The Rain, The Park & Other Things
I’ve sold a lot of short stories over the years, most of which I’ve been extremely proud of . The idea of a collection built around a theme appealed to me. As my main market at the time was Australia’s premier woman’s magazine, That’s Life, along with it’s quarterly Fast Fiction magazine, I wanted to find an Australian publisher who could do my work justice. I approached a number and even though Stephen at Ginninderra Press only wanted Aussie residents to submit when I checked the website, he said he’d willingly read my manuscript. He accepted my work during the following few days.
A lot of work goes into producing a high quality book and I want to publicly thank Stephen for his patience and hard work. When it came to the cover, I had a particular image in mind and Stephen accepted the painting that I did which you can see above.
Some of the stories here like Tourist were written back in 2005 when I was in Tasmania and attending a U3A writing group in the beautiful river side town of Cygnet. I taught there too.
Titles are important and I often write a story based on a title that grabs my attention. Song titles are often a starting point like the title story. ‘The Rain, The Park & Other Things‘ was an enigmatic title by the Cowsills, an American family. and a great song.
Rain and Parks often feature in my tales. The story ‘Rainz- was written about 2003 and was inspired by a composition I wrote way back in 1962 at school. I came third in the yearly exam in English largely because of that piece. Rain is so atmospheric and evocative – perfect for the setting of so many pieces.
Alan C. Williams - Author 