BTZ Substack November 2024
Took a while.......
Apologies for the long break between posts here. I have been attempting to write a piece on Nicholas John Turner’s book Let The Boys Play but there is something about this book that has led to me procrastinating or feeling completely blocked. Here is my attempt.
Brisbane is not well known for many things. It is the capital of Queensland, the third largest state by population and the second largest by area. Queensland is famous for its beaches, laidback lifestyle, crocodiles and The Great Barrier Reef. Brisbane, on the other hand, is mainly known for its youth crime stats, a muddy river, oppressive heat and Bluey. In literary terms it is home to David Malouf and a few others. This is where Nicholas John Tuner is from. His first book Hang Him When He is Not There was published by Splice in 2018 and Zerogram in 2021. Sergio De La Lava was a fan and wrote “Turner upends everything. His language is like a taut but complex tool of excavation that just keeps burrowing into deeper terrain. This guy means business.”
For me that was all the encouragement I need to read that book and ask him to be a guest on the podcast. Daniel Davis Wood from Splice said he would say no and he did. Nicholas said much the same via our email discussions. He just wants to be a writer. Earlier this year Nicholas released Let The Boys Play quietly via his own press, Savage Motif and it is being sold at a range of book stores around Australia. It had a few reviews most notably in the The Age/SMH and all have been favourable.
One of the reasons it has taken me so long to write this is I am still not sure what I can say about this book and how to describe the bizarre experience it is to read this book. Maybe that is the central thing I want to say - It is an experience.
The book begins as a police procedural in a way. Two police, Richard Foley and an older officer, Ron Tsolkas are at an intersection where a hatchback has stopped with a giant man in a rugby union referee’s uniform behind the wheel. This is the mystery that Turner uses to propel the novel. In this scene Foley is swooped by a magpie and is quite badly injured. For the uninitiated they are a native species that are notorious for their aggressive behaviour when they have chicks.
The bird has torn a hole in Foley’s ear and as he recovers at home with girlfriend, Melanie Hodge, Turner revels more details about the world the novel is set in. There is a company called Organico that seems to run the police force and basically everything else but more about that later.
The novel is split into three parts - The Crimes, The Questions and the final part is called Organico. Each section starts with bullet points or chapter headings that can give clues to what you are reading but they make more sense once you have finished the book. Turner introduces a small cast of characters who are loosely connected by the world of rugby union. Don’t worry, you don’t need to know a thing about the game but there is much time spent on the sidelines of football fields. Oddly in Australia, Rugby Union has become a much less prominent sport with its more commercial cousin, Rugby League being far more popular in NSW and QLD and the other states being dominated by the AFL. That said traditionally, Rugby Union was said to be the gentleman’s game and it is still the game of choice for the more prestigious high schools.
As the novel progresses, it became obvious to me that the real talent Turner possesses is writing about bodies and physicality. This book is the most physical book I have probably ever read. There is something visceral about the way he writes about bodies and sex and violence and even the heat. I don’t have the electronic copy of the book but I would love to know how many times the word penis comes up. Turner’s writing also has a unique rhythm to it and his ability to describe a scene in relatively few words is something I have not seen in other Australian writing.
The plot of the novel, if there really is one, unfolds slowly. The second section of the book, The Questions, gives us some more hints about the central mystery of the novel and the also Organico. We get some hints that we are in a version of Brisbane but it really could be anywhere. The time period is unspecified but everything is recognisably recent. Turner does not take any time giving us a description of the world the novel is set in but we get small details here and there.
The final section of the book, Organico, does some fill in some of the gaps and helps clarify some of the earlier material but the book is certainly not a mystery novel with a neat conclusion. Organico seems to be an amazon like company that has taken over the running of the country in all aspects but Turner lets the reader fill in the gaps. The novel does have some conventional conclusions but this is certainly not Murder She Wrote.
Turner is without doubt a very talented writer and, yes this book is a difficult read but it is unlike most of the fiction out there at the moment. It is difficult to pitch and even after reading it almost twice I am still unsure what to make of it. Nicholas made the decision to self publish the book under his own imprint - Savage Motif. This may make the book a little harder to get if you are not in Australia but you can buy it from Australian book shops like Gleebooks and they will ship it to you. You can also get in touch with him directly on savagemotif@gmail.com He is also on Instagram @savagemotif
To other things briefly;
It is the end of the year so I am compiling content for the huge end of year show. I am asking for the best books you have read in 2024 and the books you are looking forward to in 2025. Also let me know if you have work coming out in 2025. If you would like to contribute send me a voice message to beyondthezeropod@gmail.com
I will be wrapping up (or starting) the year on Substack with a list of the the most anticipated books of 2025. In the meantime enjoy listening to the podcast.