I wrote this poem many years ago.

It was published by Ars Poetica & online

by Poetry Quay. I wonder where those

publications are now.

However, I'm glad to air the poem again. 

I hope you enjoy it.

VOICES FROM THE PAST 

She sent a card

In sympathy for Tom's death

with a note attached.

She had got religion

and wanted to atone

for the affair she and Tom

had in that mining town

forty years ago. 

Our children were in nursery school.

I thought she was my friend

But in preserving

her peace of mind

she has shattered mine.

                      *           *          *

Download from www.barnesandnoble.com

Book Two in the Walara series.

Danny and Will Hennessy join the forces and go to fight in WW2, leaving their father, Jack Hennessy, to manage the huge Walara property on his own. 

Footballers

Footballers was published in the West Australian Newspapers about forty years ago. It was one of the first stories I'd had published. You can imagine I was thrilled to bits to read my story in a state newspaper. Sadly, the West Australian doesn't publish short stories and poetry now. Another avenue for writers closed. Footballers is also published in my download anthology, The Japanese Grandmother.
I've included an excerpt from the story. You can read the rest on my website www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd

Kenny saw his father’s football trophies in the cupboard set high on the kitchen wall. Tarnished with black smudges, the silver cups gleamed dully in the afternoon sunlight shafting through the kitchen window. "You'll be up there one day too, fella," his father would say as he gave one of the silver cups to Kenny to look at.

Kenny ran his fingers over the writing. "What does it say, Dad?” he’d ask though he knew it by heart.

“Best Player in Southerners Football Team,” his father would say. 

“When’s Dad coming home?” Kenny now asked his mother. 

His mother snapped. “I don’t know. He’s too busy wasting his life and mine with his fool schemes. I told him to get out and do something. He’s not a famous footballer any more.” 

Kenny stopped listening and sidled through the door. He brushed up against the man coming in. 

The man was the new boarder. The neighbours would ask, “How’s the new boarder, Eileen?”

 His mother would say. “It’s a pleasure to have someone to cook for and who is on time for his meals.”

Download available from www.kindlebooks.com

June Calamity's Corner

Calamity's Corner is four years old this month. Congratulations to Calamity for putting together such an informative, bright and interesting journal each month.

Maggi Anderson, Australian writer, is Writer of the Month.  Her article, The Fabulous Georgian Years which should make everyone sit down and write a Regency. Maggi's latest novel is The Reluctant Marquess.

Maggi says in her article that garnets were the most popular jewellery of the Regency. The Georgian era was when the wealthy and not so wealthy aristocratic society made their feeling known by giving fabulous jewels to their mistresses and lovers. 

The garnet was the most desirable jewel of the time. They were made popular by Lady Emma Hamilton, Lord Nelson's mistress.

Another feature of this month's Calamity's Corner is a web site to view the Transit of Venus safely without damaging your eyes.

Plenty more to see in Calamity's Corner: Movie and book reviews. Travel News - American espionage writer, Peter Bernhardt visits beautiful Sedona, USA.

Join Calamity's contributors - send in an Unusual Event or Feature your Pet.

Contact calam@live.com.au for a free download copy of June Calamity's Corner. A journal for Writers, Reader and Movie Buffs everywhere.

 The Blue Vase was read on the ABC about twenty years ago. I'm glad to air it here again.

THE BLUE VASE 

She is more

My mother's daughter

than mine.

I hear their laughter

in the living room

while I make tea

in the kitchen.

When my grandmother died

Her daughters

divided her valuables. 

From the waste heap

I rescued the blue vase. 

My grandmother told me

Her mother had brought it

from Scotland.

It had belonged

to her mother. 

The blue vase

Sits on the windowsill.

Beside it is the one

my daughter gave me

made by some modern potter. 

Beyond the living room

My granddaughter plays in the garden.

When she is grown

I shall give her

the blue vase. 

Laurel Lamperd

                              *          *          *

Download Battle of Boodicuttup Creek at www.apple-ebooks.com

Mitch, Shane and Leanna battle to save the Boodicuttup Creek for an injured cormorant from the developers. Suitable for 7-11 year old children.

I was so pleased to read Geoff Woodland's fantastic review of my new book, Journey from Walara. He's been very generous.
Check out Geoff at his webpage www.geoffwoodland.com
Discover his new book, 'Ice King'. A saga set during the dying days of the African slave trade.

Journey from Walara - review written by Geoff Woodland

After reading Wind from Danyari I had to read the sequel, Journey from Walara, by West Australian author, Laurel Lamperd.
The Hennessy boys go to war, Danny to England to be trained as a bomber pilot, and Will joins the Australian Army and is sent to New Guinea. The story begins in the time of innocence in Australia of 1939. The author showed me the lives of people in outback Australia of that time, and how their innocence changed as the war progressed.
Lamperd has the knack of describing the conditions of north west Australia to such an extent that she has my mouth dry from wind blown sand, only to be washed clean in the next chapter by watered down beer in a London pub on a damp wet night, after a bombing raid over Germany. Her description of the Kakoda trail, the mud, the tropical heat and rain, with the expectation of fighting the Japanese brings to life the bestiality of man when at war.
It is not a story of war, but a story of a family caught up in a war. How relationships are made and broken, some deliberate others beyond control of the character. I read the book on a Kindle and after I’d finished, the characters and the locations stuck in my mind for days, even though I was travelling and seeing new places. A well told story.

Love Came at Christmas

Love Came at Christmas, a short story, is my free read this week. Two homeless teenagers meet at Christmas. You can read the complete story on my website at www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd

The park was small and on the edge of the city block. Further down the hill, the river could be glimpsed, blue and sparkling in the morning sunshine. Three yachts, their white sails gleaming, followed each other like sentries on guard.

Yesterday, the girl had sat on the same bench in the park, watching the last minute rush of Christmas shoppers. They all seemed to have a destination to go to and carried their brightly coloured Christmas bags with a jaunty air.

Now, the city was almost deserted except for the boy stretched out seemingly asleep on a bench a few metres away. He was a tall rangy boy, too thin for his height. Fifteen minutes earlier, he'd been eating a pie. The girl had felt a twinge of hunger watching him. She wasn't a pie eater but she was hungry enough to eat anything.  

As if conscious of her watching him, the boy sat up. "Hi," he called across the small area of grass between them. "What's new?"

"Nothing much." She didn't feel like talking to him. She didn't feel like talking to anyone.

Download from www.kindlebooks.com

Find an Editor

Find an Editor

Do you have an editor?

 Read what Susannah says on her blog http://writeitsideways.com about getting an editor if you are lucky enough to find an editor. I must admit that I've never been lucky to find one.

The closest I've had is when I've sent a piece to a magazine; the editor likes it and asks to make some changes which I've usually gratefully agreed to. The other writers who have helped me so much with my novels are the marvellous novelists on the IWW blog novel group http://internetwritingworkshop.blogspot.com who have edited all my books.

So do think that you need an editor? Read what Susannah says on her blog and check out Erika Liodice's post on How to Find an Editor on Susannah's site.

download Crossroads at Isca from www.kobobooks.com

Set in Roman Britain in the time of Hadrian, two young British girls' lives are changed forever when the meet two tribunes from the great Roman fort on the plain.