. Sometimes you don't want to risk walking to the train station, you know?"
- The teacher librarians of South Australia are incredible people, trying to broaden the minds of their students despite the resistance of (some) parents, principals and the students themselves (obviously not all students/parents/principals, but still, it's a battle, and one not contained to South Australia. #studentsneedschoollibraries)
- And that the only place open for dinner after 9:30 pm on a Sunday night is a mini-golf place, but the pizza there is way better than you'd think.
During one of my very early morning walks, I was also startled to discover a pair of breakfast radio hosts sealed in a glass box (they were in there for five days, raising money for Lifeline). Good on them! I was especially fascinated, given the plot of my forthcoming book (more on that below).
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It must also be said that Adelaide is a great place to write. I found it very inspiring. Headcase, the fourth outing for Houston's best (and worst) investigator, is going well. The view from the 16th floor of my hotel helped:
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Show Stunt Kid some love!
Incredibly, your votes managed to get Hangman onto Better Reading's list of the 100 best books of all time. I was stunned, delighted, grateful—and dangerously encouraged.
Better Reading is taking votes for the 50 best kids' books of all time. Normally I wouldn't think a plucky little upstart like Stunt Kid Seriously Stacks It would have a chance. Now I'm thinking it might, with your help!
If you love Stunt Kid—or my work in general—please vote here. It takes seconds.
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Preorder Kid President Totally Rules!
My new kids book is coming soon! It's an illustrated comedy for age 9+ about a presidential candidate who mispells his own name on some crucial paperwork, which leads to a kid with a very similar name suddenly becoming the president. This kid has big plans.
The book hits shelves across Australasia on September 1st, and you can secure your copy by pre-ordering it today. (Please do! The more pre-orders there are, the more copies will be printed, stocked, and prominently displayed in bookstores.)
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Kill Your Brother has a release date
After five years of work, my first crime novel set in Australia is almost here. It's about an ex-athlete who is kidnapped and held captive, and told that she'll be released if she murders her brother. It's been recorded by the amazing Hannah Monson, and should appear on Audible around August 4. Here I am, hearing the audio for the first time in my hotel room:
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Kill Your Brother is jam-packed with twists, the sort that are vulnerable to spoilers. I'll let you know as soon as it's out, so you can grab it before anyone blabs. But in the meantime, you can learn more about the book here (unless you want to go in totally cold, which is not a bad way to experience a book like this):
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Upcoming events!
 This section of my newsletter has been absent for a year or so, and I'm a little rusty. Bear with me:
- I'll be at the (virtual) Aurealis Awards on July 7, hoping that my shortlisted story Pork Belly might win something. (It has the misfortune to be up against the extraordinarily clever, sinister and moving story Mary, Mary by Fiona Bell. But you never know!
- I don't know if I'm supposed to announce this yet, so let's just say I'll be appearing at a certain writers festival somewhere in the ACT around about August 21st-ish
- I'm theoretically visiting both Sydney and Melbourne, but even if those trips happen, there may be no public events. I'll try to sign some stock at bookshops while I'm there, so local readers can get signed copies of Stunt Kid, 200 Minutes of Mystery and the Hangman series.
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And here's your short story:
I wrote it in seven minutes during a writing workshop at Charnwood-Dunlop School. It has not been edited or proofread.
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So, most corpses smelled bad, but this was something else.
'Good heavens,' Kenny complained, a dainty handkerchief pressed to his mouth.
Tina just crouched next to the body, her leather trousers creaking. The dead man's skin looked waxy and yellow, and the stench suggested that he'd been pickled in vinegar. He could have been here for two hours or two decades.
'I've seen something like this before,' she murmured.
'Where?' Kenny's voice was muffled by the hanky. He was standing as far away as he could, which wasn't very far, in this cramped replica of grandpa's study.
'Don't know. Can't place it.' Tina studied the clothes on the body. Fingerless gloves, a bow tie, suit pants riding up to expose thermal leggings. Formal shoes, like you'd wear to a funeral.
'So how did he die?' Kenny asked. 'A quick case is a good case.'
Tina touched her palm to the man's cold forehead, and closed her eyes. 'Let's ask him.'
The tingling flowed from her heart to her fingertips, and then the dead man gasped.
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I've read a lot of good books lately...
...and I haven't written nearly as many reviews as I intended to. But I did find the time to write this one:
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 The Chase is actually three books, cunningly disguised as one.
The first book is about a mysterious group who mastermind a mass-breakout from Pronghorn Correctional Facility in the middle of the Nevada desert. As 600 violent criminals stream towards Las Vegas, US Marshal Trinity Parker is summoned to kick some ass and take some names—and to make sure she gets all the credit.
The second book is about John Kradle—an inmate from Pronghorn's death row—who decides that this is his chance to prove his innocence. But a determined prison guard, Celine Osbourne, is hellbent on putting him back in his box.
The third book (my personal favourite) is a collection of short stories. A woman vanishes on the day of her son's birth, and reappears 14 fears later. A blackjack dealer, recovering from trauma, is confronted at work by her escaped convict ex-husband. A sleazy Elvis impersonator who does weddings comes face-to-face with an unsatisfied customer—also an escaped prisoner. And an old man roams the unfamiliar landscape, not trying especially hard to avoid capture, but nevertheless having an extraordinary run of good luck...
Read more |
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I swear there was something else I was supposed to tell you.
But I have no clue what it was. You'd better follow me on social media, just in case I remember:
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