Many years ago I visited an elderly recluse living in the hilly forested area of south western Victoria in south east Australia. I had been told to look for Jack as he had worked on the winding dirt roads with draft horses and kept a lot of bits and pieces. I was looking for a wheel for an old cart that I wanted to restore.

Jack was able to help, then over a cup of billy tea he told me his life story - in particular, about the disappearance of his first love, Kate, when her father was forced to flee with the family because of his gambling debts. Jack spent a lifetime hoping to reconnect with his childhood sweetheart.

Jack's story moved me and so began the idea that his situation would form a part of a novel. This is what I'm working on. It's a story of two young men growing up in Australia between 1900 and 1936, one a poor boy and the other a rich lad. It's title is Restless.

Australia experienced a lot of unrest after world war one so there is a lot of rich history to be mined. Hopefully, I'll finish it soon.

 

COMPENDIUM CATALOGUE 1974 (PRE THE APPLE COMPUTER)

REVOLUTION OR EVOLUTION?

Gregory Ket prepared and published the Compendium Catalogue in 1974, two years prior to the arrival of the Apple computer. He painstakingly typed the text on his IBM Selectric typewriter. Then he would cut and paste his work on layout sheets along with resized photocopies of excerpts and images from books and catalogues. He never stopped researching.

His dedication to the idea that people could be better informed via the printed word was keenly expressed in his work. 

“We are gods and might well get good at it. So far remotely done power and glory – as via government, big business, formal education, church – has succeeded to point where gross defects obscure actual gains. In response to this dilemma and to these gains a realm of intimate, personal power is developing – power of the individual to conduct his own education, find his own inspiration, shape his own environment, and share his adventure with whoever is interested …” Stewart Brand in The Whole Earth Catalogue

The Counterculture of the early 70’s saw the manifestation of a desire among many young people in the US and Europe, to pursue a simpler and more self-sustaining lifestyle. The first of the four Whole Earth Catalogues were published each year from 1968 to 1972.

THE APPLE COMPUTER

This is a facsimile edition. The Arrival of the Apple Computer in 1976 dramatically changed how printed material was produced so that this catalogue is doubly significant; an example of how we communicated as well as the titles of the books we were all reading . Hope you enjoy it!

The Compendium Catalogue is available as a paperback or ebook from Amazon.