The flames consumed everything. They licked the weatherboard walls of Peter Halliday’s shed and nibbled at the timber lining boards stacked in the rafters. They blackened and eroded the kiln-dried hardwood studs that formed the skeleton of the walls. They lapped at the pools of oil on the concrete floor. They went up with a whoosh as they met the flammable fuel that spilled from upturned petrol cans. They melted the soles of the man’s boots and ran along his petrol-soaked jeans and green-and-cream-checked shirt. They blistered his freckled skin and fed on his fat and sizzled in his red, springy hair. They burned the ends of the clump of black straight hair that was gripped tightly in his fist. Their smoke filled his lungs and starved his blood of oxygen.

Author

Jackie Tritt

I have been writing since I retired from teaching high school science and working as a careers advisor. I am a founding member of the Lazy River Writers.   My first novel, The Burning was published in 1998 by Australian Pocket Press. It is a crime novel, set against the background of summer bushfires. It is now available on the Virtual Tales site as twice weekly issues of an e-book (see http://www.virtualtales.com) and also as a complete e-book here and at  http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=34285&Origin…. You can read reviews of 'The Burning' at http://www.simegen.com/reviews/list/31334.html and at http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/view/379/101 'Unfettered Feet', a collection of short stories published by Ginninderra Press will be launched on Sunday, July 29th. Available from www.ginninderrapress.com.au. More info on 'Unfettered Feet' page. My non-fiction work, including articles on gardening, education, careers, and travel, has appeared in The Age, The Adelaide Advertiser, the Herald Sun, the West Australian and the Women’s Weekly.   My short stories have been successful in many competitions, including the 2004/5 Herald Sun/Collins $5,000 award, the Campbell River (Canada), the Judah Waten, Fifty Plus News (2002, 2006, 2007), artsnet Gippsland, and ABC Perth. They have appeared in publications such as pendulum, Phaedra (US), Page Seventeen, acruelworld, and Tarralla. You can read new stories, 'Seven o'clock news', in Southern Ocean Review's April 2007 edition - http://www.arts.org.nz/sor43.htm and 'Past Caring' at http://www.australianreader.com. Several articles and stories may be viewed at http://www.helium.com and http://www.redbubble.com.   My stories for children have been published in the magazines Comet, Pursuit, Challenge, and NSW School Magazine – Blast Off and I was shortlisted in the Midlands children’s story competition for 2004, and the Silver Brumby children’s story competition 2005.   I have been interviewed on radio and have broadcast my work. I have also appeared at spoken word venues.   I am currently trying to find a home for my second novel, Raven’s Cry, and am in the early stages of writing number three.   You can read an interview with me at http://www.virtualtales.com/ezines/jackie-tritt.htm and an article in Writers' News at http://www.writersnews.co.uk/newssep06/tritt.asp

Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Review THE BURNING - Jane Casey
Karen Chisholm
Monday, November 12, 2012
Review THE BURNING - Jane Casey
Karen Chisholm
Monday, November 12, 2012

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