September 2023
It’s nearing the end of Labour Day long weekend here in Australia. Last night was the football grand final and spring, along with its increasingly hot weather, is upon us.
Also, it’s that time of month when we publish another ‘Great Writers’ interview by Michael Duffy. This month’s interview – another that never happened based on things the author actually said and wrote – is with George Orwell, left-wing intellectual, and author of Animal Farm and Nineteen-Eighty Four. This time Michael catches Orwell on the island of Jura, just off the Scottish coast, where he wrote most of Nineteen-Eighty Four while renting Barnhill Farmhouse.
Thanks to Michael Duffy for his contributions over the past few months. I’m yet to clarify whether he will be continuing the project. I’m hoping he will. But for readers of the Reading Project and these interviews, you’re sure to enjoy finding out how one of the world’s most famous novelists brewed tea and how he almost died before he ever wrote his most famous novels.
To read Michael Duffy's profile of George Orwell click here or on the image.
- bikerbuddy
My Annus horribilis (to use the phrase of Queen Elizabeth’s) continues: one thing after another. It’s put me in a fairly negative state of mind for a lot of the year. Since the last blog post I’ve barely touched a book after receiving a development plan for next door. We live in a heritage area. Responding to it – absorbing council regulations, state regulations, council documents and the plans themselves and their rationale – has taken me most of my time, not including what is now over an 11,000 word response which will occupy my thoughts until it’s due in next Monday.
I don’t normally mention personal things, but not much has happened on this site since. We haven’t abandoned the Reading Project. I’m hoping to be able to concentrate on a new review for Paul Harding’s shortlisted book, This Other Eden, today. Every time I’ve gone to write it in the past few days I’ve ended up working on the development response, instead.
Onto more positive subjects: Mike V. of the No Happy Nonsense website has announced that a seventh instalment of Ear Rat Magazine will be released this year. If you want to do something creative and make a contribution, check out the submissions page here. I managed to write a story in the wee hours of the night while I couldn’t sleep. I normally send them off to him too early, then want to make changes, afterwards. So I’ll follow my own advice this time and do some revising first. Meanwhile, the kangaroos get to ruminate on its weighty themes.
And something to look forward to in the coming days is Michael Duffy’s latest instalment in the Bella Greaves Series, The Man in Black. It’s his third crime novel in this series set here in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. It’s due out this Saturday. Purchases of this book and others in the series can be made at bookshops here in the Blue Mountains or from Michael Duffy’s website, OrphanRock.com. Michael Duffy has also contributed some interviews with famous authors on this site and his last interview, with George Orwell, has had over 250 page views, alone, in the last 7 days.
- bikerbuddy
