The Outback

The Outback Character Post 62

The Outback might be reckoned a place rather than a character,

but in the book Pride Bridgeover-Sundown it is both. In the near future, (well, it was the future when the book was written) seventeen-year-old Glen Steele borrows his sister's Bradman Pride and heads off into the Outback, looking for validation and adventure. As he drives along, increasingly annoyed by the car's helpful verbal cautions and reminders, Glen becomes aware that the ultra-modern vehicle's accessories are failing one by one. The culprit is the Outback, the great sentient spirit of place that has taken on board every myth and icon and is reenacting them. As Glen encounters the avatars of the Outback he starts wondering if he's going mad. One of the people he meets is his own ancestor Arthur Steele, who died at Gallipoli. Although Glen knows Artie is a figment or a ghost, Artie persists in being real. Glen repudiates his reality and has to witness Artie's death in the hell of Gallipoli which is part of the Outback's cauldron of myth.

Glen rescues Artie at considerable sacrifice, but who is he really saving? The Outback presumably knows, but the Outback, with its many faces, voices and personalities, isn't finished with Glen yet.

 Buy Pride Bridgeover Sundown as an ebook here.

ABOUT THE BLOG

Sally is Sally Odgers; author, anthologist and reader. She runs  Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)

The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. 2017 is now behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books. As of February 18th 2018 I STILL haven't run out of books, but many of those still to come are MIA by which I mean I don't have copies and remember little about them. There are more new books to come, and I'll certainly showcase those, but in between times, I'm profiling some of my characters, just for a change. Thank you so much to everyone who's come along on this journey so far! Since April 22nd I'm adding in places!