By Golly, nothing posted here since I won the Australian Crime Writers Association's Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction in 2011 for THE DIGGERS REST HOTEL. Not a lot happening since then apart from me writing a sequel entitled BLACKWATTLE CREEK and on Saturday last it won the 2013 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction.

http://www.austcrimewriters.com/content/2013-ned-kelly-awards

I lack both a…

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On the same day they finally indentified Ned Kelly’s decapitated skeleton I wound up in Melbourne with his head. Well not Kelly's still missing skull exactly but a miniature version of the outlaws famous iron helmet. It’s what they give you when you win a Ned Kelly award. When I first saw the long list for the 2011 Neds the last thing on my mind was going to Melbourne. The list always has some heavy hitters, including previous winners, but this year there were more than a few. Getting…

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There is suddenly a bit of an online buzz about the TV movie "Mega Piranha." It’s showing on the SyFy channel in the US on April 10th and is about mutant Piranhas making their way from the Amazon to Florida and going on a killing spree.

The tagline is: "They were…

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So here’s the story: I finish my latest book and shoot it off to the publisher and decide to check out what’s been happening on my website recently. A handy little piece of free software called STATCOUNTER lets me see who has been visiting and for how long and from whence they came.



I’ve been getting hits from all sorts of amazing places which might have to do with the fact that the audio book of my first novel has been hijacked and can be downloaded for free from multiple sites. The… Continue

‘Have you ever killed a man with your bare hands?’



‘I beg your pardon?’ I said.



The publicist smiled. ‘Have you ever killed a man with your bare hands? You know, choked the life out him, crushed his windpipe, dug your fingers in till his larynx collapsed and the veins bulged out on his temple.’



I shook my head. ‘No, sorry.’



She smiled. ‘Garrotted anyone?’



I shook my head again.



‘Shot, perhaps,’ she suggested, ‘stabbed,… Continue

The rain finally took a rest today, which was great timing as I had a mid-morning appointment at Circular Quay, meeting Lindy Cameron to pick up a signed copy of REDBACK. We recently arranged an author-to-author book swap and Australia Post only got it 50% right. Lindy was up from Melbourne just in time for one of the wettest February weeks on record but she was privy to my secret listing of all the best Laksa spots in Sydney and Laksa is never weather dependant. Being Laksaholics was only one… Continue

The name on the cover of my first book was Geoffrey McGeachin, as it was on the second. On the third book I was Geoff McGeachin and the same on the B format re-release of the second. I’ve had a long held belief that names are destiny. Vivian Westwood – fashion designer or dental hygienist? I’d buy any album put out by a guy named Ry Cooder but would I hire someone named Ry Cooder as my accountant?





Geoff or Geoffrey? I knew an actor named something like Barry… Continue