I had an absolute ball last week, being a temporary and very unofficial Uber driver and guide to best selling, award winning, multilingually translated, and all round wonderful children’s book author, Lian Tanner.
Initially I was simply looking forward to a long overdue catch up with an old friend. I met Lian at drama school in Tasmania, ooh, nearly forty years ago? Which can’t possibly be correct.
I saw on her socials that she was doing a schools tour in Victoria on the back of her latest book, Spellhound, Dragons of Hallow. Immediately I asked my boy’s school if they could book her. And then rather cheekily I asked Lian if she was able to speak to my writers group. The universe smiled on me and it was yeses all round!
I had a sneaky back row seat as Lian Tanner led a most entertaining, often hilarious, interactive session with the children of our tiny, Sassafras Primary School. The kids were enthralled! I shouldn’t have been at all surprised that her acting skills shone through. They were getting a performance and a lesson in story writing all in one.
A few days later Lian joined my writing group, Mountain Ash Chapter, in the Dandenong Ranges. We were all thoroughly enchanted by her enthusiasm, humour, knowledge, experience and generosity in sharing all this with us. We agreed we could have listened to her all day.
Of course I couldn’t resist the opportunity for a book signing and photo, like the fan girl I turn into, even when I’ve known the author more than half my life.
On the drive back to the city, I was in seventh heaven having such a wealth of knowledge as my captive audience, or was I the captive audience? Writers love to talk about writing, and writers love to hear other writers talk about writing. I’m hoping it was symbiotic.
We swapped stories of those indulgent days at drama school, where thoughts can become actions, and everyone else has to watch and listen. We tried to fill in the gaps of what our old classmates are doing now. For a small course at a Tasmanian Uni, there’s a lot who’ve gone on to have successful careers in the arts! Unfortunately I was not one of them. A traitor to my original passion, I went on to more study, gaining a Bachelor of Health Science, and a career as a Doctor of Chinese Medicine. Go figure.
But now, I’m retired and story telling, writing and performing are calling me back. No, they’re yelling at me I think. They’re shouting, “for the love of baby cheeses, woman, get writing, tic tock, tic tock!”
“I am!” I yell back, “It’s just bloody slow work!”
This blogette is not a review of Spellhound, A Dragons of Hallow Book, but just quietly, between us, it’s fabulous.
A most gargantuan thank you ever goes out to Lian Tanner. To read more about her and her books go here.
To find more info about Spellhound go here.
To subscribe to more of my blogs and stories go here.
To read pieces from writers at Mountain Ash Chapter, go here.
#LianTanner #Spellhound #MountainAshChapter #UniversityofTasmania #notyellowface #Freudenfreud
Amanda Gambas Author 