Dave Franklin
Born in Wales, Dave Franklin published his first story in a fishing magazine at the age of sixteen. He emigrated to Australia in 1999 and made his living as a reporter, earning the distinction of being sacked twice by the same Perth-based newspaper group. He then spent nearly three years teaching English in Korea, during which the mortality rate of the children under his care remained at an impressive zero. He now teaches ESL to adults in Brisbane, helping (among others) Thai Lady Boys get to grips with their past participles.
The major theme of Dave's small, character-driven stories is alienation, the symptoms of which include male immaturity, misogyny, dysfunction, religion, violence, self-destruction and a childish glee in winding up the politically correct. There are no car chases or explosions in his books; instead he prefers graphic, outlandish sex scenes while focusing on exasperated loners full of doubt.
People who like his work tend to see its black humour (and disdain for his own characters) whereas his harshest critics take everything at face value. Indeed, some observers would suggest that the highlight of his writing career, which has seen him produce eight novels, remains being published in a fishing magazine.
“Perthites were like the Swan River's jellyfish - small pink blobs adrift in a warm environment.”
“God, he loved being a bloke. He loved it so much. He wouldn't be a woman for all the money in the world.”
“No one liked to get too upset in WA's capital, a genuine hindrance to Perth forging its own identity. Less than two hundred years old, its unremarkable history and unceasing niceness had combined to apparently stupify its populace. Perth was at least two hours behind the Eastern states but everyone knew it was really dragging behind by years.”
“Perhaps you don't have to do anything wrong for someone to reject you.”
“Sometimes she despaired at other women - their feebleness, their triviality, the nonsense they absorbed. So many were like little doe-eyed deer waiting to be chased, clueless with a different mindset and a bit of effort they could be the predators.”
“I seem to feel ashamed of going out and getting merry - I find it oddly humiliating - but I'm quite happy to sit here like some dipsomaniac and become maudlin. For me, that is cool behaviour. Once you realise you're going to be on your own for the next few decades, it seems as pleasurable a way as any to pass the years.”
“When it comes to men, women will insist that a lunge in their direction is not always welcome, and yet they cannot forgive a man who does not even attempt a sexual pursuit. Strange creatures, aren't they?”
“Australia! Australians! Surely it's still full of Magwitch-types, lumbering oafs with shaven pates and broken noses on the run from whatever law there is, chucking kangaroo heads on the barbie as they read their awful bush poetry.”
“Ideally, alcohol should be consumed in private. I dislike going to the pub, becoming jolly and ending up talking to people I would rather see injected with bleach.”
“Are you ready to try to tame the Wrath?”