: About Me

I'm a writer of many styles, but my best-known work is as a children's and young adult author. I've been writing professionally for over twelve years.

My best-known books are:

*Captain Mack (Honour Book in the Children's Book Council Awards in 2000)
*Billy Mack's War (Honour Book in the Children's Book Council Awards in 2005)
*Ichabod Hart & the Lighthouse Mystery
*A Boat for Bridget
*Full Moon Racing
*Problem Child
*The 'S' Word - a boys' guide to sex, puberty and growing up

I live in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia (hence the funny spelling of words like 'realise' and 'honour') with my wife and two daughters, and spend a lot of time in schools all over Australia inspiring kids to enjoy reading, and to love writing.

My website is http://www.jamesroy.com.au - please visit!

My passion is ...

my kids

I know too much about ...

people dying

My parents always told me ...

chew with your mouth shut

My childhood ambition ...

to be a writer

My favorite memory ...

our house in Fiji

Why I write ...

because I'd go mad if I didn't

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

reading 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins, and watching Life on Mars (BBC)

My first job ...

storeman and packer

My best moment ...

getting the call from the publisher about my first book

My inspiration ...

Roald Dahl

Creative Writing > Novel Excerpts Novel excerpts: Mystery

119 of 124

August / The Extension Piece / Ray Question 1. Working within your chosen genre, create a piece of short fiction. (25 marks) The rain was fallin' hard, like bullets on the roof of the car. Believe me, I seen rain before, growin' up on the coast, but nothin' like this. This rain was fallin' so heavy a guy could hardly see the front door of the picture theatre across the street. There was a blue and red neon sign above the door, but I couldn't have read it if even if I'd had a roscoe held to my head. But I'd been to that dive plenty, back in the day, and I knew what the sign said Civic'. Jus...

More..

• Helium Charter Member