The Mystical Swagman

Australian author Gary Blinco grew up in the bush on the Darling Downs in Queensland during the fifties and early sixties. His large family existed in poverty stricken and primitive circumstances in those days, and the author credits his harsh beginnings with his insight into landscapes and the human condition. He is also a Vietnam Veteran, having completed two tours of duty as an infantry soldier after being conscripted during the National Service era of the late sixties and early seventies.

His first two books, 'Down a Country Lane' (an autobiographical novel) and 'The Wounds of War' are largely about soldiering during the Vietnam War. But his writing also deals in sensitive terms with personal relationships, including conflict on and off the battlefield, and romance, which provides a refreshing contrast against the harshness of military combat. In this sense the books offer more than just a blood and guts war story.

'Under the Harvest Moon', is a romantic murder-mystery novel set against the backdrop of the first bulk wheat harvest on the Darling Downs in 1957. The book provides an entertaining journey across a spectrum of history, mystery and romance during a time of rapid change.

'A Place in Time' is a novel about Australia being invaded by another country, somewhere in the near future. The lead character is Ian Lane, a middle-aged business executive who decides to retire early and concentrate on his writing career while taking his wife and child on a caravanning trip around Australia. They are camped by an isolated waterhole in the remote central northern outback when the invasion begins.

'The Mystical Swagman' follows the experiences of an orphan boy of mysterious origins who develops mystical powers while tramping the wallaby track with two old swagmen. The books give an insight into the bush and early colonial Australia.

Gary now hobby farms on the Fraser Coast in Queensland and writes full time.