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Research The Author Speaks Writing

The Author Speaks: On Understanding Historical Figures

“It was that moment that I realised how important it is to understand people from history, just as we do with people in the present, based on contextual factors and free of prejudices. That is to say that they deserve to be looked at based upon demonstrable qualities rather than trying to pigeon hole them based on perceptions or preconceived ideas. People are nuanced, multifaceted beings. They have virtues and flaws, regardless of which is more dominant, and these often paradoxical elements coalesce into what we define as a personality. It’s all very Yin/Yang, but this is the reality.”

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The Author Speaks Writing

The Author Speaks: on the hierarchy of needs and characterisation

An exploration of how an understanding of psychology can help turn historical figures into fully fleshed and authentic characters.

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The Author Speaks

The Author Speaks: Regarding the story behind a moment of crude defiance

“Still, better than a wombat hole, hey, McIntyre?”

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The Author Speaks

The Author Speaks: Regarding Ned Kelly’s Warnings

Ned Kelly gave forewarning of the scale of his Glenrowan plot, as well as some of the motivation behind it, in the letters he wrote with Joe Byrne at Euroa and Jerilderie. At the time these seemed to be more or less hollow threats, but following the Glenrowan tragedy they are almost chilling in their forewarning.

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The Author Speaks

Glenrowan Definitive Edition

Coming late June 2022…

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Crime and Punishment History Research

The Hangman: Elijah Upjohn

A brief biography of the man that hanged Ned Kelly.

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Creative The Author Speaks Writing

McIntyre’s escape: An extract from the unfinished ‘Glenrowan’ prequel.

McIntyre had since crawled out of the hole and put his boots back on. He stumbled through the bush, doused in rainwater, his boots rubbing uncomfortably. He paused long enough to realise he had put them on the wrong feet and switched them around. Convinced the gang were no longer in pursuit he decided to […]

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Creative Writing

An Extract from Chapter Two: Ned Kelly’s Masterplan

Joe Byrne holds a clandestine meeting with the Sherritts in this extract from the second chapter of Glenrowan.

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The Author Speaks

The Author Speaks: The Rest of the Trip

Previously I posted about my first trip to Kelly Country since the lockdowns but was in the middle of the trip when I wrote it. Evidently the rest of the trip was too busy for me to finish writing up about what else happened at the time, so here we go with a quick recap […]

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The Author Speaks

The Author Speaks: First time in Kelly Country since the lockdowns

With the “ring of steel” between Melbourne Metro and the rest of Victoria now dissolved movement is freer than it has been in months. It also means that I can finally visit the places that feature so prominently in my book. To say that the inability to bring Glenrowan to the places where everything happened […]