Radioman

Book excerpt: The choice of title for the book and my favourite story is derived from my early career in broadcasting. Frustrated actors, timorous types and sociopathic narcissists who come alive in front of a microphone, have always inhabited the radio world. Our Radioman ups the ante. I enjoy blurring the lines between fantasy and reality in an attempt to invite the reader into remote but still possible scenarios. By supplementing each new story with poems of a related nature, I try to keep readers in the mood, rather than release them too soon to their emotional comfort zone. We have all witnessed the troubled misfits who find themselves in my stories and poems. By frequently using first person narration, I find myself better engaged to understand each characters proclivities. Simons Bath introduces us to Simon, the man-boy, who sees things differently than most of us and turns childish fantasy into realityat least for him. The tortured Harold Wharton in A Dying Breed was developed from my own complex relationship with my British father. Natures Way features a character that goes to hell with himself, in a way that is nefariously memorable and generously twisted. A Novel Affair is a dark fantasy-love story about a writer getting into places that are usually best left alone, but Myles Blainey goes much too far into his writing world with alarming consequences. The poems wrap themselves around each story as darkness, humour, fantasy and big surprises work to achieve my fundamental responsibility to the reader: Entertain! Cheers, Dave.