Hi, welcome to OpenJS. We're gonna talk about JavaScript to grumpy parts. JavaScript is kind of weird But well, let's dig in and see how it works and see if we can understand why it's weird and make it a little bit less mysterious Here's the part where I tell you I'm definitely gonna post the slides on my site tonight. And well, they're already there I've been the person chasing the the Speaker as well. And yeah, here's JavaScript grumpy parts. The slides are online right now While you're here on robridge.org click on about me and you'll get to this spot That talks a little bit about the things that I do I'm a Microsoft MVP a friend of redgate a cyro developer evangelist and let me tell you about AZ give camp a z give camp brings volunteer developers together with charities to build free software We start Friday after work Sunday afternoon. We deliver that completed software to the charities sleep is optional caffeine provided If you're in Phoenix come join us for the next AZ give camp or if you'd like a give camp where you're connecting from hit me up On email or on Twitter and let's get a give camp in your neighborhood, too some of the other things that I've done I worked on the gulp team as a core contributor in version 2 and version 3 and Dot net rocks. I replied to a dot net rocks podcast episode. They read my comment on the air and they sent me mug So there's my claim to fame my coveted dot net rocks mug So let's dig into JavaScript the grumpy parts Now we will need to go a little fast because well, we only have a half hour together But I would like to thank John Mills He has a talk a job a guide to JavaScript's Gary side that helped inspire this talk now He goes into different directions, but his talk is amazing. And so if you have a chance listen to him as well We'll probably hit the end of my knowledge and that'll be really fun. I look forward to The part where I say I don't know In the beginning Brendan Ike created JavaScript in 10 days 25 years ago I've written some code 25 years ago, and it was pretty awful and yet here We all are talking about JavaScript Brendan did an amazing job if you'd like to learn more about Brendan read more or watch more to see how he invented JavaScript, it's really cool. Each of these blue links in the slides here from robertsch.org are links to be able to dial into additional information Now what's really cool is we now have a bunch of JavaScript engines that are for the most part really high fidelity in V8 we have Chrome in spider monkey. We have Firefox in in Internet Explorer, we have Chakra in Safari we have JavaScript core and Each of these JavaScript engines works pretty much the same Brendan Ike's library was cloned with amazing fidelity now We talk about differences between JavaScript in different browsers HTML5 has made that a little bit less of a concern But that was about our interaction with the document object model the DOM the JavaScript runtime itself is Amazingly compatible including all the bugs So JavaScript was copied with incredible precision including the bugs Let's take a look at some of the weird things now some of the major design goals of this language Was it was a language that well runs over there when we develop JavaScript? We ship our source code a .js file the browser is the one that compiles that JS code into executable and runs it now that isn't quite right, but we can use that analogy it Runs over there after the developer has left. So one of its primary objectives is to keep running as often as possible Now if it keeps running It's gonna try to be as forgiving as possible so well if it notices a syntax error It'll back up and see if it can put a semicolon in to be able to solve that Now are semicolons required in JavaScript? Well, yes, they are But the engine may insert them automatically. So if you see JavaScript without semicolons That's why we're leveraging that piece of the compiler that says hey, let me fix that for you So let's take a look at some of the weird things in JavaScript This is the JavaScript Watt talk and I'm not gonna play it for you But I invite you to grab these slides from robritch.org and click play. What's particularly cool Is this is Brendan Eich playing the JavaScript Watt talk at one of his talks and his commentary throughout it? It is amazing So let's take a look at some weird things undefined well undefined is just a variable. So what if we define it? in more recent versions of JavaScript of ECMAScript it is defined as a constant so we can't override it But this led to some really really interesting bugs if sir for example, we defined JavaScript type of null Type of null is an object. Hmm Should it be null? Should it be an object? This is probably one of those bugs Brendan I created it in 10 days and a few weeks after that he said, you know, there's some bugs here I'd like to come back and fix and he was told hey There's 40 developers already building with JavaScript right now. We need to not change it. That would be backwards incompatible 40 developers hmm I bet there's 40 developers in this room that wish we had gone back and fixed it But he made the best decision that he could at the time Here's another one type of nan. Well, not a number is well a number. I Get that not a number is kind of in the number group It's more in the number group then say in the date group or the object group or the function group But not a number being a number. Yeah, that's kind of weird So these are some of the weird things in JavaScript And let's see if we can dig in and understand how they came to be and why they are that way Now first up, let's take a look at the JavaScript compiler Now I grant that in modern JavaScript engines. We have mechanisms for code split Treeshaking and just in time compilation and those are amazing But at its core JavaScript is a two phase compiler The first phase goes and looks for variable declarations And it kind of sets aside that memory for those variables the next phase is to run the code Now because JavaScript has this two phase compiler Then we can use that knowledge to understand some code and really dig in deep If you'd like to learn more about the two phase compiler I would invite you to click through to the slides at robrich.org and click to read more or watch more So let's take a look at this code What's it gonna do? Let's think like the compiler and see if we can figure it out Now the first phase we go look for variable declarations Here's one var foo equals bar. Okay, so we're not setting it to bar yet That would be the execution phase, but we are declaring this variable var foo Next phase, let's go execute the code. So we start out declaring this function, then we'll call it So we'll start off and we'll console log foo Well, we already have this foo variable declared We haven't set its value yet. So we get undefined If true now variables in JavaScript by default are Function scoped not curly brace scoped. So we know that this foo variable exists out here Now we're gonna set it to bar and then we'll leave the curly braces This variable continues on and we console log bar. So we get undefined and bar So in our minds, we've kind of tricked ourselves to believing that the variables get hoisted It makes sense to believe that well, we just kind of move this variable declaration up here and we set it to undefined Now that variable hoisting is a cool lie that we tell ourselves But that's not actually how it works. How it works is this two phase compiler Yes variable hoisting It's a lie. It's a convenient lie and it helps us to think about this in kind of a more synchronous way Without having to separate that two phase compiler mechanism Now that's interesting, but well, it is a lie It's a very convenient lie and I like it, but hoisting is a lie So as we think like the compiler we can see how that variable hoisting it isn't actually moved rather it's well It's a two phase compiler So we saw this code and we saw how we could execute it in interesting ways Let's take a look at defining and not defining variables in various scopes Now we had a mechanism before where we declared some foo variables Let's declare this foo variable and this foo variable Take a minute to pause the video and think through this. What will it do? Now let's think like the compiler and figure it out first phase. We go look for variable declarations We find this one foo. So let's declare that one. We find this one. Let's declare that one Now variables are declared with function scope So we have two different foo variables in different scopes an inner foo and an outer foo if you will Now second phase. Let's run the code. So let's take this outer foo and set it to bar We'll declare this function. We'll call that function and now we declare this inner foo and set it to Baz Now if true now the curly braces don't define scope in JavaScript Variables are scoped to functions. So we go looking for this foo variable to set it to BAM Is there a foo variable in the scope? Yes, there is right here foo So we set it from Baz to BAM and we'll console log BAM We leave the curly brace scope Functions are functions to find the scope and so now we console log foo and we get this BAM again We leave our function and now we need to find this outer variable. Is there a variable to find in this scope? Yes, there is right here. So we'll output BAM BAM and bar. Is that what you got? Let's change this up a little bit instead of declaring the variable here. Let's declare it here Stop the video here. How does this work? Let's think like the compiler and figure it out. Our first phase is to define all of the variables Define this one to find that one and the second phase is to execute this So we'll set our outer foo to bar. We'll call our function set our inner foo to Baz. Wait a minute Where do we get this inner foo? Well, we go looking for variables in the current scope. Here's one This variable is defined as a function based variable. So We'll set it to Baz Then we'll set it to BAM. We'll console log BAM. We'll console log BAM again and As we leave the function then we console log bar BAM BAM bar. Is that what you got? Let's do it again, but instead we won't declare these variables at all Okay, first step. Let's go look for Variables to declare. Here's a variable. Let's declare that one Second phase. Let's go execute it. Okay, so let's set this variable to bar Let's call our function and we go looking for a foo variable. Is there a foo variable in the current scope? There isn't so we walk up scopes JavaScript is trying to help us Of course, the code is running over there once the user once the developer has left So we go looking up scopes. Oh, here's a foo variable. Let's use this one So where it was bar it is now Baz Let's do that again and where it was Baz. It is now BAM So we'll console log BAM and BAM as we leave our function We now console log the foo in the outer scope. Do we have a foo in this outer scope? Yes, we have this one that we set to BAM. So we get BAM BAM BAM Ooh Flintstones Let's do it again, but in this case, let's not declare it at all pause the video and figure out what happens here Now let's think like the compiler and figure it out first phase. Let's go define all of our variables. There aren't any Second phase. Let's go execute So foo equals bar. Is there a foo variable in the scope? There isn't let's climb up the scope Well, in this case, we'll climb all the way up to the global scope and we will define a variable there JavaScript is trying to help us succeed and so we define a global variable foo and Set its value to bar Now let's call our function Do we have a foo variable set in this scope? We don't so let's climb up the scopes until we get to that global Variable that we built for here and we'll set that to BAS Let's go find that variable again set it to BAM BAM BAM. We leave here and we log BAM again Now that's interesting JavaScript helped us by declaring a global variable But well, what if that variable was called I and what if you used it and I used it? Now we may overwrite each other. It is after all a global variable JavaScript tried to help our code succeed, but it may have done us a disservice by Just automatically creating a variable Let's do this again, but now let's set foo to BAM Pause the video here see what happens Now let's think like the compiler and figure it out first step. Let's define this foo variable Second step. Let's execute. We'll set foo to bar. We'll call our function foo. Is there a foo defined in this scope? There is not. Okay. Here's a foo. So let's set it from bar to BAS Now we'll set it to BAM. Is there a BAM variable defined in here? There is not How about in this scope? Nope. Let's keep climbing up the scopes until we find it Well, we didn't find it So how do we get its variable its value? We don't have a variable to get its value out of so we get a reference error BAM is not defined Now we could set a new variable correctly, but we could not get a new variable Yeah, that is kind of weird, but as we think like the compiler it makes sense We can't read from a variable that doesn't exist But JavaScript is going to try to help our code succeed So it will go create variables and set them if they aren't defined. All's being equal I'd rather it just threw an exception. Well, kind of. I'd rather it threw an exception while I was developing it But out there in the wild Yeah, I'd rather my user be able to continue on as much as they could So let's do it again Now we've defined variables here with var, but let's switch it up to let now let is new in ES6 or ES 2015 and let is defined as bound to curly braces instead of bound to function scope Pause pause the video here and see what happens Now let's think like the compiler and figure it out first. We need to go define all of our variables Here's one and here's one next. Let's execute. Let's set the outer food to bar Then let's call our function Now we're looking for a foo variable. Is there a foo variable defined in this scope? No, this let means that this variable is defined to an inner scope So we go looking for another foo variable in an outer scope. Oh, there's one right here So we'll change it from bar to baths Then inside of our if block, let's create a new variable and we'll set that to BAM So let's console log BAM inside here, then let's console log this variable Well, we don't have one defined in this scope, but we have one defined in the outer scope So here we will output baths BAM baths and then out here We're looking for this variable and we'll output baths again BAM baths baths great Now let's not define the variable Okay Let's think like the compiler and see if we can figure it out first. We declare our all our variables There's just one right here second we'll execute We'll call our function. We'll go looking for a variable. There isn't one in this scope There isn't one in the outer scope So we define a new global variable called foo and set its value to baths Inside this if block we have this curly brace scope variable So we output BAM and then baths and then out here we go looking for a variable in the current scope We don't find it We climb up the tree until we get to that same global variable defined here and we output baths Wait a minute Did this variable leak outside the function? Well, yeah Because we didn't define it scoped to anything it was created as a global variable That's weird, but well JavaScript helped us and when it helped us it created a mechanism where our code would continue to run Even if it's in a little bit of an unexpected way Let's do it again, but let's define these two variables here What happens in this case? Let's think like the compiler Well, everything works well inside this function once we get out here We're going to get to this foo variable and we're going to go look for a global foo variable Well, there's no variable defined in this scope. Let's keep looking for a global variable Nothing was defined here because all these variables were defined So we get a reference area foo is not defined foo is not defined because well Because I define these variables inside this containing function then they expired once we left that scope Let's do it again, but let's switch from Let to const Now const in ES6 is a variable that can't change now the contents of that object can change But the variable itself cannot So let's dig in and take a look Well We define our variable we call into our function and Now we're looking for a variable called foo in the current scope This one is an inner scope so we can't grab that one So we go looking for this outer scope and we go try to set it. Oh, we can't set a constant So we get assignment to a constant variable Now if we're using babel to transpile from ES6 to ES5 where cons doesn't exist Then it changes this const to a let or no it changes a const to a var and Yes, we can't assign a var. So we'll get different behavior Every evergreen browser supports ES6 or better now So probably we want to turn down babel to output ES6 or better and ensure that that const is indeed const But that's why you might get different behavior inside of Babel so we took a look at defining variables. Let's take a look at this What is this? Well, it's the thing to the left of the dot Let's take a look at some examples and we have this speak function where we console log this dot name Now we're defining name out here in a global way. Well global to this space So if we call speak what is the thing to the left of the dot? Well Global so we get ninja now. Let's call obj one dot speak We could definitely have created this speak function in the middle here But I just copied it into place for each of the objects. So obj one dot speak What is the thing to the left of the dot? Well, it's obj one. So we get doctor Obj two dot speak we get Skywalker perfect ninja doctor Skywalker Let's do it again, but let's Grab it out as a function now in this case. It's no longer the thing to the left of the dot or Rather the thing to the left of the dot is global. So Obj one dot speak will work correctly. We'll get doctor obj dot speak. We'll get undefined We didn't define a global name hmm So let's create a new mechanism where we can go grab a button now We grab it by ID and then we click the button to call the speak function Now what's the thing to the left of the dot? Well, it's the button So when I say this dot ID knowing that I have a get element by ID, I'm going to output the button Perfect Now what if we want to change the speak function to output the name in a hundred milliseconds instead? Okay, so let's do it now when we call obj one dot speak Set timeout is going to create a whole new stack. So what is this in this new stack? Well, it's the global function. So we're going to get ninja twice hmm Let's see if we can fix that we can alter what this means by calling dot call Now we'll say dot call and we'll pass in what we want this to be So taking a look at this code obj one dot speak obviously works as expected But we don't have a speak function in obj two So we'll say obj one dot speak dot call and set this to be obj two Now this is set to be obj two. We've overridden it and so we'll get doctor and Skywalker great Well, let's do that same mechanism We'll say dot call this to try and fix our problem here with our set timeout Now it's gonna say dot call, but this executes it right away So we will get the right answer ninja and doctor, but we didn't wait the necessary hundred milliseconds Let's look at bind now bind is a great way to create a closure a new function that has this set the way We expect we can kind of think of it like this. This isn't the correct syntax But we can think of it this way. Let's pass in a function and what we want this to be We'll return a new function. We'll say function dot call with that set Now we have this new function that we can call whenever we're ready and that will actually do the function calling So let's look at the real syntax obj one dot speak dot bind obj two Okay, so because we're saying bind we get this new obj two speak function And we can call it later and this is already bound to obj two. So we get doctor and Skywalker perfect Now we'll probably see in our code obj two dot speak dot bind obj two a lot What it's trying to do is saying I want to set this. I don't want any ambiguity That's perfect. If you find that in your code. That's exactly what it's doing Now let's come back to our set timeout function and let's call dot bind this now dot bind this will return a new function that We can call later say in a hundred milliseconds So now that we called dot bind well We've got ninja and doctor it works correctly very nice Now let's change to an arrow function Now what an arrow function does is it binds the variables at the point where the function is defined We can think of it kind of like this So let's define this function bind it the way we expect and let's see how this goes So we've got this speak function and we'll turn it into an arrow function Now because it binds at the point where it's created then well This is bound to the global scope at the point where it's created we get ninja ninja ninja oops That isn't what we expected. Okay, so let's say obj 2 dot speak dot bind obj 2 We have this trick that allows us to bind this well Kind of this is already bound into place So wrapping it in another function that binds it to something else then when it calls this inner function It's already bound so we can't Rebind it so yeah Nope that didn't work Okay, so here in our function, let's use an arrow function here We know that it binds at the point where it's created So let's use that to grab the this and now yes ninja doctor it works as expected perfect Now what if we changed speak to be an arrow function? Well, then it wouldn't behave as expected now it would bind to the global this But because we have this outer one as function and this inner one is an arrow function it behaves as expected Now that's a little weird knowing that arrow functions bind at the point where they're created Will help us to understand a little bit about how it works. We shouldn't just change every function to be an arrow function That would be well To bind this too much and we've seen that we can't override it Now let's briefly take a look at the event loop. I Love this website where we get to look at how the event loop works Let's open this in a new tab and flip over to that tab and we can take a look at this. This video is awesome Now we have some code here and we have the call stack what it's running right now a callback queue and web APIs For example, I'm waiting for a database or a rest call to complete So let's copy this code and we'll go set it in place and take a look at how it works save and run Now we start out with that set time out. Okay now it's counting for i equals 1 to 3 and it's counting and It's setting new content up here to finish once that finishes It comes back down here into the callback queue that as the call stack empties It goes and grabs the next thing from the callback queue and sets it in place Now this highlights that great scenario where what is it outputting? Well, it's outputting the current i What is the i by the time it gets here? Well, it's um 3 So we're gonna console log 3 three times But we get a sense for the call stack the callback queue web APIs It is a perfect mechanism for being able to visualize those three pieces. I Would invite you to play with that site because it is really really fun So we've got that stack where as the content is run It's gonna run through all of the pieces in the stack It's not gonna look at anything in the callback queue until the stack is empty Once the stack is empty it will grab the next piece from the callback queue and set it on the stack and process it Read more or watch more about this and learn some more about it Now as we look at node we can think of it like this Now this isn't the physical layout, but this is a good logical layout each request has its own stack and callback queue and the things that it's waiting for Now as node goes through it looks at each request and gets it a little bit farther Well, what if this request is gonna count from one to a billion? Well, then the the callback queue can't get further So we'll not we'll want to do a lot of things to get to yield the thread as much as possible So that the other tasks have a a chance to get caught up and then we'll come back and and Compute a few more So we might see something like this set time at zero. Well, why would I wait zero seconds? well Because we're trying to yield the thread so that the rest of their requests can get caught up We might also do this process.next tick and in more modern versions of node We don't even need the empty function here We can just say await process.next tick and now we've yielded the thread for a second and let everybody else catch up That is perfect. Now if there's no other requests that need any attention It will come back to us nearly immediately and continue on Async and await now. We only have a minute. So let's cruise through this really fast Async and await was clearly borrowed from C-sharp. It builds a similar state machine as As the task parallel library in C-sharp, but it does it with promises and Generators So well, what if we have this promise-based library here and we want to upgrade some of the things to async and await How do we do that? Well, the cool part is that async and await has this mechanism where we can just await things and start to feel as if it was Synchronous that's amazing Now because it feels synchronous We can start to think about it with you know standard fallback mechanisms But we know it'll stop here until this is done and it'll stop here until this is done and it's not blocking the thread It's yielding the thread for other things and then when it comes back then it'll be able to continue on We can think a lot more synchronously in spite of the fact that it's actually executing asynchronously That's amazing Now do we have to wait until we do a big bang refactor to get everything? Nope Async and await works as promises under the hood So we have this async function and let's call it but not await it What is res? Well res is a promise that we can just dot then with Now we could choose to await it so that we would resolve the promise But knowing that it is a promise under the hood we could dot then So let's imagine that I have this legacy function that I need to call from this new async code that I'm writing Do I have to use promises and a dot thenathon? No, I can just well await that function I Know how to await promises and it works just fine Simultaneously if we go the other way then we can take a look at this async function and call it using Promises now in this case we would like to do a lot of things in parallel Now we want to call it one call it to notice how we're not awaiting them. So we have three promises Well, how do we await a bunch of promises? We have this promise dot all And we can await that and then we have all our results all these things happen simultaneously Well kind of JavaScript is still single threaded, but I didn't have to wait for one to finish before I started to That's perfect JavaScript it's an amazing experience for a 10-day project 25 years ago I think Brandon Ike did an amazing job The code I wrote 25 years ago is not nearly as good as the code he wrote 25 years ago Find me in that place that the conference has designated for Q&A or if you're watching this later Hit me up on Twitter at Rob underscore rich you can grab the slides right now from Rob rich org Thanks for watching


From Hollywood it's time now for Johnny dollar answer it answer it Johnny dollar Hello, Johnny. There's Jake Kessler. Be careful what you say Johnny. What are you doing out there at the two lazy, too? Johnny talk to him, but be careful. Don't forget this gun. Why you Jake? What's on your mind three million dollars of insurance? Dora Haskell's file to claim on the basis of accidental death Unless you can come up pretty quick with proof the Haskell brothers were murder Jake. I have a funny feeling I'm looking at that proof right now. You mean there at the ranch. You still haven't told me what you're doing out there. Why? Why don't you come out here and see Jake? You try that door and Jake will hear it over this phone and come out here anyway You're hanging up yourself Tonight and every weekday night Bob Bailey in the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator was truly Johnny dollar From special investigator Johnny dollar location near Kingman, Arizona Attention, Mr. Jake Kessler greater Southwest insurance and liability company Following is an accounting of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Midas touch matter Proof that the Haskell brothers were murdered rather than killed accidentally in the cave in at the Midas touch mine could save greater Southwest a cool Million and a half dollars But the one man who could have given me that proof was murdered himself Thanks to Buster favorite the Lake Mojave Resort who could read a set of tire tracks like you and I read a newspaper I was able to trace the killer's car to the two lazy to ranch and There the evidence all pointed to the foreman Alex Bundy However, when Alex appeared at the ranch house. He also put the finger on Dora Haskell That's when your phone call came in Jake and that's when Thanks, Buster Yeah, well, I kind of hate to hit a woman that way, but she wouldn't have missed with that rifle Matter of fact, she didn't she creased your arm there just forget it. First of all, let's take this gun Oh, that's right Alex kind of forgot about you Why don't you put that thing down before you make the same mistake she almost did it won't be a mistake dollar now look I'll shut up Buster You should have known better than to mess around this whole thing. Maybe you're the one that should have known better Alex According to Dora here a few minutes ago. I heard her I heard from outside the window heard all of it and she lied Keep an eye on our buster.   I heard her outside I heard she was trying to lay it all on me, but she's the one not me in spite of your murder of hard luck I had to don't you understand me? I had to look why don't you put down that gun and he's the one all the way from the start I'm not dumb dollar, but she was smarter than me and she kept getting me in deeper and deeper I'm a good ranch foreman dollar see for yourself what I done for the two lazy, too But this kind of thing I don't know about so she got me in deeper and deeper right from the start Just how did it start Alex? I'll tell you I'll tell you how it started I got drunk one night over in Kingman So I heard made a lot of foolish talk about wanting the two lazy two for myself Any foreman wants to have a big ranch of his own any of mask him you ask him Isn't that true Buster?  You stay back. I want him to know Don't want him to know everything She heard about what I'd said understand and she came to me sweet talked me said I could own the lazy, too Along with her made it sound so wonderful just me and her But then when she started plotting how to get rid of her husband Well, she thought he was gonna die when he when he came out here, but he didn't see so she started plotting how to get rid of him And I was scared about that, but she told me I was already in it on a kind of I knew about it So I better help her so what else could I do and all the time? She kept me thinking how how wonderful it would be just me and her you know what that means to a man mr. Dollar Well, I could so I helped her with the boat. You know the time Buster You mean when the Haskell sank during the windstorm out on the lake? Yeah, yeah, because I fixed the boat I took out the flotation tanks and weakened the transom. There's any kind of strain it would sink and it did brother You're in so deep, but you went after him you saved him didn't you Buster? Yeah, I guess I did so but then I wasn't too deep you see you understand. Yeah, Alex I understand it and I'm afraid that you're her she thought of the mind She made me tell old hard luck to take him out to the Midas touch because he thought they were still golden it Johnny hard luck tell you the door got him started on that page. Nobody would have That's why I had to kill him because he would have blamed her and then she would have blamed me the way she did you just now Don't you see all she was doing was using me.  There's no way out for you now and you know it Alex But you're not going to make things any easier for your son. Get back. I tell you I'm in so deep I can't get in any deeper.   You hear me.  No good. It's jammed. That's why she couldn't pull it on him. She did yeah Here buster while I make a phone call see if you can find a gun for yourself and some ammunition. You're sure she's dead. Yes Couple of 38 handguns here Johnny and find some ammo operator Operator get me Kingman one nine nine seven oh emergency all set with his side arm Johnny You want a rifle or Jake Alex Bundy is killed or a Haskell and headed for parts unknown And that's where I call Ted hiding at headquarters haven't put a roadblock in every highway leading from this ranch Be sure there's a block at Davis Dam so he can't cross over into Nevada. Yes, that's right By the time I hung up buster had my rented car started and waiting so he took off on the main road leading from the ranch We could still see the dust left by Alex Bundy and the chief could see that when he swung on to the highway He turned right toward Lake Mojave. We saw no dust on any of the side roads So we kept on going down toward Davis Dam hoping that by the time he could get there the roadblock would be set up We'll be able to see you when we get to the top this hill Johnny good Yeah, yeah, yeah, you see him cars across the road over the dam that means he will have seen them And there's only one place he could go Lake Mojave resort right Ten is just up ahead. All right. We'll take it on two wheels Glad we aren't having to track them this time. Huh winds coming up See the dust blowing off the maces up the east when that east wind comes up it comes up fast All right, hang on here sir turn Buster was right by the time we got down to the dock at Lake Mojave the wind was blowing a gale The chief we've been chasing was parked next to the tackle shop and no sign of Alex Bundy We learned the reason from Ham Pratt general manager of the resort. Hey Johnny Buster, what's going on here? I'm not a ham listen ham. Did you see why Alex Bundy came down the road like a bat out of hate? He's a couple of minutes ago where'd he go jumped out of his Jeep waving a rifle tore down to the dock and took off in his Outboard runabout got a boat for us Buster. Yeah, sure. I have come on. You want me along? No, two of us is better ham. We'll need all the speed we can get out on that lake You're right that boat of Alex's is the fastest one of the lot to 30 horsepower Johnson's Here we are climb in Johnny Cast us off ham my job Here we go All right, this wind is really coming up sure is Well, what he had Woodlanding about 20 miles up or even Nelson's landing he has enough gas Either way get over into Nevada. All I hope is he's having as rough a time of it as we are But not to see where they exist We did and unlike saltwater where the wind builds up long swells that you have a chance of riding over this lake developed a chop Waves only three or four feet high, but one on top of the other With a less skillful hand than buses at the wheel We would have swamped in a minute as it was we were both soaking wet and hanging on for dear life as a little Outboard pounce didn't bound it along look Johnny did it. Yeah, I see him Hey, he's making an awful lot of speed too much speed for that This kind of weather you'll pound the bottom out of it. What do you think you're doing to this boat? It was a mad chase a crazy one and then I noticed that we were slowly but surely gaining on Alex I knew he couldn't take it in that hole See he had to slow down gradually the distance between us grew shorter 200 yards a hundred At least he'd never be able to aim his rifle in a sea like this at least until we got right on top of it Okay, when you pull us alongside them then it happened as we came up on him Alex suddenly swung his boat Straight in at us and gunned his two motors wide open That's really all there is to it oh Except that ham prep bless his heart had followed us with an outboard cruiser and picked us up Alex While the shock of crashing into us must have wedged him into his boat and with the bottom of a turn out it sank like a rock And he went along with it Expense account total including transportation back to Hartford 978 35 remarks There was no question of course, but that the Haskell brothers had been murdered no double indemnity and Dora's little scheme to collect a cool 3 million. Well, it got her exactly what she deserved Won't people like that ever learn? yours truly Johnny doll now here's our star to tell you about next week's intriguing story next week a quiet little new england town with elm shaded streets picket fences flower beds And a killer on the loose Join us. Won't you? yours truly Johnny doll Yours truly Johnny dollar starring Bob Bailey is transcribed in Hollywood It is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone who also wrote this week's story Heard in this week's cast we're Virginia Greg Johnny Jacobs her Butterfield Parley Bear Barney Phillips Shepman can and Roland Winters musical supervision by a marigol marino and Carl Fortina Be sure to join us on Monday night same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly Johnny dollar Roy Rowan speaking


Your Excellency, Governor Okowa, thank you very much for doing me the honor of sharing this historic occasion with you, the government and the people of Delta State. This is historic indeed because the seat of the civil service of any arm of government anywhere in the world is usually one of the major monuments and shrining in not just the power, but also the splendor of the authority of government. This imposing complex clearly meets this requirement. In due course, such buildings become historical monuments and the commissioning of this secretariat is special in at least two different ways. First, the civil service and the people of Delta are today being presented with a state of their functional and befitting secretariat complex after many years. This in itself is worthy of great celebration and I shall return to that presently. For the other is that the state is at the same time immortalizing the name of one of Delta State's and indeed Nigeria's most illusory son, is Royal Majesty Professor Chike Edozian, the Asagba of Asaba, Nigeria's oldest living professor in any discipline and an internationally renowned professor of medicine, but more importantly an outstanding bridge builder and patriarch. As your Excellency confirms, His Majesty has played and continues to play an important role as a symbol of unity in this state and that during his 30-year reign so far, the town of Asaba has changed dramatically, becoming the capital of the newly created Delta State in 1991 and has attracted people from far and wide that have come to seek their fortunes here. His traditional leadership has ensured that the growth and increasing diversity of Asaba has proceeded without tension and antagonism amongst all the people who live here. Your Excellency, I believe that naming this building after His Royal Majesty, you are not just celebrating a highly respected and deserving son of Delta State and Nigeria. You are also signaling the sort of excellence in public service that we wish to see incubated within this complex that is behind me. Perhaps more importantly, you are saying to a generation, a generation that's not even old enough to be employed in the civil service today, that integrity, diligence and service to community and country still pay. It is my hope that this place will, like the eminent personage after whom it is named, be a symbol of unity and distinction. But there is more for which His Excellency the Governor of Delta State deserves commendation despite dwindling revenue receipts and severe resource constraints. Across all levels of government in our country, you have been able to provide the funding for this project. Also, your recognition of the critical role of the public sector is notable. Whether we are talking about the need for more internally generated revenues and greater tax efficiency to compensation for resource deficits or the management of a public health crisis such as the pandemic or even the drive for more internally generated revenue. It is the capacity of the public sector that is invariably at issue. Consequently, the civil service is the very tip of the spare of Governor. Optimal public service delivery requires an efficient public service. Such a public service requires training, capacity building, but also workspaces that are well equipped, conducive and inspirational. And we've heard already how inspired the public servants today are and that they're even spending longer hours in office. This is very, very commendable indeed. Public servants require environments that bring out the best in them. And this secretariat complex will provide such an environment. Let me conclude by congratulating again the Governor of Delta State, my dear brother, Senator Effian Eokor, on the completion of this very important project which is yet another demonstration of what you have shown over the years that with visionary leadership, a state government can do incredible things indeed. And this one is surely one that I'm sure will be one of your most worthwhile legacies. Well done indeed. God bless Delta State. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Congratulations everyone.


So good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's A&U Canberra Times Meet the Author with Jane Harper. I'm Anna Creer and I review crime fiction for the Canberra Times. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and for me and Canberra that's the Nana Won people. We pay respect to their elders past, present and emerging. I would also like to thank Colin Steele, the convener of Meet the Author, for facilitating tonight's conversation and Pamela Randers and Pam Macmillan, Jane's publishers. Tonight Jane and I will be in conversation for 35-40 minutes and then we'll go to questions that have been sent in by you, our virtual audience, and we'll close about seven o'clock. Jane Harper really needs no introduction. She's the multi-award-winning bestselling author of The Dry, The Force of Nature and The Lost Man. Her books have been published in 40 countries, which is extraordinary. Her first novel The Dry has been made into a major motion picture with Eric Banner and hopefully we can talk a little about that later on. Her first fourth book, The Survivors, was, oh dear, hang on, I'll get it there in the end, her fourth book. It's the background. The fourth book, The Survivors, I give up. It is, it's here in my hand. The fourth book, The Survivors, was released last week in Melbourne in lockdown and it is already top of the Australian bestsellers chart. It's an atmospheric and moving story of grief, guilt and adolescent relationships. So hello, Jane, and welcome to meet the author. Hi, thanks so much for having me. It's our pleasure, it really is. How do you feel about releasing a book in these strange times and not touring and not meeting your readers? It's pretty different. Normally when the book comes out, I get to go around to different book shops around the country and get that opportunity to meet readers, which is one of the best things I think. Writing is such a solitary endeavor and you spend a lot of time alone at the computer. It's nice. It always feels a lot more real when you actually get out there and meet people who are reading it and they're holding it in their hands. It feels a lot more like it's actually being published. It's a little bit weird doing it in lockdown. I still haven't seen it in a shop, but I see photos of it in shops elsewhere, so I know it's sort of out there. Having said that also, it's great to have had these virtual opportunities because it means you can reach maybe readers who wouldn't be able to come to a live event for geographic or various other reasons. Thank you so much for hosting this. I really appreciate it. That's good. You had a thousand at your launch, which is extraordinary too, really. We haven't got a thousand tonight, but you do have an audience. Now, let's talk about your book, The Survivors, in Tasmania. Why did you choose Tasmania this time? The setting is a really important part of the novels, and it's something I think about really early. As soon as I'm thinking about the real core of the plot and settled on an idea, I'm immediately thinking like, where am I going to set this? The core of The Survivors is this story set in a coastal small town with a really rugged seascape. I think Tasmania was a really natural fit for that. That was quite an easy choice, because I think it ticks all these boxes. It has a lot of those really small tight-knit coastal communities that rely heavily on tourism nowadays. It has that beautiful visual landscape that I wanted as well. It was a decision I made really early on. You've been praised a lot for your appreciation of the Australian landscape. One reviewer said that you make a fully-fledged character, and you yourself have said that places need to have a ring of authenticity. That's why you took your road trip before writing The Lost Man. What did you do this time? Did you go to Tasmania? What did you have to do before this place, Evelyn Bay, came into your head? I did the same as Exactly the same as I did for The Lost Man. I went to Tasmania and did an underground research trip, which is a really important part of the writing process for me. I like to do it at the same point in the novel. I spent a long time researching what I can from my desk, reading a lot about it and interviewing people on the phone, and getting a lot of the basic core knowledge I need to build this fictional, but hopefully recognisable Australian setting. Then I'm putting the plot together. I like to get a loose first draft completed, which allows me to spot those gaps in my knowledge. I can work out what things I'm still missing and what I need to know. It's also enough wiggle room still to rewrite or redirect things if I need to, depending on what I learn on my research trip. It's quite a focus trip and I know what I'm looking for. A lot of that is things like visually the setting, but also things like, I guess, what kind of things do people talk about when you speak to locals and what sort of their experiences are growing up maybe in a particular place. Also specific, so for example, in The Survivors is a diving scene, because Tasmania has quite a rich diving opportunities, which you can't get in a lot of other places in Australia and they have a lot of shipwrecks and things like that. I really wanted to include that element because I thought that was a really great aspect of the state, but I'm not a diver and I don't have the experience to write a scene like that without having done it. So I booked in to go diving in Tasmania and got to go down and just feel what that was like really. Everything like the wet suits they use and the safety talks and the sea life you can see and what a temperature the water is like and things like that. So it was really great. It's always so useful. I always come back with way more than I expected to get from these trips. And then it's a question of, I guess, Cherry picking the best of it to weave through the book. Well, that explains why that scene is so vivid because it really did read as if you'd done it. And that was one of my questions whether you had actually done the dive because it was so alive, so extraordinary. So, and actually, as I was saying, my friend, and she was very impressed with the way you've captured the coldness of the sea, the isolation, especially when the tourist season finishes, and as well as that the concept of living almost on the edge of the world with only Antarctica, down only Antarctica over the horizon. So I thought you might like to know that it's and the caves, the caves are so they're so vivid too. Are they based on on somewhere real? Oh, thank you. I think, you know, I mean the whole, you know, whenever I'm kind of building a setting like I absolutely try and, you know, use as much real life, you know, I guess real real life parts of the setting as I can, but then also to fictionalize it. So, you know, I want it to be somewhere where hopefully people who are, you know, familiar with Tasmania to any degree really, you know, recognize it and it has that kind of, you know, you know, yeah, authentic ring to it, but at the same time not recognizably any particular place because it feels really important when you're writing fiction to, you know, for me in a way to fictionalize that setting and be able to try and draw in all those little elements. So I'm really, yeah, I'm happy, you know, if your friends who's, who's from there, you know, recognize that that's great to hear. Thank you. Great. Anyway, the story, you tell a story from Kieran's perspective. Here's your main character. And he's still affected by his guilt from the past. Guilt seems to be a recurring theme in your novels. Would you like to comment on that? And on Kieran too. Yeah, sure. So the, for those of you who haven't read the book yet, it's told, essentially through the eyes of the main character who's the guy called Kieran Elliott, who is 30. And he, he has a partner and a young, very young baby daughter. And he grew up in this small town in Tasmania. And when he was a teenager, he made some bad decisions that led to sort of devastating consequences for him and his family. And he then moves away to go to university and kind of move on with his life. And to some degree has, you know, done that with, you know, a measure of success. But he's still, you know, he still sort of carries a bit of weight, this past experience. So he returns to his hometown to help his parents who are struggling for various reasons. And I think, you know, I really like, you know, what I think really like about his character is that, that's, I see of him sort of coming home, but as a sort of a different person with a little bit more maturity and a bit of hindsight, I guess, which allows him to sort of reflect on things that I think, you know, many of us have that experience of going back to somewhere, you know, that we were very familiar with or where we grew up.   And I think that's the real kind of, that was, that was a really interesting kind of Kieran's character to write about. And you can see the difference between him and his, his perspective from that of his two friends who have remained and who have remained in this small town and don't have the broader perspective. Evelyn Bay is a very, very interesting place. You have one of your characters say, in a place like Evelyn Bay, people know each other business. And another says, it's just like this, they need to be tight knit to work. Once the trust is broken, they're stuffed. So tell us about you. Can I say that the day after Kieran returns home, there's a body on the beach. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. There's a body on the beach. So tell us about the reaction of the locals to the murder, especially the difference between the men and the women. And also, the really quite remarkable role played by, I just want to get the name right, the Evelyn Bay Community Hub online. Yeah, so I think that was, that was something that was actually quite an interesting part for me to write, which was the reaction of the community when a body is found on the beach. And it was sort of, you know, I often talk about how sort of themes start to emerge as I'm writing, and they sort of start to present themselves rather than, you know, me setting out with a theme in mind when I start. And this was one point where I really, I thought like, you know, that kind of theme, I guess, of the difference between, you know, the experience men and women have in similar situations really started to emerge because, you know, I was writing about the reactions of people in the town to a body being found. It's people react very differently, you know, depending on who you are. So, for example, Kieran who's 13, you know, young and fit and, you know, he has no problem, you know, walking through town at night and just continue sort of living his life really, whereas his partner who's the same age, but you know, doesn't like to, she won't go on the beach anymore on her own, you know, so and, you know, and it seems like that I think that really kind of highlights, you know, people can have a shared experience, but their reactions and how it impacts them can be very different. And the surf and turf at the end of the beach, did you base that, that was so, it seems so real too with its lobster in shells on the side? Is that something you saw or is that pure imagination? I did see something similar to that actually on my Tasmanian road trip. I'm trying to remember where it was now. It was, it was, it was somewhere, we kind of stopped, stopped by the side of the road really, and there was, yeah, a restaurant which had kind of a sea life creature made our shells on the side, which I thought was a really fun detail. And it seems like that I guess that you like to kind of, a really good to kind of, you know, include those sort of small details that, you know, I think hopefully give a place to a little bit of character without, without I think overloading the reader, with a lot of, you know, a lot of detailed description is going to slow the story down. You want to kind of drop these things in, you know, so it sort of naturally builds a picture rather than force feeding it, I think. Yeah. Now Karen as well, because of his, of his guilt and what has happened suffers and you mentioned beyond blue in your acknowledgments. Can you tell us what you learned from consulting them about this, this condition? Absolutely. So what I mean is, like I was saying, so obviously, try and do like an underground kind of your physical research shit, but I think a really important part as well is to seek out experts in areas, you know, the areas that you're going to touch on to make sure they're kind of accurately and sensitively portrayed. And one of those was this kind of this ongoing sort of theme of grief and guilt and the impact that has on people's lives and in different ways as well again people react very differently to similar situations. And so I, I spoke to one of the lead clinical advisors from beyond blue, which is, you know, I think we all know as a mental health charity. And that was really fascinating and I learned so much from them. So I'm really, really grateful to them for kind of giving me their time. So I know they have like a lot of requests, but it was, you know, I think one of the key things was the sort of the, particularly with young men, the how easy it is to go off the rails and how, you know, focused.   He has actually been able to sort of focus and try and push through a little bit.  And he's been very fortunate in his partner too. I mean, Mia is a very understanding young woman. I mean, she comes from the same town. She seems totally, utterly supportive. And her, her comments about the male relationships that, that are such an interesting, weird relationship, but I've taught, I've taught adolescent boys.  And I just wondered what research you had done to, to create this convincing sense of these young men. Yeah, you know, I think with the, the young guys, a lot of that was just observation really. You know, I think sometimes when, you know, when I'm quite often I find myself having to write characters that I don't, I don't really, I haven't lived their lives personally. And, you know, the thing I would sort of try and, you know, focus on with that rather than focusing on kind of, I guess the differences between their, their lived experiences in mind is trying to focus on those shared things. So, for example, you know, as, you know, as young, I think young men and young women do have different teenage years experiences, but at the same time we all kind of know what it's like to feel a bit, you know, insecure at a party or a bit left out by your friends or a bit like you have to, you know, you have to maybe be a certain way to feel like you're keeping up with everybody. And I guess it's those sort of, those sort of experiences that kind of resonates on a pretty universal level. And the kind of things I try and focus on when I'm, you know, writing about someone that doesn't necessarily kind of, you know, I guess share my, my current lifestyle. Yeah. And then there's Verity, another strong mother. I mean, after the strong mother in The Lost Man, you've got another strong mother, a mother who has caught many different things. And you describe her brittle, the brittle phase of her constant unceasing, grinding strive for inner serenity. It's a beautiful sentence and it really does somehow up so well. And you also talk about her active listening, which she's, she has learned to do as a result of what's happening to her. So tell us a little about Verity and about her role in this story. Yeah, sure.  But it's sort of weighed down by a lot of, you know, her, her, you know, experiences in the challenges she's facing, not least of which is her husband who was also a relatively young man, but has in the grips of quite advanced dementia, and has really lost to her in many ways. And I think that was, you know, that sort of, I guess, again, that theme of kind of, you know, grief and regrets surface in Verity in a different way than they do in Kieran. And that was one of the things that I want to sort of draw out this fact that people do have different reactions to things. And for Verity, she's turned very much sort of inward to, you know, self-help and support groups and, you know, and maybe, you know, on the surface seems fine in a lot of ways, but underneath is, you know, is struggling. Yes, she is. She is really. And then there's another character, rather lovely character, which is baby Audrey.  So the question immediately popped into my mind, did you really have a baby and write this book at the same time? Yeah, no, I did absolutely. Which is, I don't know why I'm laughing, it was really hard. It was, yeah, so I have a four-year-old daughter as well.  And so I knew early on, I knew I wanted Kira to be a father, and I knew I wanted to have this kind of family responsibility, both from above with his own father and from below with his new child, which I think, you know, any of us who've had children will remember that first baby is an absolutely, you know, the upheaval that Kira gives you. It was something I really wanted to kind of draw in. And so he has his baby daughter with him throughout much of the book. And so I was pregnant when I was writing this book, and I kind of finished that first draft I was talking about, and I submitted it for structural edits. And then that's the point at which I go on my research trip, when I've got the time to, I've got the opportunity to really sort of structurally edit it based on the research and the feedback. And so I gave birth, and I had to go to Tasmania at a certain sort of point.  And so, yeah, a lot of the, you know, the scenes of Kira kind of sort of walking through the sand with the baby structure's chest is very much, you know, very much based on my own experiences, which I think, you know, I like to think help, you know, I gave it kind of a certain ring of authenticity, but yeah, it was, so baby Audrey was kind of, is a character quite close to my heart. And she certainly has a personality all of her own. She's not just a baby being carried around. She reacts and, anyway, when you read the book you'll see, oh, then there's two really interesting characters. And I want to talk to you about them for this. There's a reason, two reasons to talk about George Barlin. But the first one is his association with Sue Pendlebury, because that not only do they discover vital clues, but they're actually real people. And I was fascinated to read about this. So perhaps you could tell us how Sue Pendlebury and George Barlin, who are not a police detective or a writer, actually came to be in your story. Yeah, sure. So I was invited to speak at a fundraising lunch in Sydney. So it would have been last year, actually, yeah, last year, in native Bernados, the children's children's family charity. And as part of that, they asked if I would be willing to auction, auction a name to appear in a book which I was happy to do, because it's a really important course and it raises a lot of money for a lot of really important projects. So yes, so we had this auction and Sue Pendlebury, who I believe is an oncologist in real life, was the highest bidder.  But I thought Sue Pendlebury was such a great name as well that I offered to include them both, because I just thought, you know, I had those characters really sort of firmly in mind. And I wanted to, you know, I wanted to give them characters who I think have quite a lot of depth and a really important role in the story. So they seem like a really good fit. They're also outsiders, and it's fascinating to watch the reaction of the small community. So we would have to, if we wanted to be in one of your books or our name, we'd have to go to an auction. I think so, yeah, it's not something I give away lightly, I have to say. Because I think the names are quite important.  You also need the names to be different enough that they're recognizable to the reader.  So that when the reader's reading, especially if they're reading fast, they kind of get that instant recognition, and they can attach their names to that character quite easily. So I find names like quite, you know, thinking names takes up quite a lot of time, and I sort of go through quite a few different variations before I settle on them. So, I was, I was, it says not something, yes, it's not something I give away lightly at all. And, you know, and I was, I was, I was lucky, I think, that Sue and George had such, you know, I thought really, really good names for fiction. And they fit in really well with the story. And let's, let's talk about George, because George is an interesting character in many ways.  And he's a bestseller to accept his bestsellers are quite different to the books you write. And you have him say some quite interesting things like, for instance, he says, I only take criticism from people I go to for advice. So is George you are is, is our elements of George you in this story. I think there are definitely elements of me. Although I would probably say there are elements of me and probably all the characters because you know they have to come from somewhere and that somewhere is essentially, you know, my own, you know, my own thoughts, my own experiences. I mean, with George, probably the likeness is maybe a bit more pronounced into he is as you said, like he's an author. He's a former journalist. And he, you know, so I suppose there are times when I think his thoughts of mine do, you know, align quite closely. That being one of them that, that, you know, create you just pulled out there. But I think I'm, you know, with all the characters, I guess, you know, in the books is really important for me that I think to make sure that all the characters pull their weight with his story. So I really, you know, I don't have any characters who don't have a role, and they all have to be doing something and that's not going to be the same thing and some of them, you know, do more than others. But they all, they're all kind of there for a reason.  And I think when you're writing about a small community, you have that mix of kind of insiders and outsiders. If you're talking purely from a plot point of view, because having people who have different, you know, connections and experiences and backgrounds of a town allow them to make different observations and notice different things and give the reader different information than they would if they all were coming at an event from the same point of view. So purely from a completely technical point of view, that is, you know, why someone like George would, you know, be created within the book.  And, you know, there's a few options for what that person could do and what could draw them there. But, you know, I felt like, you know, a writer looking for inspiration, especially when he, you know, has a bit of ties to the town himself for various reasons. It seemed like just a really sort of a really good opportunity just to add an extra kind of element to the book. You also have Kieran say, when he, when he sees Barlin, you have him say, you have him remembering that Barlin had, I want to get this right, had been on a panel with two women authors and spoken for easily half the time. Is this based on your experience too, that male authors dominate panels? Look, I've seen it happen more than once. It had to say it doesn't, I'm not, you know, I'm not sort of, it's not something that has happened to me sort of recently, you know, but I think anybody who's ever been to a festival has probably seen that happen from time to time. It was just a rather lovely little comment because when we go with, you do recognize what goes on. Now, let's go back to, you said at the start that you tend to start with the place or the setting. So you've answered, I had a question about where you start with plot character or the setting.  No one had come through the storm unscathed. So did you begin with Tasmania and then the storm, or did you have the storm in your head as something that could have this ripple effect? Actually, probably neither really. So actually what I actually really start with is probably the end of the book. And when I say the setting, so I apologize, I probably wasn't clear actually with the setting. The setting comes really almost simultaneously with that. That's something I'm thinking about almost at the same time. But the plot is probably what comes first and then that that would then help, you know, give me a really clear idea quite early on of where the settings going to be. So they're kind of simultaneously. But in terms of the, the kind of core idea, when I'm thinking about a book and when I'm sort of trying to work out what I'm going to write about the thing I'm often thinking about really is the end of the book, what becomes the end of the book. And that is the kind of an event where people have been pushed into extreme circumstances. And, you know, and those circumstances can be so varied. I mean, it really does a, does a, that's, that's the question I'm sort of trying to answer when I'm, you know, planning a book, what, what has driven your people to this point where, you know, something extreme has happened between them. And that could be all kinds of things, you know, it could be something recent, it could be something that's been like long brewing. It could be, you know, sort of a set of circumstances. It could just be, you know, unlucky. So there's all kinds of ways you can get people to that point and I'm thinking about what's what is that extreme circumstance and what is their relationship and why they come to this. And then once I've kind of, that's sort of got an idea that kind of settles and feels like yes, this is, this is something that I can see has enough, you know, avenues and an opportunity to kind of build it up. And then I start thinking about, okay, so, so how, how do we get to this point and what characters do I need to, you know, kind of, you know, tell the story, you know, so you need the main character, and you'll that main character to have a family of some sort and they'll have, you know, they'll have friends and acquaintances and, you know, they might have a partner or they may not or children or they may not, you know, so you're sort of thinking about the whole kind of, you know, you know, this sort of cast that you need to kind of let the main character, I guess, go through that story in a way they need to. And then, you know, and then really one of the last things I'm sort of thinking about is where I'm going to start the book and where I kind of drop the reader into this, you know, this seed and this set of circumstances. So they drop in at a point that's going to grab them and is, is going to at that point kind of pull them all the way through to this endpoint and the whole book is kind of funneling towards this, this conclusion. And that's, that's kind of how I structure it. So in fact, every book you write you start with the end. Yeah, I do. Yeah. It's taking me, I probably only really realized that was, you know, that was the way I do it with the lost man. That was when it became really clear to me that was how my planning process was working. But that's, that's how I did it with all of them.   And it sort of has become place in increasing personally over the four books that when I plan and when I feel an idea settles, it's definitely those initial stages. It's actually the end points, which is what I'm looking at. So now I actively, now I actively think about the endpoint when I'm thinking about a new book. Well, that explains the drama, the drama of your conclusions. I mean, it really does.  So it's terrific. I think also just if anybody out there who might be writing the writing book, I think one of the real benefits of that as well is that you know that you know that the book will work because, you know, if you're writing, especially something with a bit of a mystery, you know, it's, I think it's really easy to kind of write yourself into a corner. If you, if you kind of start from the start, you have this great opening with this kind of event that you know, how can it possibly resolve yourself? Like, at some point, you have to resolve it. And, and I think, you know, we've all read books where I think it's become clear that the author has not been able to really resolve it satisfactorily. So, but if you if you start at the end and you think about the end point, everything you do builds around that. So every red herring and every twist and turn and all the characters and everything is kind of, is kind of, you know, manufacturing geared around this point.  And that's why your novels are also like this, the sort of onion that you unpeel that you unpeel things and you come to this drama at the end, which is the center. And that's why it's so successful. Oh, thank you. It's honestly, it's a lot easier, I think to add in red herrings and, you know, distractions and things if you know where you're going with it because you can you can actually have a lot of fun with it and you can you can pick the most kind of gripping that you know you can you can you can you can be really like you have the whole luxury of thinking like, you know, you know, where, where in this whole characters lives and and the interactions, where am I going to start this book which is the most interesting part to, you know, to then, you know, draw through this conclusion that you, you know, you know you're working towards so, you know, it's, yeah, I personally find it a lot easier to kind of work it you know work it started the start of kind of hope it all works out at the end. And that explains the structure of the novel to when people pick it up they'll know what we're talking about. Before we go, we have to go to questions in a minute. We do have to ask you about the film, which with Eric banner, and I heard I listened to the launch, and I heard that you have a part in it too. So tell us when's it going to be released and about your role in this major motion. Yeah, so I believe. So I, so I believe it was pencil in for April next year, although I've actually said that James Bond film is now being rescheduled for April. So I think that might that might change matters a little bit because I'm not sure anybody really wants to go ahead with them as wonderful as the film is like I think you've changed bond might by dominating cinemas that week. So, but the film is done, it's completed it was filmed last year so 2019 in Northwest Victoria in a lot of like really small kind of your communities, which is great which is where kind of the fictional town in the dry was set. And I got invited to go up there and be an extra in the funeral and the wake scenes, which was really fun. So if you look at some of me, you have to look hard.  But you know it was amazing I got to meet a banner and I got to see them kind of filming it and meet all the cast and and then I got to see the finish film earlier this year. Luckily just before lockdown actually they showed showed it to me and you know it was it's really amazing it's such it's such a fantastic film and I'm so delighted because I think you know when you hand over your book to be made to a film. It's a real kind of leap of faith and you know I just I'm so blown away with what I've done with it. It's a really sort of beautiful thoughtful thrilling adaptation and I think they've captured all the high points and all the kind of emotion of the characters and the setting it's beautifully shot so well put together. So if it's in a pool whenever it comes out definitely if you join the book you definitely make it up to go see it because I think you'll really like it. That's great. I do hope James Stumb Bond doesn't hold it up. I mean people here would go to see it without without a blink but I presume they're looking at World Wide Release and James Bond so and actually I am going to go to questions but one more one more. Falk are you going to bring him back. Yeah, I will. I think I'll bring him back for certainly for one more. The only reason I really haven't done it in in the last couple of books is because like I was saying when I when I think when I think about a plot you know and and how it's going to work I think it's really obvious to me. You know if if if he didn't have a role in The Lost Man and The Survivors you know the characters just were not the right place for him and he would have been completely shoehorned in and so you know it's really important to have those those right characters but I do have I have kind of got a bit of a thought for him that I'm sort of well after I finished I'll sort of be is one of the things I'll be kind of deciding whether to develop or not like I've got a few ideas and sort of you know I'll be trying to decide which one you know I think you know is you know is worse sort of working up and I have got one which I think would work actually pretty well for him. So yeah so people with it is just it's just finding that kind of really you know that perfect opportunity for him. Good. So we have some questions from our from our virtual audience and this one is from Lorraine and she asks do you pick topical issues to build a story around and explore and you have got a few topical issues in here with dementia and PPS. I always get it wrong PSTD you have got they are topical. So do you do you look for them to include in your story. Yeah no thanks Lorraine no it's a good question and the answer is actually no not really. So I never I never set out to write about a certain theme and I don't really you know it's not something in my planning process is not really something that that I actually dedicate any real time to um what I what I always do is I focus first like I say on the plot and the characters and you know making sure the whole structure works and then what it is is really when I'm I'm starting to think about characters in more detail for a long time they're quite two dimensional and they're there to kind of fulfill a role. And then as part of the sort of process it comes to a point when I'm starting to kind of flesh them out. And I think a lot about their backgrounds and their relationships and what their lives are like. And it's really then I think the themes really start to develop because you know as part of building those characters in an authentic way you try to think about you know what issues are affecting them and what kind of things that you know troubling them or you know conversations they're having and I think part of being authentic is trying to capture those things that then become recognizable contemporary themes because as real people we do experience them and we talk about them and we read about them and they impact our lives to various degrees so that's so the themes are always driven by the characters. And I never I never sort of forced the characters to do anything to develop a theme. I always just try not to theme develop to whatever degree is going to based on what the characters need to do. But that's kind of because I just think that's a bit more natural than it feels you know better it's a better reading experience for the reader when things sort of are allowed to I think emerge rather than being deliberately kind of forced in. And this one this one is from Bernadette and she asks, what is it about the Australian landscape that inspired you. And I think, you know, look at me the Australian landscape is such a, you know, like it has so many opportunities for writers and I think, you know, when I first started to, you know, when I go back to when I first started writing the dry, you know, I just thought I'm going to write the kind of book that I would like to read and I thought, you know, I'd love to read something really set in kind of like a really, you know, strong Australian setting with these characters to kind of, you know, I guess recognizable and and I think, you know, it's like Australia is, I mean every country is unique to itself but Australia has such a kind of really diverse geography and and I think the geography often really drives the people, you know, so your lifestyle is quite heavily influenced by where you live, especially when we get outside of the urban areas. And so that was something that I just think really lends itself like very, very well to books that have a bit of kind of mystery and suspense and tension because often the landscape kind of has its own hazards and and that can really, you know, do like a lot of heavy lifting for for me in certain ways by just putting these characters into these landscapes that have a bit of, you know, brutality and danger to them. And that's why each of your books are so different to because the landscape is so different and produces such different reactions.  And I think you've answered that to the second part of the question which is where do you draw inspiration from.  And I think the, you know, when I was, well, for each book I suppose it's a little bit different because it's always a different experience, you know, when I was running a dry, you know, I'd always been a big reader as a child and I'd love books and I, you know, I always loved reading and I always thought I'd love to write a book. I'd love to write a book that people love to read, you know, and that was kind of something that I've kind of carried with me for a lot of years and I'd never have done anything about it really so I was always working full time as a journalist and just felt sort of too busy and and I wasn't honestly sure how to start. But it got to the point I think where the fear of regrets became bigger than, you know, bigger than the fear of failure I suppose you know so I kind of thought I really want to give it a try because, you know, at least then I've, at least then I've tried and I've kind of achieved the thing I've been wanting to do for years and if it doesn't get published and nobody reads it. Like that's okay at least I've given it a shot, you know, so that was kind of, I guess the motivation for the dry and then, you know, you know, I really have, you know, sort of this amazing opportunity now to write more books and, you know, have contracts and I know that they're going to get published and, you know, so I think you're now I'm in a really fortunate position where, you know, it's because I really just love writing and I love to be able to kind of, you know, create stories that I do think that I would like to read. And, you know, in terms of the inspiration I think it's always, it's always different and I think often the inspiration for book sometimes by the time I've gone through the whole writing process is actually very different from maybe how the book turns out, because what I'm looking for in that moment of inspiration is the core of an idea that I think I can develop so I'm looking for the whole book I'm looking for, you know, any whole, you know, particular character or I'm not expecting the whole story to present itself I'm just looking for an idea that I think has enough opportunity that I can develop it so for any writers out there that's that's like a good place to start I think. And the last one we've got actually is from Trish and she's asking you, I think about the next book. Trish is asking you how do you think of the next book? How do you go, I presume it means how do you go about starting the next book? Yeah, so, so I'll be starting thinking about the next book quite soon. I tend to like one of the biggest things I think I've learned about the writing process is it's really important to take into stages and not necessarily try and rush any particular stage. So now the survivors have just come out and I've got a lot of kind of media and publicity and virtual tours and things to do. So, you know, I'm letting myself focus on that and, you know, enjoy the book coming out. And then when that dies down, then I'll start really thinking about the next book and what I'll do I'll spend a long time just thinking and weighing up kind of different ideas and trying to just find that that's sort of one kind of poor idea that settles. And I think it's really worth taking that time because, you know, there's a lot of a lot of time and wasted words, you know, if you kind of rush into an idea that's not that's not right and it can be for me it's quite false economy to do that so I think about the idea and then I'll start once I've set the last start to kind of do you like a little bit of, you know, a real skeleton outline so I'm talking maybe like five or 10 sentences kind of outlining where the main points of the book as I see them. And then I'll kind of expand those a little bit and I'll keep expanding them to say, you know, so 20 sentences then 20 paragraphs and I'll and I'll start kind of really trying to work out the order of the book and the characters and how it's going to play out and I'll spend a long time refining that, making sure the characters are right. Making sure I've got it, you know, you did setting and the get the timeline and all that kind of things as sort of as they get the best way they could be. And I don't actually start writing until I've really got everything I think structurally in the best place I can get it at that point. I'm pretty sure that's how the book is going to play out. Then I'll start writing. So I'll spend months and months writing and as long as I've done the plan well. You know, I can actually write the first draft pretty quickly because it then it's just about executing each of those scenes in the best possible way and making it interesting for the reader. And you actually said that for the last man you use Scrivener. Did you use that again. Do you find that a useful tool. Kind of yes and no I did. I did use it a bit because it has a quite useful kind of corkboard tool where you can sort of you can kind of nap out scenes on a, I guess like a virtual corkboard you can kind of move things around a little bit and see the whole book. You know, in order. And I think though, like, I find that program actually quite hard to use and I don't totally trust myself to completely like, you know, know the work is always fully saved and all that kind of thing. I think it has a lot of features that I don't use, but I do use that feature. Not to say, though, I think there's probably better ways there's probably better ways to do that in different programs and some people find it easy to do and maybe physically, you know, with actual pieces of paper on a corkboard, or in a word file. But my, my sort of technology is pretty kind of basic by choice, I think so I mean I just, you know, I just use normal word for a lot of my notes and, you know, I think the most important thing is to kind of have confidence you can find things when you need them.  That's, that's like a lot of a big part of writing I think is, is getting that admin stuff right and as boring as it sounds.  So do the boring admin stuff as well is a really key piece of advice for me. Be prepared and then write. Yeah. Well we've got about five minutes before we're due to finish so how about we just have one more question and then we'll finish. And I know before, but all of your heroes so far have been male. Is this conscious? Have you, have you ever thought about a female detective or a female man character who would work out what's going on?  Did you ever think about writing it from her perspective rather than doing it from Kearance? Yeah, look, I mean, the choice of having all male characters so far has been a really conscious choice. And I mean, conscious in the sense that, you know, it's definitely something that I consider really closely. You know, I consider it closely for a few reasons, but not least because I have, you know, now I have a, I have a daughter and I have a son who one day will be old enough to read these books.  And, you know, the answer, and I feel quite comfortable with the answer there and the answer is it's always plot driven. And part of that is, you know, it's part of the planning process. I'm always really thinking about who is going to provide the best overview and perspective of this story. And sometimes that's, and that is often like quite a technical question, because you need someone who has certain connections with the place and certain connections with, you know, the whole cast of characters can provide insight, can provide sort of some sort of fresh eyes. And also from a purely practical point of view can do things that sometimes the female characters can't I think cannot do naturally. So, for example, Kieran can go, Kieran can go walking through that town at night without a second thought. His, his, his partner, she can't. And so she, she is limited in some ways by her natural caution.  So, so you need a character who has that kind of those options. And sometimes things like, for example, in the lost man, you know, the when I went up there and you know I spent a lot of time kind of speaking to people and say cattle stations about the makeup of those stations and, you know, I think it's really important to kind of reflect things like that, you know, in an authentic, genuine way as well so sometimes it's driven by the practicalities of the situation.  It's, you know, there'll be stories that completely lend themselves to that and present themselves. So, you know, whatever have a story, I only really have one idea, one good idea at a time. And in all these cases, this has been the most practical way to do it. Yeah, I really look forward to kind of find, you know, those stories that, yeah, let me, let me, you know, explore other characters as well. Thank you, Jane, very much for your time tonight. It's been wonderful talking to you. It's been an absolute privilege. And thank you so much for coming. And just to remind people that the book is available at the ANU's Harry Hartog Bookshop. Oh, I'll have to buy it. It's a great read. Thank you very much. Thanks for coming as well. No, it's been a pleasure.


Naval Support Activity Suda Bay recently upgraded unused areas on its airfield. The upgrade took less than two years to complete and included the expansion of the aircraft parking apron. A larger apron was required to allow flexibility and ease of operations. I'd say Suda Bay is located in a very strategic area in the Southern Mediterranean and we provide a lot of fleet support to passengers, cargo, to floor deployed stations and ships in the area. So the recent expansion has provided us the ability of fitting a few more wide-bodied aircraft allowing us to increase our role in providing support to the fleet as well as Sancom, Yukom and the AFRICOM AORs. Perie Officer Anaïd Banyuelo-Trodrigues, Suda Bay, Greece.


Hey guys it's Julia and welcome back to my channel and for today's video I'm going to be doing the no disclaimers book tag. Basically this tag was created by Catalyst Reads and I was tagged by Olivia from iLivvy for books so I'll have both their channels linked down below. The first is a hated trope basically so for this I do think most tropes can be done well. Most tropes that even if I'm not a fan of them I still think they could be done well like insta love can still be done well things like that in my opinion. There's not one that I specifically hate there's plot twists that I hate like the oh plot twist the character was dead and this person was hallucinating like I've seen that done so many times now. Also the pregnancy plot twist is annoying one author does it all the time we won't talk about that. This happens a lot with romance especially it's the innocent virgin pure girl who meets this guy that's so experienced and she gets thrown into this world and that is just you see it everywhere. I'll have to really say about that one. Next is an overhyped author so since this video is no disclaimers I'm allowed to kind of say this but I have read two books by this author that I just wasn't impressed with one I really didn't like any other one I just thought was okay so I do think the author is a bit overhyped for me personally and sadly I don't enjoy his work but that is Adam Silvera I've read history's all you left me which I really didn't like at all and they both died at the end which was better but still not like a great freedom for me personally and I know he's such a beloved author and I'm so excited for the book he's writing with Becky Albertalli that comes out later this year I'm so excited for that one so I really hope I like it it's just I usually have like a disconnect with his stories and his writing style and yeah it's just really sad because he's like I've seen like author interviews and stuff and he seems like such an awesome human and I'm like sad that I don't enjoy his books as much. Next is your least favorite some of your least favorite books so fan girl rant review is up on my channel of that The Dreadful Tailed Prosperity this book was floating around a little while ago around Halloween time it was floating around it's the middle grade book written by the author of The Darkest Minds and that book was just not good I couldn't finish it and without merit because that book is pure trash and I don't hate all of Colleen Hoover's books but that one we won't talk about it we won't talk about it. It's a book with like a horrible ending so for this I had this book called Dead to You by Lisa McMahon I don't even own it anymore but I remember distinctly how horrible the ending was I like wanted to throw the book across the room and this ending is like one of the ones that you're like that like no no one's like no one's really gonna use that honey like no one's gonna use that because it's so overdone and it's such a stereotype now that we expect that to be the twist but they do it anyways bookish pet peeve mine for like physical like a physical book my pet peeve it's when the spine isn't folded properly and I don't know how to explain it other than showing you guys this book is the afterlife of Holly Chase fabulous book by the way highly recommend it but see how the spine like you see some of the black that's supposed to be like shifted and the spine supposed to be just red it's like a little pet peeve that bothers me is when like the covers like the dust jackets aren't folded properly and it's just something that I notice and I get really angry about especially when you order a book online and it comes like the dust jacket isn't folded right and I'm like why. Next up is an underhyped book so for this I have everything beautiful is not room by Daniel young allman this book is about a girl who wants to be a famous opera singer like her mother once was and after her mom kind of goes through some things and some tough times with her career and with her passion she doesn't want her daughter to go down the same path and end up just as devastated as her basically the daughter angry ends up going to a summer survival camp and it's basically full of delinquents and it's like if she can last throughout the whole thing and then her mom will let her go to whatever she wants or let her pursue her career kind of thing and this book was just really interesting it deals with a lot of tough subject matter including sexual assault suicide and something else depression as well but yes it deals with a lot of tough issues but it's a really well done book and it just nobody talks about it and it makes me really sad like nobody talks about it last is your thoughts on banning books so if you don't know some books are banned in school libraries or banned in general there's like a list of banned books some include like harry potter so many that books like there's so many books that have been banned like more recent like the person being a wallflower was banned I think the hate you give I think was banned in some schools or something I don't know how that works exactly but my thoughts on banned books is obviously that's stupid you should read what you want and you should be able to read what you want and books shouldn't be banned because it has witchcraft in it because it's harry potter honey what do you expect but no it's just it's ridiculous and I could have like a whole discussion video on banned books like mmm let me know your thoughts down below on that I want to know that was the no disclaimers book tag and I'm going to be tagging some people so I'm going to be tagging Gordon from Jordan Harvey my friend Alyssa cam from wool shop publishing Peter likes book jay from the awkward bookworm I'm also going to be tagging Clara and Yasmin I'm going to have all those channels that I tag linked down below as well as the creator and Olivia who tagged me thank you so much for watching and I hope to see you all very soon if you enjoyed this video like it down below and subscribe if you feel like it and yeah I will be back with a video eventually bye