Auscast Literature Channel

Molly Schmidt’s Salt River Road is a searing account of grief and redemption set in the big sky/small town landscapes of south west WA..
Racism, poverty and country town politics are all part of life in country Western Australia in the 1970’s. But for the Tetley family all that matters is that they have lost their beloved mother Elena, and they are all falling apart…and in danger of losing the farm that is their livelihood.
Through the eyes of teenage siblings Rose and Frank the reader experiences the
dangerously deep grief of losing a parent. Then comes a slow redemption through their connection with two local Noongar elders, and a reconciliation with events from the past.

Guest:
Molly Schmidt, author and recipient of the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award

INSTAGRAM
@molly.elizabeth.schmidt
@fremantlepress

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Three writers walk into a room...and somehow manage to work together. Not these three writers, necessarily. But in theory, that's how collaboration works. Welcome to the final Word Docs of the season, where Sean, Alex and Amy are in fizzy spirits thanks to acute cases of over-caffeination (or in Sean's case, too much hot chocolate). What's the secret to a good collaboration? Talk talk talk. Pizza. Precious puppet masks. And the supreme act of Veto. Unfortunately, none of the Word Docs have veto power, so there will be tangents, including a charming little story about Alex the Ungovernable Daisy, a call for spam recipes, and a trip down memory lane to when Pizza Hut was an actual restaurant. Those were the days. But these are also days and we're serving them up with a steaming hot spam pizza of knowledge.  Seriously, we really do talk about collaboration. And a lot of it is very useful stuff. Besides, you'll miss us next week, so why not put up with us this week? Spam for all!

#Word Docs #writing #WritingPodcast #AmWriting #WritingLife #FlindersCreative Writing #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #CreativeWriting #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #AlexVickeryHowe #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #SpamSpamSpamSpam #Collaboration #ShaneDix #GarthNix #PizzaHut #WellMissYou #WeKnowYoullMissUsToo #HappyWriting

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Sean tests Alex and Amy's knowledge of action and pacing this week (ding ding ding!). What are the pitfalls of pacing an action sequence? We've got all the answers - get your fast bits right and your slow bits even righter. Is righter a word? It is now! Get some classic Word Docs wisdom about character, theme, and how to control the story. There may also be a lot of references to John Wick and some random sportsball chatter that contains no wisdom at all. But stick with it until the reversal, when all will snap into focus. (Don't hold us to that).

#Word Docs #writing #WritingPodcast #AmWriting #WritingLife #FlindersCreative Writing #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #CreativeWriting #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #AlexVickeryHowe #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #ActionScenes #Pacing #JohnWick #AmericanPsycho #ShaneDix #StarWars #TheWookieEdition #CatrionaWard #LastHouseOnNeedlesStreet #SimoneStJames #InsertActionFilm Here #TriplePenis #ThanksAlex #TheSlugInTheSky #FixItInPost #AmyGame #HappyWriting

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Celia appears to have it all and her life is running like clockwork - and so it should because she has it planned down to the very last minute - but then along comes a challenge that could be her undoing! Celia is thrust into a process equal parts amusing and heartbreaking as she shakily charts a new path.

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From falling for the boy next door to romancing a minotaur - occupational therapist turned  successful romance novelist Davina Stone talks us through the many forms that modern romance takes. The only proviso is, no matter how serious the story, the ending must be happy!

Guests

Emma Young, author of “The Disorganisation of Celia Stone”. Her debut novel was “The Last Bookshop”.

Davina Stone, author of ‘The Felix Factor’, the sixth novel in her series The Laws of Love . She also writes monster romance under the name Lilith Stone 

Other books that get a mention

Emma loves the diary format and she recalls the young adult books that first inspired her: The Adrian Mole series by Sue Townsend, “So Much to Tell You” by John Marsden, “I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith and “Bridget Jones’ Diary” by Helen Fielding.

Emma is donating half her royalties to Beyond Zero Emissions (www.bze.org.au).

Michaela mentions “The Tao of Pooh” by Benjamin Hoff

Annie mentions “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and “it’s all small stuff” by Richard Carlson

Davina mentions Romance Writers of Australia, a community of over 700 aspiring, emerging, and established indie and traditionally published romance authors.

INSTAGRAM

@emma_young_book_fiend

@fremantlepress

@davinastone_

@rwaaus

https://davinastone.com/

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Hello from the sickbed...

Alex is calling in from home, where he's down with COVID; Sean is suffering from post-COVID brain fog; and Amy is infuriatingly healthy. Today the Word Docs are answering the most annoying questions people ask writers: Will you read my manuscript? If I give you an idea, will you write it, and we can split the profits? Can I have a free book? The answers range from 'No', to 'Hell, no', with the odd 'Amy is not a mule' thrown in, to spice things up. There's also some consideration of the stupid questions people must ask dentists... 

#WordDocs #Writing #SeanWilliams #AmyBarry #AmyTMatthews #AlexVickeryHowe #FlindersUniversity #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #WritingCommunity #StupidQuestions #NotSoStupidQuestions #COVID #HappyWriting

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Join Sean, Amy and...uh...Alex?...for this week's episode of Word Docs. Our usual Alex is out with COVID so this week we're welcoming a substitute Alex, in the form of our friend and colleague Dr Alex Cothren, who sidles up to the mic to talk satire, short stories and writing challenges. By the end of this one we'll all love Alex Cothren, fear Sean, and wonder if Amy might be missing next week...

#WordDocs #Writing #SeanWilliams #AmyBarry #AmyTMatthews #AlexCothren #FlindersUniversity #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #WritingCommunity #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #LetsTalkTrojanBee #Satire #ShortStory #Meanjin #StephenColbert #SamanthaBee #ItsAlwaysSunny #BlackMirror #SomeoneElsesBucketList #FearSean #WeMissYouAlexVickeryHowe #HappyWriting

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The Word Docs have written a masterpiece. No, really...it’s great. It’s alright. Look, it’s not bad. Together, Amy, Sean and Alex have devised the ultimate romance. Don’t Touch My Dad should be coming to a bookshop near you, but probably won’t be.

#MorePeccable #ImmanuelCollege #Style #Plot #TheCorpseofanAuthor #Audience #JumpingAhead #MalandJeanette #Genre #HappilyEverAfterAgain #SomeoneElsesBucketList #MadFather #SaneSon #FathersandDaughters #ExtendedFamilies #AlexHasSpoken #Tropes #WickedQueen #SuziQuatro #RiverPhoenix #Nala #Grimhilde #SecondChance #Incesty #Ageism #Longing #ActivelyCovering #Cheater #Secrets #FatheroftheBride #EmpathyandCompassion #ParentYourParent #FindingHappiness #ScrewupinaDifferentWay #Chances #GoldenIdea #UncleBill  

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He has finally done his homework! Alex has come to the table with trees to shake and pots to stir. Can Sean and Amy handle their sugar addled friend? Will they withstand his jittery scrutiny? The host is juiced up...and he has calories to burn.

#AlexVickeryHowe #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #PinkDrink #Caffeine #DifficultMaterial #MassagingTricks #EndoftheNightGirl #TheBookofMormon #JeanetteVickeryHowe #Tone #PostColonialism #MattandTrey #PunchingUp #Comedy #Metafiction #Simon&Schuster #ItsAlwaysSunnyinPhiladelphia #HolidayInn #BreakfastatTiffanys #NavigatingtheKingdomofNight #Goodness #AmandaNettelbeck #FraughtHistories #AnitaHeiss #ImpossibleMusic #TheBoyintheStripedPajamas #VoteYes #TheTrumpYears #JodiPicoult #CulturalBaggage #BookTokBurns #Junebug #SupremeDickhead

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Cath has admired the work of Paddy O’Reilly for some time but with her shortlisting for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, “Other Houses” looks sure to win O’Reilly many new admirers. It’s a tale of class, aspiration and the boundaries we will cross for love.

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Michaela has an Anne of Green Gables doll that her mother bought on a pilgrimage to Prince Edward Island in the ‘80s. She asks Associate Professors Lisa Bennett and Kylie Cardell to reveal their ‘Green’ credentials and discuss LM Montgomery’s perennial appeal.

Guests
Paddy O’Reilly, author of “Other Houses”

Associate Professor Kylie Cardell and Associate Professor Lisa Bennett, both from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University

The Tsundoku team’s Christmas reading list:

Sarah  - “The Remains of the Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro & “The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osmon

Michaela - “A Net for Small Fishes” by Lucy Jago

Annie - “Ghosts of Spain” by Giles Tremlett, “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray & “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Cath - “The Tea Ladies” by Amanda Hampson, “Stoneyard Devotional” by Charlotte Wood & “Less than Angels” by Barbara Pym

INSTAGRAM

@paddyoreilly.writer
@affirmpress

@lisalhannett

@kyliesays

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And the golden statue goes to...

There are some trophies you don’t mount on your bookshelf (pun intended) but they colour your career nonetheless. The Word Docs have gleefully unearthed the worst of the Bad Sex Awards to explore the act of love in print. With lots of laughter and a little light vomit, Amy, Sean and Alex will discuss the whos, the whys, and the oh-dear-god-nos of these explicit encounters.

Warning: This episode contains weird swearing, confusing anatomy and icky metaphors. Not to be played in public.

#AmyTMatthews #SeanWilliams #AlexVickeryHowe #TheSlugintheSky #LoveandDeath #MarryingOffMorganMcBride #SkinnyDipping #Beards #ShesAllThat #TheWildMan #HelmsDeep #TessLeSue #DefinitionsofSex #JulianGough #NippleSucking #Bleep #MaryCostello #TwistyPigPenis #DidierDecoin #SpiderArms #HannibalLecter #PleasureCave #MichaelBay #Blank #MyDadWroteaPorno #TabA #SlotB #CliveBarker #TheCentralZone #HaroldandMadge #BambiTits #SportsBall #HarryPotterandtheGiantSquid #TheOddKids #Haruki Murakami #AMedicalProblem #OhGloriousPubes! #AnyoneForBillards? #PornistheProblem #SanitisedBodies #LongerHarderMore

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The Word Docs are perusing expert recommendations and dissecting them at length. Amy is unwell and trying to keep the train moving, Alex is stuck on a constant delay...and Sean wants to kidnap a dog. This week we learn about Einstein’s epic battle with Hitler, the importance of supportive desk chairs and the dark secret of Mount Everest.

#HiPluto #Limp #ZooCam #JoanneHarris #FiveThoughts #WorkSpace #AReallyGoodDeskChair #ClimbingMountains #ThePhysio #VoidofMyOwnMind #JohnMajor #AffectEffect #Clutter #Walking #NaturalLight #Reminders #PlanYourSnacks #HydroHomie
#EinsteinvsHitler #GoodStory #GoodCharacters #Succession #HouseofCards #TurkeysWithFirearms #MountEverest #Feelings #MakePeopleCry #BeingAuthentic #JudiDench #ArchiveofEmotionalMemory #DogThreats #AMelancholyPerspective #HavingaGoodNight #MoreDogThreats #TedLasso #PointofView #Traps! #FirstPerson #LarryDavid #LionelShriver #Empathy #JurassicPark #TheSlugintheSky #ReadReadRead #SneakyThoughts #TiffanyLyndallKnight #FrozenAlex #GhostAlex #Loose&Sick 

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This week the Word Docs are responding to a listener question and exploring immortality. Would you want to live forever? Would you want your work to live forever? Would you want to spend eternity inside a giant spider? Is that even an option? Sugared up on chocolate, this is Word Docs at their most rambunctious. Sean reads palms, and Amy finds she doesn't seem to have a lifeline, while Alex frets that he might be taken to a farm up state when his time is up. By the end of this one you'll feel you've lived many lives, and you'll be able to use 'heretofore' in a sentence.

#WordDocs #Writing #SeanWilliams #AmyBarry #AmyTMatthews #AlexVickeryHowe #FlindersUniversity #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #WritingCommunity #Immortality #WhoWantsToLiveForever #NotMe #MaybeMe #OnlyIfICanLiveInAGiantSpider #Lifelines #WordDocVampire #SciFiWriter #ThoughtExperiment #GiantSpiders #FarmUpState #Heretofore #HappyWriting

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Sean and Alex are sickly and disgusting (in that order), but Amy is here to save the day with research and cogent thoughts. This week, the Docs explore the wisdom of Betsy Lerner and unpack the various writer archetypes Lerner describes. Who among them is the Natural? The Ambivalent Writer? The Wicked Child? Well, some things are painfully obvious... join the gang as they embark on free, unqualified therapy!

#FeelingGood #OnTheCouch #BetsyLerner #PostGrads #ComplexProblems #Research #TheForestForTheTrees #AmbivalentWriter #LarryMcMurtry #Slog #ThePerfectThing
#RomanticDream #MessyPeople #Love #Hate #CoreValues #SharedVision #ImaginaryCaleb
#Motivation #YoungPadawan #Frozen #Risk #SlingsandArrows #Haunted #Bothered #Otherness #Paradox #TheNatural #LimpBooks #TooEasy #SecondBookSyndrome #OvernightSuccess #Grit #PoorAlex #Hunger #ComingBack #GrowthMindset #SupernaturalWriters #WickedChild #Family #Community #Watchlist #GordonLish
#JeanetteVickeryHowe #EvaHornung #SomeoneElsesBucketList #FascinatingGrandmothers #Marriage #PrinceHarry #ToBeContinued

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Sarah Smith has been successfully writing for popular TV shows such as “McLeod’s Daughters”, “All Saints” and “Love Child” for years. Now, she’s turned her hand to fiction creating a clever and quirky murder mystery set in the Los Angeles fast lane and narrated by a young, vibrant (albeit dead) woman, hellbent on finding her killer.

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Mireille Vignol is a renowned literary translator who has taken the work of Australian greats such as Kate Grenville and Kenneth Cook to French speaking audiences around the world. Cath was intrigued by a very singular event Mireille organised in Melbourne called a “Translation Slam”, where two jousting translators interpreted the same piece of text to very different effect and then defended their choices.

Guests
Sarah Smith, author of “12 Steps to a Long and Fulfilling Death”

Mireille Vignol, literary translator. She also mentions the authors Proust, Kenneth Cook and Kate Grenville and poet Peter Bakowski.

Dan, our everyday reader, loves war stories such as “The Bombing of Darwin; The Diary of Tom Taylor, Darwin, 1942” by Alan R. Tucker and aircrash investigations such as “QF32” by Richard de Crespigny.

Cath and Annie also mention the Booker prize winner, “Prophet Song”by Paul Lynch and a chilling tale by Louise Doughty called “Platform Seven”.

INSTAGRAM

@Ultimo Press
@sarah_says

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A promise delivered! Bookmark this. The Word Docs are back with the second half of their self-diagnoses, once again working from Betsy Lerner’s examples to whittle away at their artistry and categorise their quirky habits. Maybe this week they’ll each discover what kind of writers they really are. Along the way they’ll explore rejections, chutzpah, sportsball and poor old Missus Heartwig...

#LonelyCorner #CancelledPilot #SixKindsofWriters #TheForestFortheTrees #BetsyLerner #TheAmbivalentTheNatural&Me #Detention #MissusHeartwig #StupidDeadBoy #TheSelfPromotor #TheNeurotic #TouchingFire #NewYork #Chutzpah   #ShyandWeird #Moxie #RomanticIdeals #IvoryTower #WeNeedtoTalkAboutKevin 

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The doctors are in the house. Or rather two of the doctors are sick and stuck at home. This week the Word Docs are recording from home and everything's a bit looser than normal (which is saying something). But on the plus side, they get to practice clapping again, preferably in time to Amy's playlist for Someone Else's Bucket List. Sean boycotts clapping to The Cranberries and Alex is determined to flirt with copyright infringements as he sings along. This episode is about playlists, soundtracks, music and silence - and they get off track in the best possible way, exploring how writers use and abuse music.

#WordDocs #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #SeanWilliams #AlexVickeryHowe #AFL #Watchlist #SomeoneElsesBucketList #Hyperaurea #SomeoneElsesBucketListThePlaylist #WritingPlaylist #BookPlaylist #BookSoundtrack #SpotifyPlaylist #TheCranberries #DaisyJonesAndTheSix #TaylorJenkinsReid #Elbow #TheWaterboys #StuckInTheMiddleWithYou #ReservoirDogs #TheSingingDetective #FUMA #ShaneDix #NineInchNails #ACDC #BinauralBeats #TheSoapBubble #TheIronicPoseur #ImpossiibleMusic #GlamGong #ScrotePunch #AnalTwin #Hufflepuff #DuaLipa #Physical #OliviaNewtonJohn #Antarctica #ClappingAgain #HappyWriting

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Trent Dalton’s new novel Lola in the Mirror travels to the dark heart of homelessness and domestic violence and yet is a love story and a love letter to his home town Brisbane.

Lola has no name when this story begins. For 16 years she and her mother have been on the run through Brisbane’s underbelly, dodging dangerous men. Sit down with journalist and novelist Trent Dalton and hear him talk about the city that saved his mum, finding the dark places in order to hold on to light, and why if he didn’t write he’d be reaching for the bourbon.

Guest:

Trent Dalton, journalist and author of “Lola in the Mirror” as well as two other acclaimed novels Boy Swallows Universe and All these Shimmering Skies

INSTAGRAM

@Harpercollinsaustralia

@trentdaltonauthor

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This week Amy leads us through using beat sheets to plan and/or fix a story. Alex and Sean join in from where they recline eating salty gold Irish chocolate. It's the middle of teaching and everyone's pinch points are more pinchy than usual, but it's nothing gold-plated chocolate can't fix. If you're curious about how story experts like Michael Hauge, Blake Snyder, Larry Brooks and Jami Gold deal with planning Acts One to Three, this is the ep for you. There are sportsball metaphors, car metaphors, and the word 'blue' gets bandied about, especially when the monkey elbows get a mention - but despite it all, you'll still come away with a good idea of how to use a beat sheet to get your acts together. (And yes, there are many silly jokes about the term beat sheet - insert word 'blue' here). 

#Word Docs #writing #WritingPodcast #AmWriting #WritingLife #FlindersCreative Writing #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #CreativeWriting #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #AlexVickeryHowe #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #MichaelHauge #DebDixon #JamiGold #LarryBrooks #BlakeSnyder #TheBear #PassTheChocolate #HappyWriting

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There is a secret to writing a bestseller and it is...nah, kidding...nobody knows. But the Word Docs will keep asking people anyway. This week, the dysfunctional trio bend their knees at the altar of the great men who...nah, kidding...Sean has sorted through the rules of the blokey gasbags who’ve come before and now Amy and Alex are trying to decide who wrote what. Join the party as Vonnegut, Heinlein, Leonard and Lewis are meticulously poked, prodded and dissected for the edification of emerging generations. Rules are made to be splintered, but it’s wise to mock them first. 

#Aspiring #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AlexVickeryHowe #Nightmarish #BlokeyLists#KurtVonnegut #RobertHeinlein #ElmoreLeonard #CSLewis #TalkingAboutIt #GarthNix#PeterBeaglehole #CruelSegue #RecreationalSadism #NoCreditForAlex #ChasingTrends#BUYSOMEMILK! #OldOldMan #JustLikeToffee #Succession #Veep #Seinfeld #ItsAlwaysSunnyinPhiladelphia #Macbeth #GailJones #SixtyLights #ThePerfectSentence#SarahWaters #IanMcEwan #AStylishSean #TheMightyBoosh #WriterlyvsReaderly#PlayDregs #RandomBits #WhatAboutBob #OffloadingResponsibility#ThrowMommafromtheTrain #LeonardCohen #Suddenly #WheresWally #WheresWaldo#BirdBox #EnoughButNotTooMuch #JustOnePerson

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“The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard” is loosely based on the life of Mitzah Bricard,  a woman the world remembers as the outrageous muse of Christian Dior but who was, in fact, his First Assistant Designer and enormously talented in her own right. What follows is a compelling tale of glamour, desire and intrigue.

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“Summer of Blood” is set in 1960s California where two Australian detectives arrive in search of a missing man, only to find themselves immersed in the world of music, free love, drugs and hippie counterculture. They soon realise this isn’t any ordinary missing person investigation. A big gig is the perfect place to get away with murder!

Guests:

Natasha Lester, author of “The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard” and other historical fiction titles including “The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre” & “The French Photographer”.

Dave Warner, author of “Summer of Blood” …plus nine other novels and six non-fiction books.

Leigh, our everyday reader, mentions “Ulysses” by James Joyce, “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens, “Long Live the Queen: 23 Rules for Living from Britain’s Longest-Reigning Monarch” by Brian Koslowski and “A Mind at Home with Itself: How Asking Four Questions Can Free Your Mind, Open Your Heart, and Turn Your World Around” by Byron Katie with Stephen Mitchell

Cath and Annie also mention the Booker shortlisted title, “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray.

INSTAGRAM
@Hachetteaustralia
@natashalesterauthor
@Fremantlepress
@davew.author
@Leighwhite_soultopia

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