NICK Earls has a secret. Yes, his new short story collection Welcome to Normal features stories set around the globe.
Yes, he did investigate each location and travel down the streets that form the essential backdrop to this latest set of tales.
But no, he didn’t need to leave his Brisbane home.
“I had recently got myself a better broadband connection,” he explained, “and I would go onto Google Earth and go through all of these areas.
“I would spend several days, noting down what I saw.”
One of Australia’s most popular storytellers, Earls has promised he will actually be dropping into Yarraville in person on Monday night to discuss his third collection of short stories.
The one-time doctor has enjoyed success with novels, plays and short stories for adults and younger readers, including bestsellers Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses and Perfect Skin.
But he revelled in the chance to return to the short-story form.
“I got really excited about shorter fiction again. There are eight pieces in the book, so it meant that eight times I got that usual buzz you get from finishing a story.”
Earls originally set out to redevelop some stories left over from his 1999 collection Headgames.
But two new stories took on a life of their own and he realised he was going to have to follow his instinct and build a new set of stories around this new “tone and rhythm”.
Fans will spot more of his likeable if somewhat flawed characters, each facing up to the passing of time in their own way.
In one story a character frets about the ‘narrowing of possibilities’ we all face as we age, a theme carried through the collection.
“I was conscious writing it, and when I was initially thinking about the book, that I wanted them to create a sense of a sustained work,” he said.
“Having just read it again in the past week, it feels as if each piece can work alone as a story. They are independent stories, but there is also that sense of them being connected.”
After a decade of comparisons with British author Nick Hornby, Earls is a little amused to find he now faces another possible case of mistaken identity.
One of his best successes to date is via a book called 48 Shades of Brown, which won a Children’s Book Council of Australia award.
He chuckles at the prospect of finding a new “accidental audience” of readers confusing the work with the erotic bestseller 50 Shades of Grey.
“It will be interesting to see if I get a serious upswing in accidental sales and a new set of readers who might have been expecting something else.”
Earls will chat about Welcome to Normal at a free launch at Yarraville’s Sun Theatre from 6pm, Monday, July 23. Bookings 96890661 or info@sunbookshop.com
