Pre-orders are now available for the anthology, The Time Time: Australia Bound, full of stories featuring HG Wells’ amazing conveyance being used, and misused, in Australia!
The book will be available in both paperback and a limited-edition hardcover. Each copy of the hardcover version will be signed by the authors: Christopher Sequeira, Angela Meyer, Lucy Suxxes, Kaaron Warrren, Jason Franks, Carmel Bird, DMetri Kakmi, Webb, Robert Hood, Bryce Stevens, Alan Baxter, Bill Congreve, Alf Simpson, Cat Sparks, Gerry Huntman, Raymond Gates – and me – with an introduction by John Birmingham.
My story, “Souvenir”, features a woman dedicated to the arts… and to catching all the performances and exhibitions she missed through not being around at the time. It’s a great idea until it all gets out of hand…
Extract from Souvenir, in which Gracie meets the infamous Lola Montez….
Lola’s scandalous “Spider Dance” turned out to be a bit silly in the historical flesh. The faux-Spanish dancer ruched and flicked her skirts in the futile effort to hunt the “spider” skittering under her silks and linens while rhythmically stomping her feet.
Whatever Gracie thought of its artistic merits, Lola’s flash of ankles, calves, the back of her knees and even her thighs was soft porn by the standards of 1855, making it rowdily popular among all these wild colonial boys.
After the show, Gracie, in her guise of a tall, coltish young man, waited by the stage door. When Lola Montez appeared briefly – to soak up the adoration and fascinate the lads with her frankly dodgy Spanish accent – Gracie made her move.
Slipping lithely through the little throng of admirers, Gracie darted close, took up Lola’s hand and pressed a small parcel wrapped in lace into the woman’s palm. Then she slipped away again to wait in her modest room at The Old White Hart Hotel for curiosity to do its dirty work.
Dear, infamous Lola wasn’t a fool, but, like a bowerbird, she did love acquiring shiny things.
Sure enough, not long after midnight, a visitor knocked on Gracie’s door. Gracie opened it to a visitor who swept inside.
Lola Montez wasted no time in also sweeping off her hat and cloak, revealing the woman in men’s attire beneath, just as she used to wear when smoking cigars with her old mate Amantine “Call me George Sand” Dupin.
‘I come, Señor Davidson, in answer to your note,’ said Lola boldly, pouring as much melodrama into the moment as she could summon, which was quite a lot. She turned from bold to coquettish on a dime. ‘For how could I resist such temptation as you offer?’
She really was a triumph of charisma over talent. In the 21st century, Lola Montez would certainly be a reality show celebrity almost as famous as a Kardashian.