Category: Uncategorized
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The man with no ears and the man with no fears
I never met Mark “Chopper” Read, but I have sat on his barstool. It was at the Royal Oak in Launceston in the late 1970s when I was 18 or 19. I was pleased because I had found myself a prime position at the bar. Then someone burst my bubble. “You can’t sit there, mate…
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My life story recycled by an op shop
Here’s another old column from Son, give me back my trousers. In my defence, I’m busy writing my next novel. I KNEW MY old neckties would come in handy one day. My eight-year-old son came home from his school holiday program last week and asked me if I had one or two to spare. Apparently,…
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The Burpers, The Farters and The Punk
The punk with the green mohawk and a safety pin through his nose examined his bloodied knuckles, then started sobbing. He had just smashed the thick window beside him on a London Tube in 1980. Broken glass was everywhere. Over his leather jacket. Over the seat. Over the floor. And I was the only witness…
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The loosing of wisdom
Does anyone know what the going price is for wisdom teeth? I am only asking because my dentist says she’ll keep an eye on one of mine but eventually she’ll probably have to remove it. I happen to be on first-name terms with the Tooth Fairy, a relationship forged 25 years ago when my son…
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Before I became a writer, I wanted to be Robin Hood
Like most boys, my ambitions were once wildly unrealistic and prone to sudden change. At seven or eight, my career plan shifted decisively away from cowboys and towards outlaws. Specifically Robin Hood. Before that I’d been fully committed to life on the frontier. I even had an Indian identification wall chart in my bedroom in Tasmania and…
JOHN MARTIN'S TALES 