Michael Thornton Books

Like all dozen or so others, yesterday's live interview on Perth radio about JACKAROO was wonderful -- until the end!

   The show's host, Sue, said, "Before I let you go, you have to take part in Sue's 5-question quiz". I was totally unprepared, completely caught off guard.

   "What's the best thing that's ever happened to you?" The first thing to spring to mind was the previous night's interview with Michael McGirr at Readings' Hawthorn bookstore, about which I raved in yesterday's blog.

   "What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you?" Sue asked next.

   "My younger son dying back in January," I replied. Of course, I immediately began to cry, didn't I? And that kind of made the remainder of the questions, and the interview, and the afternoon, and night, impossible.

   They immediately went to a station promotion -- and I put down the phone. I really do think radio stations need to be a bit careful. Sue was a lovely person; she said wonderful things about the book, saying she really was loving it, and was a truly lovely and bubbly person. But a lot of people carry with them a tonne of grief -- mine I've learnt to define as passionate sadness --- it will never ever leave me -- and I think to surprise someone with 'What's the worst thing ever to have happened to you?' is a tough thing to ask. For many people, at any rate. The rest of yesterday was pretty dreadful -- and teary.

I just have to share my joy with you. I have to. I've just been into Readings Carlton -- and this time, at last, there were a whole SEVEN copies of JACKAROO on the shelf -- the cover facing OUTWARDS. This small piece of marketing success might be trifling to you, in your eyes not worth writing a blog post about, but I can tell you it's a fantastic breakthrough in my narrow-focused world. Only a handful of titles face outwards. I'm now in the company of famous people like Dame Judi Dench, Stephen Fry and Craig Sherborne, who has two books Hoi Polloi and Muck both facing outwards. Facing outwards is a BIG deal, let me tell you. So, I stood and watched as this woman scanned the Biography shelves. At one point her right shoulder was just a beer bottle away from JACKAROO. She had tight curly black hair and wore blue jeans -- and RIDING BOOTS. She definitely looked like she was off the land, what with her purple, work-woman-like, windcheater. And I reckon the tight curly black hair gave her away as a rural, too. Anyway, she moved to face 'my' set of shelves and began to scan the titles on the top shelf, carefully mouthing each title as her eyes and body progressed right along the line of books. Then onto the second shelf. Then the third. Then my shelf, except her eyes brushed straight past JACKAROO and they stopped on, and she reached for and took to the counter with her purse at the ready, And The Band Played On, by Christopher Ward, about a love afair between a violinist and the glovemaker aboard the Titanic. Bummer. We now need 50 more people to go into Readings Carlton and ask for JACKAROO, and they'll move the pile to the more recognised Biography shelves up the front of the store. Then, we'll need a further 50 people after that to request a copy -- and they'll shift my stack onto the main table just inside the door. And then we'll be famous! Don't forget my book event with Michael McGirr interviewing me at Readings Hawthorn on Tuesday 26 July at 6.30pm. There should be books on the main table that night! Have you read the bit about where I was made to castrate lambs with my teeth?