Sunny Garden

Once a general practitioner, Brisbane-inhibited Nick Earls had turned to something more than interesting and became an author. Nick's works include jingles for commercials, theme-park comedies and a song, but he is best known for his highly-acclaimed bestselling adult novels Zigzag Street, published in 1996 and is currently being developed into a feature film; and Bachelor Kisses published in 1998. His recently-published new book Headgames is a hard-to-describe piece. Not really a novel nor a plain collection of short stories, the book mixes with the real, the unreal and the surreal playing mind games with the readers "in a nice way".

Writing offbeat comic fictions is Nick's game, as writing to him is a time-consuming process in which he has "gotta have fun". He reckons the success of his previous novels is due to "something in his books people can identity with", and he finds in his readers the same kind of people he has as friends.

In this interview, Nick chatted with Andrew Demaria about some of the stories in his books; his engagement to writing; as well as his inspirations, brainstorming and writing process - and just how much he put himself into his works, how Headgames came together and if he thought writing "whacky stories" is in the fashion.

Headgames is now available at your local bookshop through Viking for $A22.95 (recommended retail price).

Andrew Demaria & Vincent Fok for ARTS alive.

Note: The interview is in RealAudio format and is 1.9MB in size.

Interviewer: Andrew Demaria
Producer: Edith Bevan
ARTS Alive webmaster: Vincent Fok

   Don't have RealAudio? Download a free player.

1. For those of you who don't know, Nick Earls is a multi-talented Brisbane General-Practitioner-turned-author.

2. Nick's previous works include the highly-acclaimed bestselling adult novels Zigzag Street, currently being developed into a feature film; the also-popular Bachelor Kisses published in 1998 and the latest mixes of the real, the unreal and the surreal - Headgames.

3. Since the last time Nick talked to ARTS alive, he had been on a stage show came with Headgames around the cities, and he made another appearance on the hit TV show Good News Week.

4.... But for the prolific offbeat-fiction writer himself, Nick has just released another new book titled 48 Shades of Brown. According to the description on the cover, it is "an hilarious and bittersweet story about breaking free, finding your feet, falling in love and strange birds". Judge yourself of whether the above tagline justifies the story about a 16-year-old boy who chooses to move in with his mother's 22-year-old bass-playing PhD-student sister. It is interesting enough, however, for the fact that Nick wrote this time in the shoes (head?) of a younger teenager.

5. Besides the new book, Nick also released recently his first EP album. 10 Things You Should Know About Sex is several of Nick's short stories told by the man himself in the distinctive "Earls-style" to a musical backing. Including contributions from members of Iczer One, More, Replicant and Resin Dogs, it is "a mixture of comedy, beats and just a touch of funk".

6. In this interview with Andrew Demaria, Nick told more about his new book, his creative process, how his EP came about and his future plans.

7. 48 Shades of Brown is now available at your local bookshop through Penguin Books Australia for $A14.95 (recommended retail price).

8. Due to copyright protection, tracks from 10 Things You Should Know About Sex will not be heard in the RealAudio interview. (Get real, people. And get your own copy of Nick's EP through Horror Show Records).

9. Nick appeared with Iczer One at the Zoo on September 10 with Far Out Corporation and also performed at the Livid Festival in October, 1999.

10. And for those of you who just can't get enough of Nick, check out the semi-official Nick Earls website Sunny Garden. (This one's for you, Liz.)

Andrew Demaria & Vincent Fok for ARTS alive.

Note: The interview is in RealAudio format and is 1.6MB in size.

Interviewer: Andrew Demaria
Producer: Edith Bevan
ARTS Alive webmaster: Vincent Fok

   Don't have RealAudio? Download a free player.

Disclaimer:
Sunny Garden is designed, written and maintained by Liz Perkins, in cooperation with Nick Earls, Penguin Books and Random House Australia. Any questions about Sunny Garden should be directed to Liz

All original contents are © Liz Perkins.