Our Price: AUD$24.95 (USD$ )* ISBN: 978-1-920764-77-7 Subject: General Fiction Publication Date: April 2006

Synopsis

"Anyone who can remember growing up in the suburbs during the sixties will enjoy this book..."

Bill Cuthbert, Maritime Museum, Fremantle
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About The Author
Born in England in 1947, Derek Smith moved to Australia in 1966, working for the DOD in Sydney and then in Canberra for several decades.

He has previously published Rat2rap in 2001, Spire City in 2004 and Retribution and Other Reactions in 2005. His short fiction has appeared in print and webzines in Australia and the USA since 1995.

From The Book
The taxi drove through a busy shopping centre, turned left on a bridge over the railway line and left again along the back of the station. The whole trip took less than five minutes. The taxi stopped at the side of the road opposite the boarding house. Mick paid the fare, got out of the taxi and stood looking at the house as the car drove away. There was a sign just inside the gate that simply said Rooms for Gentlemen.

The house was old, single story, red brick almost obscured by tall bushes in the front. He crossed the road and walked through the front garden onto a tiled veranda. The veranda was surrounded by waist-high walls built of dark brick with a tiled roof that had lost most its colour, supported by round, white stone columns. The whole house looked like it could do with a coat of paint. He knocked on the stained and dirty front door and waited. For a time nothing happened, but then faint sounds came through the door and a shape appeared behind the glass. Finally there were sounds of bolts being drawn and the door opened.

"Good Afternoon," Mick said. "I've come about the accommodation advertised in the paper."