Why Jamie went Walkabout in Australia
Jamie Poole Books is science fiction, but the series also keeps to the truth when it comes to history. History happens EveryWhen. It doesn't happen just where you live or just in your own country. It happens everywhere, any time, all the time.
I learned the term "EveryWhen" recently while reading a history book on indigenous Australian astronomy. If I go farther into that, I'll start leaking spoilers on a future book.
Suffice it to say, Australia has been part of me all my life. My mother had a pen pal from her time in college. They remained friends all their lives. Some of my first Christmas gifts were books or stuffed animals from Australia. Australian music regularly played in the house. (That music may have fascinated and annoyed neighbors in equal measure when the digeridoo played early in the morning. That wasn't down to me, was it?) I'm not sure my mother's reason for her interest in Australia. It may be as simple as that's where she found a pen pal through a school service.
For me, my interest in Australia was because it was one of the many layers of my childhood. Plus they have really weird animals, and kids dig weird. It didn't help that I had a stuffed koala bear.
Mother's pen pal and her family lived for a time in Scotland, so my first trip abroad was there. I've noted in my biography that Scotland impacted me with trips to places like Culloden where history is so thick you feel it clinging to your skin. As a kid, I ran across the battlefield and experienced history on a deep level when I stood among the graves of those killed in battle. While some of my family visited Australia many years ago, I did not. My trip was destined to be in 2024. We'll get back to that.
When I began planning the book series and developing characters, it was natural to to have an Australian family as part of the cast. Thus, the Daltons. Doyle Dalton's kin were featured almost from page 1 in The Isle of Osiris with his Cabinet of Curiosities traveling to Jamie's hometown of Alexandria, Indiana. Jamie's curiosity over the objects in the cabinet as she talks with her cousin reflects my curiosity at that time. Again, kids dig weird things. (Take that as slang and literally. I've dug up some weird things.)
One of my childhood friends moved to Australia. In 2024, I had the opportunity to visit her and do work with Jamie Poole at the same time. Doyle Dalton and Jamie Poole finally got to visit the place where that storyline began. This is why I've turned the reins over to Doyle for Doyle Dalton's Diary. Born in England, Dalton moved to Australia for a better life. World War I broke out shortly after his move to his new country, and he enlisted. This will lead him to the alabaster statue. This his his origin story, just as Jamie's seeing the alabaster statue in Alexandria is her origin story.
Everything is connected.
Doyle Dalton's experiences, wherever the truth lies with him, are critical to the story arc of the series. I'm truly proud and excited to see this book come to life this year! It will be available in paper and kindle editions April 25, 2025.
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