Such is Life is a collection of very different short stories that will have readers longing for more – if they survive….
Ordinary people can do remarkable things when their worlds get turned upside down. Acclaimed writer Steve Kealy’s first “bunch of shorts” is a break-neck ride aboard his wild imagination – and all the tales have a real sting in the … tail!
“Such is life” are reputed to be the final words of highwayman and Australia’s famous folk hero, bushranger Ned Kelly, before he was hanged in 1880 - ironically on November 11, a day more recently dedicated to peace. Those words might be uttered by many of the people in this book too.
Fun fact: Ned’s life was the subject of the world’s very first feature film in 1906.
Despite only basic schooling, he dictated a lengthy letter in which he described local law enforcement as "a parcel of big, ugly, fat-necked, wombat-headed, big-bellied, magpie-legged, narrow-hipped, splay-footed sons of Irish bailiffs or English landlords". As insults go, that ranks at the very top!
This anthology of one poem, seven short stories and a novella began as something to do when insomnia called and everyone else was asleep; it took a motorcycle ride around the world to find the resolve to finish it.
Since then, many more words have crawled across my keyboard!
Aspirant writers are advised to “write about what they know” and in most cases I started out that way – and then things just happened and all the stories grew legs, arms and a few other surplus parts besides, and ran away by themselves. Often I’d write until exhausted and read my own work for the first time days later. Some are more or less as written, others have been polished so often, the paint’s worn off!
