Mike has a long history of educating and storytelling. He taught English and history at various secondary colleges for thirty years and was a regular educational reviewer for Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper. Mike frequently presented to English teachers for the Victorian English Teachers Association. Adolescent literature is a special interest and Austin Macauley published his first adolescent novel Dig, in 2022. ‘Dig’ was commended for its subtle exploration of themes like war and masculine identity by Dr Mary Purcell, Melbourne University: ‘Young secondary readers would connect with Michael’s engaging characters.’ (VATE, 2022). Mike also has an interest in Cold War history, so it’s not surprising ‘Blue Streak’ is a Cold War thriller. He is currently preparing a sequel to ‘Blue Streak’.
‘Sometimes you have to make a mark, to show you were first, to show you matter and make a difference to the world.’Damian Foley and his mate Chris Monk carry the weight of childhood illness and they have reached their teenage years with plenty to prove. It is the summer of 1966, a year of great change, the decimal currency has been introduced and the first troops from Australia are sent to the war in Vietnam, the largest overseas campaign since the Second World War. Chris’ brother Ross, ‘wins the lottery’ and is conscripted as a soldier to fight the Vietcong and the boys are busting to see Steve McQueen’s ‘The Great Escape’ at The Plaza.It’s time for the boys to test their mettle. They are accepted into the local gang who test each other with war games and build a tunnel into the bank of the Patterson River. Will they make their mark? And will Ross return safely from Vietnam? Whatever the outcome, the characters will draw on their resources of courage and endurance.
Mark Wyles fell hard as a policeman, demoted, and sent to the isolated Hawker Station on the fringe of South Australia’s Flinders Ranges. However, a missing person creates a surprising opportunity to regain detective status when he and rookie policewoman Katherine Cooper follow a trail of disappearances from outback Hawker to Adelaide. The unlikely pair make a formidable team and unearth a plot involving a network of Communist sympathisers seeking intelligence about British missile tests at Woomera. However, to prevent the intelligence from escaping to the USSR, they must stop a ruthless killer.
“Blue Streak ticks all the boxes of suspense.” Krystyna Duszniak, Lost Histories.
Mike recently had a book launch at Mentone Public Library on Saturday 13th of August. Mike spoke of his inspiration for the novel being the shortage of fiction aimed at adolescent boys. He hoped tha ........
Mike describes his DIG inspiration. ‘I have noted the scarcity of really engaging adolescent novels. There’s plenty of fantasy, of course, and everyone is familiar with Harry Potter, but for young ........
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