Writing and research, why is it so difficult to let go?

Over the past week I have been trying to research a South African Hotel that was the playground of the jet set up until the eighties. Although a motor racing fan, my quest was not for an expose on the lives of the many Formula 1 drivers who based themselves at the Kyalami Ranch for the South African Grand Prix, but as it was an International Hotel, the subject of my biography also stayed there.

Kyalami Ranch, from my research was set up by a former bomber captain who had served in WWII and saw the need for a modern hotel, where International Airlines could accommodate their cabin crews when on layover before there next assignments. The fact that it was a short way from the Kyalami race track added to its mystique.

Wandering the manicured grounds in the sixties, sharing luxurious accommodation and the heady mix of exotic people from all over the world must have been similar to attending a party thrown by "The Great Gatsby". Which after the end of apartheid, may be why the hotel has slipped out of the reach of the internet.

I have left a few links for those who are as intrigued as I am.

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/heritage/south-africa-72---40-years-ago-today/

https://www.pinterest.dk/pin/308778118195061902/?nic_v1=1aSylGRAhlWcq4zC45%2FJBNhZ55SofaUEJEYHb2Al56oZi9PXrt1NjslRXfndFWppqH

http://www.thepaddockmagazine.com/rip-kyalami/

https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/cars/golden-years-kyalami

A Poem from researchers and seafarers too.

And now for something a little older, research of South Africa has drawn me to this poem by Luis de Camoes from 1572 called Lusaids

If you want to know how the masters write, read this:


https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32528/32528-h/32528-h.htm

#writers #poets #sailors #SouthAfrica

Smudge a view of himself

The only thing my father gave me was his name and my mother called me Silas. Most people call me Smudge. Ever since I was a kid my dream was to race on the European Grand Prix circuits, but where does one get the knowledge you need, trapped in a backwater like Crystal Springs.

I was working on my race car, Psycho, a few Fridays ago when I heard a commotion coming from the pub across the road. I had to bend to get a good look through the open door to the bar so I could see what was happening. A shearing team were celebrating their cut out from Yap-Yap Station. One of them had Charlie by the collar and she was kicking and screaming at him to put her down.

Charlie, bloody kid, only eleven years old and seen more of life than someone three times her age. Anyway, she’s up to her old tricks raising money for the car club. I see some of myself in her sometimes, she’s trapped here too. Unloved by her mother and has never known her father, but Charlie loves cars and I let her dream in the same way I did. Sometimes I catch her sitting behind the wheel and I know she’s driving the tracks of the world in her mind. I hear her making gear change noises and it makes me smile. Given half a chance this kid could be someone special. She is special. I have heard the gossip and it might have hurt before, but I am her friend, someone she can talk to.

Had a girl of my own once, Lilly. Prettiest little bundle of precious I ever held, but it wasn’t to be. Wilms Tumour the doctors said, we tried everything, today most kids survive this cancer, not Lil.

Ripped Ruby’s heart out from then our life together was never the same. She found excitement in the arms of a man who used her as a punching bag. I visit every Wednesday, I don’t think she knows me, but I go anyway, hoping she’ll come out of her coma and smile. She doesn’t deserve to live this way, but after the divorce she has no one to make those sort of decisions for her. I guess had we stayed together, I would be agonising over turning off the machines. Oh I tell her everything and I’m sure somewhere in there she hears me, if not it helps me I guess.

Anyway back to the Friday night, its late and I get a call from the Peterborough police, the little bugger has got down there somehow and they want me to pick her up and take her home. I act up a bit, but decide to go anyway. When I take her to her mother’s place, that useless prick Kevin is there. Long story short, the kid comes home with me and stays in Lilly’s room. Terri storms in and accuses me of all sorts of shit. That day there’s an accident and the authorities let Charlie stay with me. It’s nice having a kid to look after, I thought when Lil died and Ruby left, I’d missed my chance.

Now with a bit of giggling about the place, I might just get a chance to reach at least one of my dreams. Oh! and doesn’t that feel so good.

Why reviews give a writer a lift

Today I received an e-mail reviewing my two books Kundela and Gillespie's Gold, and here is what Derek Saunders a former school teacher from Orroroo, South Australia said about them:

I have just finished reading your 2 novels, Kundela and Gillespie’s Gold which Paddo lent to me. Looking forward to reading “Voss”.

I thoroughly enjoyed the read and found the story line captivating, imaginative and certainly held my attention. Detail of the characters’ everyday activities and inter-relationships added to the realism.

I felt I could connect with the settings around Orroroo and district, bringing back many fond memories. I actually got out my Flinders Ranges map to follow your story line.

I thought the scene in the Port Augusta Police Station when DI Cassidy and team were investigating events in Gillespie’s Gold, reminded me of the procedures that were used by DS Vera Stanhope in the “Vera” series- you certainly did your homework, as you obviously did in many areas such as the local geology-which also interested me, reminding me of trips out to Prince Alfred mine and other places.

So hope you keep writing Terry,  and take care.

Best wishes,

Derek.

Books are available from:

Collins Booksellers Sunbury Victoria:

https://www.collinsbookssunbury.com.au/?fbclid=IwAR2hJfqENpZpvCHMc0IuIK85jYsDz4pnl9dcVStnWrVGYOB2p_Z9PLeDTLw

E-Books available on Kindle Books:

https://www.amazon.com.au/KUNDELA-pointing-Justice-Terry-Probert-ebook/dp/B00GRKYV4I

Sometimes your grandchildren surprise you.

Port Fairy Priest a Detective Voss story.

My second Detective Voss  novel seems to have strayed from the original plot frame that I created before going to Port Fairy a couple of years ago. This was the original plan, might have to back to it and change a few names to protect the criminals.

Synopsis:

Voss takes a cottage in Port Fairy to re-assess his life. Likes the ebb and flow of the locals, doesn’t like the tourists much, but appreciates the improvement to the coffee shops and pubs their trade has brought.

He befriends a fisherman who is in his mid-seventies, Leith Pritchard is worried about his grandchildren, they are cutting school and spending most of their time boozing and taking drugs

He has noticed that they have better supply a week after the full moon at first, he thought the drugs were coming in from the fishing fleet, but as most of the captains and crew had children affected, he’d dismissed it.

Voss watches a wedding where the bride’s theme is red and black, Men are dresses in mail box red suits with black top hats, while the bridesmaids a dressed in black with red aprons. The wedding is lavish and Voss learns the couple are recent pop music stars who have decided Port Fairy has the right setting for their big day.

On the day of the wedding while the town watches and waits for the nuptials to begin, Voss and Leith study the coming and going of the florist, the priest and the caterers. Something irks Voss the, sight of the priest seems familiar and he runs a series of old mugshot images through his mind without finding anything. The priest, once a circuit man who came from Melbourne to take communion once a month, has moved up within the church. His visits often resulted in the kids going wild. Port Fairy has changed but people still remember the Uniting Church goers in the town who believed Satan was at work. The Jehovah Witness didn’t have an opinion and the lapsed Christians, agnostics and non-believers are sure the local copper turned a blind eye to the problem.

One time choir boy, Kyle Kipping, late thirties has made it big crossing between heavy and death metal music genres, drugs have dominated the headlines during the last ten years of his career, but it has brought him a new populous of followers. His early career as a pop singer had several number one singles and top selling albums. A career highlight of being promoted as the top billing on Carols in the Domain and Carols by Candlelight crashed during the Enquiry into Child Abuse, when he testified against a popular priest.

After publicly renouncing the Catholic Church on the sleeve of his last album, Songs of Regret, his producers, the recording company has pushed him into filming the wedding to release it in increments as video support for the songs.

Ten years on and, while the band is blasting the new album from several speakers the size of small cars, unknown to the quests in the marquee below at the Rockstar wedding, evil of its own is looking down on them. the priest is found dead, face down in front of a burning cross on top of the local lookout. Thirteen small and charred wooden crosses surround the body.

Speculation about the devil, drugs and God’s Justice whip the town gossips and scaremongers into a frenzy. Rumours surround the death some saying satanic symbols rose from the burning paint and noise from flames sounded like demons squealing as the vehicle burnt. Firefighters reported being unable to quench the flames and suspected an accelerant like napalm. Other reports had the body covered in knives sticking out of every muscle and body part.

What they couldn’t know was that the man’s genitals were removed and stuffed into his mouth before he died. Cause of death asphyxiation.

Along with the wedding guests and gossip columnists, now city journalists and TV reporters descended on the town in helicopters cars and most of the accommodation is booked out to accommodate them. Considering moving to a quieter location Voss answers his door to the Bishop seeking a meeting. Voss tries to push the thought of getting back to investigation to one side until the bishop tell him the priests name. this is the man who set Voss on his career as a copper. The only real father figure in his life.

He takes the case and is bewildered by the details of the crime. Father Geoffrey was due to testify before the Royal Commission into Child Abuse. However, the bishop confirms Voss’s belief his friend was one who spoke up against it, so why would someone do this. Eddie is reluctant to become involved, he has no use of the church for the way they treated him when his business was failing and Donna to thinks it is a bad idea. 

Voss might have to do this on his own.

Gillespie's Gold on Sale next week.

Gillespies Gold goes on to sale November 20th 

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This long awaited follow up novel to Terry L Probert's KUNDELA is now ready for release and early reviewers a extolling Probert's capacity as a storyteller.

Following on from Kundela, this new story is as much a stand alone Aussie action adventure as it is a continuation of the Gillespie family's fortunes as they battle to save their farm from mining giant RAYDOR.

Set in and around Orroroo on the edge of the Flinders Ranges. Haunted by a rhyme his father made him learn as a toddler Joe Gillespie is anxious. Too mean for fatherhood and too drunk to care, Les used cruelty the reinforce his words taking the horror of a few tours of Vietnam for Joe to replace those terrors.

Now forty years after burying the man he despised, Joe is looking at this gold receipt, memorising the first verse of the poem, desperate to remember the rest of it. Joe scours his mind for a hidden meaning, was there gold? Did Les bury it, or was this just one more after death trick to torture his son?

What the beta readers said:

Sonia Doherty, Wordsmiths of Melton

The family connection:

• You showed real relationships where everything didn’t go smoothly, they argued, they had fun as couples and families.
• Demonstrated their love in front of others, and were connected in more than just name.
• All of the friendships made the story interesting and were portrayed as reality.
• Every character had a past that affected their part in the story, some good, some not so good
• The good guys took responsibility for their lives, the bad ones blamed others.
• The bad guys were ones you really didn’t like, so you portrayed them well.

I love the way you brought the various plots together in the police station, by connecting past cases with this current case and how there were good people along the way who wanted to do the right thing. You ended the story with hope for the future

The lessons this story taught:

·         Give people an opportunity to share their story.

·         Forgiveness will help you.

·         Have no regrets

·         here’s always another adventure out there to explore.

It was enjoyable Terry; you’re a good storyteller.

Denise Lang, independent reviewer, Maryborough. Victoria

Morning Terry,

Well I finished your novel at 1.25 am this morning. You continue to amaze me with your amazing ability to consume the reader. I can seriously visualise the story unfolding around me, the detail you incorporate actually makes you feel like you're in the book. Kept guessing right to the end, this work encompasses the Australian way.

On another note, I liked the way you left it open for the next venture. Congratulations on another great literary piece.

Regards,

Denise