Ciao Team Dusty!
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Ciao Team Dusty! This morning I woke up to 3.8 degrees! The other day, the weather forecasters warned us we would suffer the coldest September in years. This morning’s freeze brought that home to me. It’s now eight o’clock and the temperature is 12 degrees but still feels like 3 degrees to me.
Continue reading to find out about the man who escaped the Min Min lights. If someone outside family and friends dares to patronise you by addressing you with an inappropriate term of endearment like 'love', don't let them get away with it. At best it is disrespectful; at worst it is bullying.
Who is the dead man on the moon? Clue: He was a shoemaker who died in Australia.
Find out more in this issue of Team Dusty Gazette. Get your copy NOW! Click Here. Get regular deliveries of the Team Dusty Gazette. Click here.For those of you who missed out, below is an excerpt from the Team Dusty Gazette which was sent to my subscribers in January 2024. To be the first to get the news subscribe here – you’ll also receive a free book of stories including Shanty Shooting which won the Scarlet Stiletto prize in 2023 (Mystery with History).
Ciao Team Dusty! Here in Melbourne the city is buzzing with tourists and fun, in part due to the Australian Open Tennis. The weather, however, is not playing ball. Melbourne is well known for its erratic weather and this year is no different. We have had serene temperate days befitting our ‘temperate oceanic climate’, high humidity days, cool days, drizzle days and thunderstorm days and all in a random mix. January is usually a relatively dry month in Melbourne but this year we have had the wettest start to a year since 1996. I accept some responsibility for this because I have been asking for rain for weeks. You see, I used a little of the prize money won by my story Shanty Shooting in the 2023 Scarlet Stiletto Short Story Awards to buy an umbrella in a beautiful rich yellow from Blunt Umbrellas who make top of the range umbrellas that are designed to last a lifetime. I call it my ‘Rolls Royce’ umbrella. I was so pleased with it I wanted to show it off, so I needed rain! When not out doing my Mary Poppins impersonation, I’ve been working on Dusty Kent #8 - almost every day. It’s a blissful experience hiding away in my ‘hayshed’* with nothing else on my mind except writing. I get so lost in ‘the zone’ I sometimes have to remind myself to eat. I have finished ‘Act I’ (apart from the fine tuning) and have just started ‘Act II’. My progress was slowed down by the unexpected appearance of a new character. I had to pause to create a profile for him and think about his role in the story. He seems to be a bit of a grumpy old man! *As a kid growing up in the Australian bush I often escaped into our hayshed at the bottom of the paddock. I nestled into the hay bales out of sight where my brothers could not find me to read books. It was sanctuary where I could live in stories. That’s why I use ‘hayshed’ as a metaphor for the place where I write. Did you know? One of Australia’s quirkiest animals is named after a creature from Greek mythology known as the ‘Mother of Monsters’ who was half-woman and half-snake - because the animal was perceived to have qualities of both mammal and reptile. Just like a reptile, it lays eggs. Just like a mammal it feeds its young on milk – even though it doesn’t have any nipples. The milk oozes out of the skin in the pouch and the baby animal licks it up. That’s not all that’s quirky about this monotreme with porcupine-like spines. The echidna also has a toothless jaw, a bird-like beak, a quoll-like pouch and their babies are called puggles. And now for the quirkiest thing about the echidna; their unconventional sex life. The breeding season starts with an echidna train – a long line of around ten male echidnas waddling after one female echidna. The ‘train’ winds its way through the bush for long distances until the female is ready to mate. Then she flops down on her stomach and waits for the males to dig a circular trench known as a ‘mating rut’ around her. The largest male wins the lady. When he has pushed all his rivals out of the way, he lies down next to her, places his tail under hers and they mate. But that’s not the quirkiest thing of all about echidnas. Red alert! I’m about to ‘talk dirty’. The male echidna has a four-headed penis! It is used only for mating and never carries urine. When mating, two of the heads retract while the other two grow bigger. Both male and female echidnas are promiscuous. Male echidnas alternate which penis heads they use when mating with different partners to improve their chances of becoming a dad! (The mind boggles at what scientists must go through to find this stuff out.) Ref: www.environment.sa.gov.au The next Gazette is due out in March 2024. Don’t miss out. Subscribe now! . Winner! I was thrilled that my short story Shanty Shooting won first prize in the Mystery with History category at the recent Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Awards. Honoured to receive my prize from the creators of the Phryne Fisher TV series - Fiona Eagger (l) Deb Cox (r)
There’s more to Matilda than meets the eye.Matilda is a powerful bisexual name of German origin. In Australia it is used as a girl’s name while in Germany and the Netherlands it is primarily a boy’s name. During the Middle Ages the name was popular among European royalty. There was the Empress Matilda of England (1102 – 1167), the first woman to be named as heir to the English throne, and many other royal Matildas. The name is composed of maht which means strength and hild which means battle, giving it the meaning of ‘strength in battle’. That makes Matilda appropriate and perfect for the Australian women’s national soccer team, don’t you think? The team’s name was inspired by Banjo Paterson’s song Waltzing Matilda. The Matilda in the song refers to the swagman’s bed roll or swag – an indispensable possession that went everywhere with him. The name Matilda was chosen for the team formerly known as the Female Socceroos by popular vote in 1995 in a naming competition organised by the Australian Women's Soccer Association through SBS (the Special Broadcasting Service). Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has suggested Australia should create a Public Holiday in honour of the Matildas if they win the 2023 FIFA World Cup. Some groups are against this idea fearing another public holiday will be too hard on businesses. We can resolve that issue easily. In Australia Easter has four holidays. With such a rich cultural and religious diversity in this country surely it is no longer appropriate to have a strong national focus on a Christian tradition. Let’s remove Easter Monday from the public holiday list and replace it with Matilda Monday. Too easy! Ref:letslearnslang.com A free story for you. :) Click here.
![]() Potential customers of my books are told by Amazon that 'this title is not available for purchase'. Great! Thanks Amazon. That is the message Aussie customers get when they go to 'amazon.com.' to purchase one of my books. I realise they should be shopping at 'amazon.com.au' but for a long time Aussies had to purchase through 'amazon.com'. Old habits die hard and sometimes Aussies will stick to the well worn path that takes them to 'amazon.com'. Most people see the first sentence and believe it. They believe my book is not available for purchase. Some of them have contacted me about it and I am able to explain and redirect them. However, many won't contact me. They'll simply buy something else. Thanks very much Amazon. Even if they click on 'manage content and devices' they are not directed to the product page for my books on 'amazon.com.au'. (This issue will be affecting all Aussie authors, and perhaps all authors in countries other than USA.) I contacted the Amazon help team (who are unfailingly courteous and strive to find a solution). The answer was 'At the moment we do not have a solution for this...' That had me right gobsmacked! All they have to do is change the wording in that first misleading sentence to something like 'this title is available for purchase at your local Amazon marketplace' or better wording than that. The thing is the customer should know the title IS available. The team member I communicated with promised to forward my feedback 'to the relevant team to consider your input as we plan further improvements'. I'm still waiting. Thanks a lot Amazon - I need every sale I can get, you know. Check out our latest Youtube Podcast: In Melbourne Today with JB Rowley
A 5 minute chat with Melbourne writer JB Rowley talking about Queen Elizabeth's first visit to Melbourne, the Melbourne Writers' Festival, the Elephant and the Wheelbarrow, JB's hayshed and drinking pomegrappa! JB Rowley is the author of #1 Amazon best sellers 'Whisper My Secret' and 'Mother of Ten' who also writes murder mysteries under the pen name Brigid George. Join Brigid's team here and grab a FREE gift! |
AuthorBrigid George is the pen name for JB Rowley. Brigid George writes murder mysteries like Murder in Murloo. JB Rowley writes other books like Whisper My Secret. Archives
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