Bøger af Peter Bowes

Sean Doherty, author of My Brother's Keeper and MP: The Life of Michael Peterson, both published by HarperCollins, writes: "Pete Bowes was a Bondi boy who moved up to Byron Bay in 1963. Between Bondi and Byron Bay, Pete crossed tracks with a rogues' gallery - surfers, itinerants, brawlers, the lost - all of them lovingly hand-painted by Pete's pen. His short vignettes in Bloodlines are visceral, teeth rattling, funny and even true, and they stretch from then to now and this horizon to that, from the poetic to the poignant to the hilarious." From the introduction to this edition: In Jackson Pollock and the washaway dunes Peter Bowes writes: 'Pollock must have had the eyes of a housefly to see the same thing close-up as from a distance. Or the sight of an eagle drifting this way and that, three miles high in the moving air, with its fixed and magnified square of killing vision centred on a patch of tussock grass far below, and the rabbit lunching there.' This intensity of observation marks the true writer's eye as much as it does the artist's or eagle's, and to read Bowes' work is very often to focus on 'a fixed and magnified square': the minutiae of unnoticed lives; unmarked losses; small triumphs; private griefs; and unexpected joys. There are many treasures to be discovered here. Bowes' canvas is rich with life and the living of it; filled with colour and complexity, light and shade, and the interrelatedness of all things: much like the Pollock creations he so admires. 'This life, ' as Bowes observes, 'so she passes us by.' And underlying it all, woven throughout, the ineffable mystery of what it is to be human. (Please note: some of these pieces contain strong language)

This is a fictionalised account of the Somerton Man case. An enduring Australian mystery that began in December 1948 when a body was discovered on Somerton Beach: a man, overdressed for hot weather and no clue as to his identity. Who was he? How and why did he die? Did the Somerton Man get out of his depth in a world of espionage and dark deeds beyond his control or comprehension? And what about Jessica - the woman he loved and whose life he changed forever. This vividly imagined and meticulously researched account offers a gripping fictional interpretation of a true-life mystery that remains unsolved to this day. A detailed afterword describes the people and events that inspired this book.

To open the pages of a book by Peter Bowes is to enter a quintessentially Australian world, but one that is also universal. We all know these people, see them on the streets, meet them, avoid them, want to know more about them. Bowes writes without judging, and by drawing us in to see others' lives from the inside, we, too, are less inclined to judge. There is also a yearning here, for something else, something more, something lost. In In Among the Spectres, the writer becomes an appalled witness, mourning - not wholly without ambiguity - the overwhelming and irrevocable impact of 'those who would defy creation'. There is personal loss here, too, promises made to a dying father in What's Best: a lifetime's love, respect, disappointment and hope distilled into 200 heartbreaking words. And in Pipe the sudden mutual recognition of grief. Bowes is also adept at tragicomedy - a rare skill. In Carnage, the effects of a car crash on a local neighbourhood are bleakly hilarious. But we are also invited to watch the driver, Feeney, as he quietly joins some passers-by to witness the devastation he has caused - not only to the neighbourhood, but also, perhaps, to his life, for it, too, is a car crash. That most Australian of sports - surfing - is explored here too. But as always with Bowes, there is more to this than meets the eye. Bowes is a surfing aficionado, but his take on the subject goes beyond surfing itself. It's not necessary to be a fan, or even to know anything about this sport, to appreciate these glimpsed portraits of human impulse and the mystery of why we do what we do. There are some great stories in this volume. Bowes is a master storyteller and outstanding examples included here are The Job Applicants, with its laugh-out-loud ending, and a trio of related tales in Part Seven, Settling In, where we meet Scoresby, 'newly arrived in the Middle Kingdom from the lassitude of a month's layoff in the Hong Kong Yacht Club'. Bowes is a keen observer of life and he takes us with him into hotel lobbies, restaurants, and casinos. He is inquisitive, provocative and sharp-eyed, sharing his experiences with gusto and humour. He wonders at life, and we wonder with him. Please note: some of these pieces contain strong language. Lineage is the second in a trilogy of works by Peter Bowes. The first, Bloodlines, was published by Bennison Books in 2013.

Generations is the final volume in Peter Bowes' trilogy of essays and stories, the first two being Bloodlines (2013) and Lineage (2015). Bowes continues to entertain, move and surprise us with his subtly acute observations of life in all its manifestations. His writing is often at its most affecting when documenting the lives of those who otherwise come and go as we pass them by with barely a second glance. Here, we meet the 'woman by the side of the road', her home a dilapidated caravan, tormented by nighttime noises and cars pulling up outside to terrorise her while she tries to sleep; Ronnie, the alcoholic 'been a single bloke all me life'; and an unnamed man turning up for a reunion but finding no 'special old friend because there was no special young friend forty-five years ago'. However, the author is no less skilled at making us laugh as well as appreciating the simple joys and satisfactions of friendship and shared experiences: the delivery of dog food to an Italian restaurant causes unforeseen chaos in 'The Best Food Available', while in another piece, an overheard conversation about a man with three thumbs takes on a life of its own. Peter Bowes writes from the heart and in a style that is uniquely his own. Our world gets a little bigger when we read his work, our empathy and understanding a little broader.

Sunlight carries the generous energy that restores health. When the body is in a normal condition, it absorbs the color vibration it may need from the white light of the sun. When there is an imbalance in either the physical or emotional health it is more easily restored using specific luminous colors.Blue is cooling, calming and helps promote restful sleep. Red is energizing but can be irritating when too much is used. Learn the gentle art of color therapy for working with others and to find a greater balance within yourself.