August Falling
Page 27
She does a little curtsy for me—I don’t think she means it; it’s the sort of thing that pops out because she’s not sure how she should behave.
‘Sorry,’ she says. ‘Bit nervous.’
She regards me as if I’m somebody, which makes me feel a fraud, but I squelch the thought and appreciate the feeling for what it is. I am somebody. I’m the author and director of this play. I’m me. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
‘It’s okay to be nervous,’ I say. ‘If you’d like to start reading …’
She’s terrible—too nervous to be measured, but her energy is infectious. Outside, in the foyer, god knows how many more hopefuls have gathered. I hear the front door bang open. The piston’s still busted and rattles whenever somebody’s too exuberant, like that first time I came in. Another one has come to join the queue, but that’s not only okay, I look forward to it.
I lean back in my chair, and instead of worrying about myself and how I’m going to navigate my everyday world, I obsess about how I’m going to put this whole play together, and how I’m going to make it work (and I will make it work). But a little part of my mind wonders how Julie’s doing, and whether she might show up when I least expect it.
But like I said at the start, this isn’t a love story.
It’s a story of acceptance, and hope.
And finding yourself.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Although the story begins with the author, it’s the feedback from those you trust who help you shape it and make it the best it can be—or the best that you can make it be as an author.
This particular story began as a novelette, so thanks initially to the likes of Ryan O’Neill, Laurie Steed, Blaise van Hecke, and Kim Lock for the feedback they provided. It was thinking about how the story could be drawn out which convinced me what I’d actually written was the outline for a novel.
Thanks again to Blaise van Hecke, who always (and patiently) reads my writing, and provides such invaluable feedback; to Bel Woods, for her amazing insight into writing and how things sit in the industry; to Kim Lock, who always helps me to recognise the story I’m trying to tell; to Tom O’Connell, for his encouragement and thoughts and belief in this particular story; to Helen Krionas, for reading the book on her phone and helping me to define what I needed and what I didn’t; to Val Vogel, who uncomplainingly reads everything I throw at her and helps me identify what works and what doesn’t; to Susanna Todorovska, for reading it and providing me fresh insight; to my agent, Sally Bird, whose feedback, experience, and expertise is always invaluable; and to my writing group—Blaise van Hecke, Beau Hillier, Gina Boothroyd, Angus Watson, Jasmine Powell, Tess Evans, and Deb Graham—who helped me sharpen key scenes that I brought in for workshopping. Thanks lastly, on this personal level, to Rob Deskoski—he didn’t read this book; he actually read Just Another Week in Suburbia, and I totally forgot to thank him. So here’s a retrospective thank you. (I hope I haven’t forgotten anybody this time around—if I have, I assure you it’s unintentional! And I guess I’ll fix it next time around.)
Back to this book, thanks to Lucy Bell for judicious editing, and challenging me to go further and deeper into getting this story right, and an awesomely big thank you to Ali Green, Marty Green, and everybody at Pantera Press for taking a chance on this story and, more importantly, me.
Thank you to Desanka Vukelich, for her meticulous proofreading and finding anything that slipped through.
And thank you to you, the reader, for following me on my journey.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Les Zig has been telling stories since he was a kid, lying to get out of trouble. As a teenager, he worked out he could put his imagination to use telling stories, although this took a number of different forms. As he’s grown older, he’s had stories and articles published in various print and digital journals, screenplays optioned, and written one whole poem.
He’s now interested in exploring the human psyche—from the fears, quirks, and neuroses that drive us, to the dynamics of how people interact and react, how the world around them influences and sometimes predetermines their choices, and who they inevitably become.
It only takes
one moment
to fracture the illusion
of a perfect life.
OUT NOW
www.panterapress.com.au
BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
1. How often do your preconceptions generate narratives about people? Look around you at the other members of your book club. What did you think of them when you first saw them, and how does that compare to what you know now?
2. Have you ever met somebody who you immediately feel is right for you? Can such immediate certainty exist? Or is it just fairytale?
3. Is there a right time to contact somebody for a first date? August, Ronnie, and Sam discuss it, and all have different viewpoints. Is there a right or wrong?
4. Ronnie says we’re the people we are as individuals and the people we are as part of a couple. Do you agree?
5. August struggles to deal with his past as a whole. Have you ever struggled to deal with some aspect of your past? How has it shaped your present? Has awareness of those issues helped you reconcile the way you handle things in the present?
6. August is haunted by his previous relationship, yet blames himself because it didn’t work out. Why? Have you ever felt like that?
7. August goes back to Lisa, even after everything she’s done. Was he wrong? Could that sort of reconciliation work?
8. August says that secrets are killers. Is that true? Are secrets killers in relationships? Or are there things that it’s better not knowing?
9. Nicole – the waitress at Charisma’s – has an outlook on life that things don’t last. Do you agree? Do you think Nicole may have outgrown this outlook?
10. August’s sister, Gen, has a partner, Pat, but it’s not until well into the story that it’s revealed that Pat is also a woman, and that they have a child. How do you feel about Gen’s relationship? How do you feel about the reveal that it is a same-sex relationship being delayed? Why do you think it was handled this way?
11. We don’t meet Lisa until well into the novel, when August goes to meet her. What was your image of her up to that point? And how did it reconcile with who she is when you finally do meet her?
12. August learns not to settle and to seize his future. Will he be happy? Have you seized your future?
13. One theme of the story is acceptance. How would you deal with a partner with Julie’s past?
14. How would the story have been different if August’s character were female, and she met a man who’d worked in the porn industry? Is there a double standard in how men and women are perceived, even if they’re in the same situation?
15. What do you think the future would hold in store for August and Julie? Would they have gone on to build their lives independently? Would they reconnect?