Gary Blinco
Список книг автора Gary BlincoA Place in Time
Ian Lane is fifty-seven years old and he thinks his country is about to be invaded by force of arms and have its lifestyle and culture changed forever. So he leaves his executive corporate position and decides to rely on his suddenly budding career as a novelist to support himself, his wife and ten-year-old daughter. They set out on a long dreamed of caravan trip around Australia while the country's northern neighbours become more and more determined that Australia should join the powerful Northern Alliance voluntarily – or risk being compelled to do so by force of arms. Australia's allies adopt a wait-and-see attitude while the country bubbles with internal and external conflict and turmoil. When the invasion begins Ian and his wife and daughter are camped at an isolated lagoon deep in the northern outback – prisoners in their own land watching the invaders swarm down the centre of the continent. A Vietnam Veteran – Ian longs to play a part in defending his land. But what can he do when he is stranded in the middle of nowhere?<br><br>By chance or destiny he finds a fissure through a wall of desert rock that takes him 252 years into the future. There he finds an ally and access to technology that will help him in his quest to serve his country, and he gains a glimpse at the future that gives him hope for the present. He also finds a new but impossible romantic relationship that inspires and confuses at the same time.
The Mystical Swagman
It is the 1860s and colonial Australia is no longer just a dumping ground for the pitiful throw-offs of harsh English justice. This cruel system has sent thousands off to the penal colony for the pettiest of crimes, and few will ever see their homeland again. The colony is rapidly taking on a new identity as a land of vast resources where land and opportunities abound for those who are up to the challenge.<br><br>Into this wild land of rare beauty and constant change comes a quiet young orphan boy named Brennan. He knows nothing of his origins and his only family is an old lady who nurtures him into his teenage years. When she can no longer care for him, he packs a modest swag and a little money and heads into the bush. On the track, he meets up with two old swagmen who quickly become his new family. Tramping the bush tracks around the brooding land of a million contrasts, they find many adventures. <br><br>Set against the backdrop of the beautiful bush, they experience bushfires, floods, droughts, harsh winters, blistering summers, and the kindness and sometimes cruelty of the inhabitants.<br><br>This story provides an insight into early Australian colonial history, the land, and its people, as seen through the eyes of a mystical young swagman.
Under The Harvest Moon
A shadowy form moved in a crouch along the creek bank, a stout club upraised and silhouetted against the sparkling surface of the stream. It approached the forms of the man and the woman as they lay quietly on the rug in the moonlight near the water's edge. The woman's head rested on the man's chest as he lay on his back, as if in a deep sleep. The blows from the club came quickly and viciously, crushing the flesh and bone of the man's head and face, and then the blows fell about the woman's head. She did not stir as her head exploded like a ripe melon. She fell sideways away from the man under the force of the attack, her matted hair gleaming wetly in the moonlight.<br>The stillness of the night was broken by the eerie sounds of the bush; the lazy honking of the wild ducks, the croaking of the frogs and the mopokes, and the laboured breathing of the attacker.<br>The figure tossed the club into the creek before splashing into the water and swimming strongly to the far side. Then it left the stream and moved briskly along the opposite bank, heading north towards the bush track that passed by Brinkley's cottage …<br>In this his third novel, Gary Blinco paints a graphic picture of coun- try life as family conflict, romance and murder unfold on the Darling Downs in a time of challenge and change during the first bulk wheat harvest in 1957. This book provides an entertaining read and works on three levels: as history, romance and mystery, all in a competent way.
The Wounds of War
Gunships suddenly descended, fanning out from a central point around the Iroquois and sending streams of machine-gun fire and rockets into the jungle below. The Iroquois peeled away from the main formation and dipped below the tree line under the cover of the assault, dropping swiftly to a small paddy field. They spilled from the chopper and crouched low to the ground. The machine lifted and was gone . . .<br>Six allied soldiers on an impossible, secret mission in Vietnam to find and report on the enemy's supply lines on the motor roads in 'neutral' countries. For Australian Gary Bishop the assignment is one that takes him on a physical and emotional journey into hell.<br>Back in Australia, Gary's new wife Leanne is facing challenges of her own. Alone, pregnant and fighting an attraction to another man, she finds herself drawn in directions that she never anticipated.<br>The wounds of war run deep and Leanne and Gary will need all their strength to survive.
Down a Country Lane
In the winter of 1948, a poorly educated jack-of-all-trades moved his ever- increasing family to a small vegetable crops' farm on the Darling Downs, in Queensland. They arrived in a horse and wagon to begin an extraordinary life of hardship and challenge in the bush.<br>This book follows the harsh life of poverty that is eclipsed by the threads of dry humour, love and warmth that embraces a large closely-knit family. The living conditions endured are almost primitive, even for the nineteen fifties, as they fight to carve an existence from the land.<br>His father's lingering fight with lung cancer compounds the pain of his own battle, as a National Service Soldier in the Vietnam War. The accounts of the war are graphic and poignant, and could only emerge from one who has experienced the frightening reality of combat. Highlighted through the suffering and dreams is a mother's undying devotion to her family, as she struggles to raise them, more or less on her own.