12/08/2025
Estimated time of arrival for "Notes From the Peninsula" by G. A. De Forest is about 2 months, give or take, depending on how long it takes to get completely formatted, the art work for the cover done, and a few last touches to some of the stories done. The collection of 22 short pieces (ranging from 6 to about 40 pages) includes some 18 short stories, a couple of essays, a memoir on the 1960s, and a slice of family history from the 19th century. The stories are all set in New Zealand, overwhelmingly in Te Atatu Peninsula and others in suburbs not far away such as Henderson and Grey Lynn.
Don't know what the price will be -- but should be affordable, especially the author's copies I get imported from the mother ship at Booklocker.com in Georgia (that's the one in what was once the United States). For those cash strapped there will be 8 copies donated to the Auckland Library system, so easily distributed to readers' local library on request NZ-wide.
This is a labour of alternating love and torment for me, my laptop having collapsed in a heap a couple of weeks ago. All relevant material was rescued by my Mac specialist mates in Ponsonby and I am up and running again.
Stories include "A Question Of Shoes" about footwear envy; "It's A Living" involving two Point Chevalier mates and former shoplifters that end tragically; "Living the Nightmare" on a woman who knows of a heinous unsolved crime, one of the usual suspects fitted up -- just everyday life in NZ, but she tries to set it right; "The Commander", a construction boss who gets carried away with his fantasy life; "Bowling the Googly" centred on an elderly man, a frustrated romantic, doomed to haunt the shopping mall tasting forbidden fruit; "A Glamorous Old Dear" about a Maori woman retired back to the marae after a Hollywood career and feeling neglected; "Westie Fever" about a library sellout of old books, garage sale style; "The Wall", the lead looong story about one of the old council chain gangs assigned to start building the sea wall; "The Blarney According to McCluskey" as told by a character from the Irish enclave of Surrey Crescent; "Venus Mantrap", a farce that takes place among the 7-acre lifestylers in the valley; "George", another rampant male out for what he can get.
