Narrator Magazine Blue Mountains Winter 2011

Narrator Magazine

Blue Mountains

Winter 2011

Smashwords Edition

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The copyright for each item in this publication rests with the author of that piece. Please contact us at Narrator Magazine if you wish to contact any contributor featured herein.

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Cover: ‘Self Portrait Drawing on iPhone’

Christina Frost Clayton created this image on her iPhone using an application called Brushes, while her husband drove the car along the F3 during a wild and frightening storm. What a great distraction for a terrified passenger! To understand WHY Christina was so frightened, read her story, Knock ‘n Roll, online in the Autumn 2011 edition.

You can view other art by Christina Frost Clayton on her website: http://www.frostclayton.com.au/

A few words from the publisher ...

Welcome to this, our fourth edition of Narrator Magazine, Blue Mountains!

First of all, thank you to all contributors without whom we wouldn’t have content—you support is greatly appreciated. And second—a special thanks to Diane O’Neill of Blue Dragon Books for so willingly reading through all contributions, without illustrations or formatting, as our second judge.

I’ve had an interesting time over the last four weeks, having enjoyed a long-awaited holiday to the west coast of America. From the deserts and canyons of Arizona and Nevada to the hustle and bustle of San Francisco and Los Angeles to the flash and razzle dazzle of Las Vegas, it was certainly a great experience.

One of the big thrills I had as a publisher was to be able to purchase a Barnes and Noble ‘NOOKColor’ e-reader. I have long held the belief that while books, magazines and newspapers are wonderful to hold and read, for a sustainable future we must start looking to electronic publishing as the norm, with print publishing for those things that are special, that should be kept.

As well as being able to purchase ebooks from many different websites and load them on my NOOK from my PC, I can also put music and videos on it, as well as acquiring many ‘apps’ and accessing the internet via the NOOK—so it’s almost as good as an iPad, but cheaper.

As you can tell, I love technology, and was thrilled to received the image for the cover of this month’s issue—a totally new form of art, created digitally on an iPhone. What we can do these days without wasting paper never ceases to amaze me.

Which brings me to my next thought—Narrator being online. We do hope that you’re enjoying being able to access Narrator online more quickly than before and that you are forwarding your friends and relatives links to the electronic versions so that they can see your words in print!

And as a result of now delivering Narrator as a free, online magazine, we have reduced the print run each quarter to 120 copies, so first in, best dressed—and the environment wins again.

Well, that’s my spiel for the quarter. Happy reading, tell your friends, and if you know someone who’s thinking of sending in an entry, encourage them—the more people we can reach, the more sustainable the magazine will become.

Jenny Mosher

June 2011

Winning Entries for Autumn 2011

Our third issue, Autumn 2011, was judged by Blue Dragon Books owner Diane O’Neill, Diane’s final choices were:

First prize — $200 to Mary Krone, Glenbrook, for her poem Scarred — ‘a simple and elegant way to convey strong emotions’

Second prize — $100 to Aristidis Metaxas, Katoomba, for his story Ticket — ‘gets the reader involved with the characters — nice twist at the end’

Third Prize — $50 to Robyn Chaffey, Hazelbrook, for her poem The Wind At My Door — ‘wonderful imagery!’

Diane also offered high commendations to:

Greg North, Linden, for his poem Stick It! and

Christina Frost-Clayton, Woodford, for her story Knock ’n Roll

A few words from our Guest Judge ...

I started with quite a long list of stories and poems that I liked—and it took quite a while to finally cut it down to just three. It’s always hard to put personal preferences aside, but I think I ended up with a good mix. I hope you enjoy them too!

Diane O’Neill

Table of Contents

Poetry

Anna – Paris Portingale

From a Window – James Craib

Hanging Swamp – Alan E Lucas

Heartbreak – Julitha De La Force

I Feel Like Writing Today – J-L Heylen

I Remember You – Mary Krone

Mercury Rising – Albany Dighton

Ode to Tony – Brendan Doyle

So You Think Your Truth Trumps Mine – Karen Lane

Spin Me Round Sky – Cathy Tanaka

The Sea Dog’s Last – Stephen Studach

Untitled – Christina Frost Clayton

Short Stories

A Quick Fix – Michael Burge

A Wedding – Adrian Johnstone

Cut Grass and Disco – Sam Miller

Henrietta de Chook and her Totally Awesome Adventure – Aristidis

It’s a Bloke! – M Grace

Locked in the Corridors of Hell – Karen Easton

Mrs McGinty’s Secret – Felicity Lynch

Phyllis – Paris Portingale

Searching For Sarah – Sharon Hammad

The Baptism – Alan E Lucas

The Cost of Doing Business – David Bowden

The Day I Skipped School – Robyn Chaffey

The Monasteries of Mardan – Bruce Nenke

The Red Hart – Jordan Russo

The Stranger – John Ross

Unsolicited – Albany Dighton

With Love comes Blood – Elizabeth Diehl

Essays

Where is the Female Tolstoy? – Natalie Muller

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I Feel Like Writing Today - J-L Heylen

I feel like writing today.

Problem is, I’m not sure what to write.

I could write more of my book, but I’ve stalled a bit in terms of ideas. As per usual, my characters have taken themselves off at a tangent and now the story has diverged rather radically from the careful and thoughtful outline I wrote before I started. So, I keep looking at the outline, then looking at the narrative, and concluding that I don’t know where to go next. Maybe my characters do, but they haven’t let me in on the secret yet, so ...

I could write a love-letter to my wife, but she might wonder why I suddenly did this after 15 years of verbal expressions of affection and lovely messages in birthday and Christmas cards. Not that this is necessarily a good excuse for not writing to your wife. I love her very much. She knows it. I could write and tell her, but it wouldn’t take very long, and it wouldn’t satisfy my need to write today.

My need to write today is a big need. It’s a burning, seething, rocking-tectonic-plates need. It won’t be satisfied with just any old thing, you know? It’s not satisfied now, for example. It keeps whispering to me ‘if you’re going to write this sort of drivel, just go back to work, will you?’

What am I to say in response?

‘Bugger off, I’m trying to help you!’

Or,

‘Your commentary is not appreciated at this time, please call back later’.

Or,

‘I’m not at work, you goose!’

The possibilities are endless, but one thing is certain. That little voice of the critic is probably right. I am writing material which is of no earthly use to anyone right now, except, perhaps, me.

And let’s face it, without me, the critic, the characters and the outline wouldn’t have a hope in hell of getting written.

Furthermore, my lovely, beautiful, creative wife would miss me.

Mrs McGinty’s Secret – Felicity Lynch

Mrs McGinty, a small colourless woman, lived in a narrow colourless street, in a deadly boring town in the Blue Mountains.

Every morning, if her neighbours had bothered to look, they would have seen Mrs McGinty, seemingly dressed in the same colourless clothes with a capacious handbag, leaving her house and walking out of the street.

However, if anyone at all had been interested, they would have seen around the next corner, little Mrs McGinty stepping into a luxurious silver limo, with dark windows, being kissed very affectionately, by a most handsome man.

If they had then followed the limo down the Western Highway, they would have seen a small elegant woman being escorted from the limo to disappear into a large office building in the Sydney CBD.

Mrs McGinty had vanished. The only remnant of the colourless Mrs McGinty was that this woman too was small; but this woman’s hair was styled into the latest small dark cap, she was beautifully made up, dressed in an elegant suit, with slim legs and high heels – her capacious handbag nowhere to be seen.

Mrs McGinty had a secret. She was in fact the famous author of the Blue Mountains Mysteries, seen often on TV. Being interviewed, she never talked about her private life.

Mrs McGinty wasn’t her real name and no one in the street who had read her books associated their colourless neighbour with the glamourous portrait of the author on the book covers.

Mrs McGinty had set all her novels in the most boring town’s most colourless street. Her intricate plots and dastardly murders were based on the residents. As they were totally uninterested in her they had no idea of this.

Mrs McGinty had been there for many years living this double life. However, her forthcoming wedding to the much loved and wealthy Baron De Rothschild meant big changes.

A sign was placed outside her house stating that it was to be auctioned. Moving vans were seen with men carrying many boxes. The house was emptied of everything very quickly. Nobody in the street noticed anything, even though Mrs McGinty had lived in this house for many years. The people in the street were indifferent to her.

The day that Mrs McGinty was to be married, the journalists discovered Mrs McGinty’s secret. The story was blazoned on the front pages of the main newspapers and T.V. It was reported that the books would be filmed.

Mrs McGinty’s secret was out. It was rumoured that as the baroness she would visit the street and meet the residents there. Meanwhile the journalists interviewed the residents who really had very little to say. They expressed great surprise. Who would have thought …?

The people in this very boring street began to talk to their neighbours. Lunches were arranged. People were trying to work out who was who in her novels. They emerged from their own secret boring lives and plans were made to celebrate their new found fame. It was resolved to be more aware