Fishing for Stars
Page 65
My executive editor at Penguin, Rachel Scully, who rides shotgun, makes intelligent and insightful suggestions and has to make it all happen on time – but, at the same time, never appears to panic or impose her will or scream ancillary in sheer frustration and who must answer to those above who only care about telling the trade that yes, there will be a book this Christmas. Rachel, you epitomise a good publisher.
Here are the Penguin Family who care and nurture my career as a writer, the unsung heroes who have been involved with this book and others: managing editor Anne Rogan, who fields at first slip and gets everything going that comes under the name of final production, Jessica Crouch, Deb Brash, Allison Colpoys, Gabrielle Coyne, Bob Sessions, Julie Gibbs, Dan Ruffino, Sally Bateman, Anyez Lindop, Gordon McKenzie, Sharlene Vinall, Abigail Hockey, Beverley Waldron, Erin Langlands, Mary Balestriere, Ian Sibley, Peter Blake, Louise Ryan, Peg McColl, and typesetters Lisa and Ron Eady.
Then comes the ancillary help, the healing hands and the exercise program that keep me tapping at the keyboard: Penelope Piccione, my massage therapist, who heals my hurts, and Erin Walsh and Jodie Iliami, my fitness instructors, who, three times a week in the gym, make brand-new pains to make me stronger to endure the pain that Penny heals. All were indispensable.
Finally, and principally responsible for the successful outcome of this book, is Christine Gee, my beloved partner. Living with a writer can be hell. It takes food, comfort, patience, encouragement, and sometimes just a glass of wine at six in the evening, and being there and looking gorgeous when I am feeling ragged. Christine also works closely with me in managing our professional interests with integrity and an unwavering commitment for which I am hugely grateful. Also nobody does all of these things with more panache and love than this truly extraordinary woman, the Queen of Werrington Street.
Then there is the support staff, Princess Cardamon the Burmese, and Mushka, the stray cat, who took weeks to encourage out of the bush. Both spent most of the day importantly asleep on my desk. And of course Tim, the dog of dogs, who doesn’t feel secure unless he is no more than a metre away from me and who has a snoring problem. They are my writing family who keep ‘my paws’ on the ground and couldn’t care less if I write well or badly so long as they are with us and get fed on time.
Epilogue for Frogs
In the mossy folds and runnels of the highest mountain springs in the upper regions of Kosciusko National Park, just below the snow melt, there used to live a small yellow and black frog hardly anyone has seen or heard or would probably miss if it became extinct. Its name is Corroboree, a word that, if you say it quietly to yourself, sounds like water running over rock. There are as few as fifty Corroboree frogs remaining alive in the wild and they are about to disappear forever – and ‘forever’ is just another word for eternity. But there may be some hope we can save this tiny little snow and wind and high- mountain frog. That is, if you should decide to help.
Okay, why should you? Good question. Australia has 219 frog species, of which eight have become extinct in the past thirty years and a further twenty-seven species are about to croak for the last time. Frogs not only make the night sound like a beautiful place, but they are an early-warning system that tells us things are taking a wrong turn in the environment. They are nature’s equivalent of the canary in the coalmine. Save them and we begin to save ourselves.
The Taronga Conservation Society Australia is working around the clock to save little Corroboree, who, by the way, isn’t much bigger than your thumbnail. Not just this little high-mountain fellow, but also the twenty-seven other endangered species. The trick is to breed them at the zoo and then to release them back into the wild. Captive husbandry and breeding is their only hope of survival. And, of course, there is little point in doing this unless we can make their natural habitat a safer place. At Taronga Zoo both are being undertaken and we believe, with your help, that we can eventually win the battle to save these tiny frogs.
Now, will you consider popping a cheque or money order in an envelope and sending it to the Taronga Foundation at PO Box 20, Mosman, NSW 2088 Australia? Or you could make a donation online (it doesn’t have to be a whopper) at www.taronga.org. All donations $2 and over are fully tax-deductible, so don’t forget to include your name and address for your tax-deductible receipt.
Ribett, ribett – that’s ‘thank you’ in frog.
Bryce Courtenay
PS If you read my book in years to come, don’t think it’s all over bar the croaking – this is a long-haul project and needs your help now and in the future.
The BookEnd
Trust is an independent, not-for-profit program to inspire upcoming generations with the career opportunities, challenges and possibilities of working to protect threatened species and striving for good environmental management. The program is about what students can be, and through scholarships and exchanges offers an innovative blending of co-operative environmental work, university training, and involvement of school students of all ages as the lifeblood of the future. The challenge laid down by the program is for new supporters to match the contributions that other businesses, professionals and private individuals have already made.
For more information and to find out how you can support BookEnd Trust, go to www.bookendtrust.com or write to Dr Niall Doran, Coordinator, BookEnd Trust, PO Box 310, Sandy Bay, TAS 7006, Australia; email: info@bookendtrust.com.
Table of Contents
BOOKS BY BRYCE COURTENAY
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
PART TWO
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
PART THREE
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
GAME OVER
List of Sources
Acknowledgements
Epilogue for Frogs
The BookEnd