Just got back from a week away in Mornington to find copies of the latest Countdown: The School Magazine in my letterbox — and inside, a reprint of my story ‘Snail Mail’!
The October 2009 edition of Countdown: The School Magazine featuring my story ‘Snail Mail’ (note: my story has nothing to do with dragons)
Countdown is published by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training. I was thrilled to see that the story was illustrated by Stephen Axelsen, who wrote and illustrated what was one of my favourite books when I was growing up: The Oath of Bad Brown Bill.
The Oath of Bad Brown Bill by Stephen Axelsen
I don’t know what happened to my original copy of The Oath of Bad Brown Bill, but I was amazed to find a second-hand copy in pretty good condition in Phillip Island several years ago. Unfortunately I couldn’t find much about the book online (except for this LibraryThing entry), but it’s about a bushranger and his waggish steed Mudpie (their crimes include stealing the entire Queensland Mint!) and their encounter with the ghoulish Pale Jackeroo…
Now that I look back at it I can see a lot in Bad Brown Bill that probably influenced my imagination and interests: the vividly imagined historical Australian setting, the creepy monsters, and a horse that suddenly acquires the power of speech (though that last one will only make sense if my currently unpublished novel The Genie in the Dunnycan ever becomes non-unpublished).
‘Snail Mail’ was originally published in the Short anthology published by Black Dog Books early last year.
Short: a collection of interesting short stories and other stuff from some surprising and intelligent people edited by Lili Wilkinson
Black Dog are doing a similar anthology early next year, and I’m pleased to report that I have a short piece in that one too…