As a journalist, Michael Brissenden naturally sees stories everywhere, and in recent years he's found a way to channel them into fiction. "I've done a lot and seen a lot, and it does inform my writing," said the former ABC foreign correspondent and Canberra-based political editor, who will visit Wangaratta on 4 September. "As a journalist, you see lots of different ways of life and speak to people you otherwise might not. "When I started writing (fiction), part of it drew on my background in journalism, and part of it was the crime and thriller reading I had enjoyed from when I was growing up." Michael's latest book, 'Dust', is his fourth novel, and follows the success of last year's 'Smoke'. "I had tried on a number of occasions to write fiction, and it wasn't until 10 years ago that it started to work for me; like everyone, I've got a couple of unpublished books in the bottom drawer," he said. "I wrote one that I thought was okay, and got a lot of rejections, but one message came back saying that there was one sentence that was pretty good; that was enough to encourage me to keep going." 'Dust' centres on the fictional town of Lake Herrod, a once-thriving community which now lies in the shadow of an almost-dry lake. When Aaron Love discovers a fresh corpse near the cracked lakebed, along with evidence his missing father is alive and linked to a web of organised crime, he is thrust into a world of deception, injustice and betrayal. With the town on the brink of collapse, Aaron and a haunted detective, Martyn Kravets, uncover a web of conspiracy that reaches far beyond the small community. "After 'Smoke', I was looking at a follow-on, and was reading about Lake Mead in Nevada, which was drying up, and they were finding bodies which had been in the lake," Michael said. "The more I researched, the more interested I became, but I didn't want to write another book set in the US (as 'Smoke' was); I remembered Lake Cargelligo in Western NSW which had dried up, and a number of other lakes that had done the same thing. "I also wanted to do a book about people living on the margins; I read a lot of American crime fiction, and that's a feature, and it's happening in this country too. "In many ways, the crime novel has become the new social novel, allowing people to look at society and what is happening in our world. "Issues in small towns are really interesting, particularly in Australia; a lot have a veneer of mild prosperity, but underneath there is a lot of disadvantage, and a lot of people are struggling to make it all work. "That's particularly so in one-industry places; when that one industry goes, they are in real crisis, as with the town in this book. "There are a lot of itinerant populations, and there is also a lot happening in the energy transition space (which is also raised in the book). "It's a really big issue for a lot of people, and is also open to a lot of misinformation. "It's providing an amount of investment and infrastructure, but is also disrupting a lot of people's lives, and is being used as a political tool or weapon by people interested in inflaming discontent, so there is a lot to talk about in that space." While he's able to draw on his journalistic knowledge and skills, Michael said fiction has brought different writing challenges and rewards. "It's actually quite hard - it's a very different part of the brain that you're using, and it's also actually quite liberating," he said. "It's nice not having to worry about writing someone else's story; if the story decides it wants to go a certain way, you can let it go. "At the same time, you need to pull back from the tendency of a journalist to want to explain everything and over-write." While he's keen to explore issues he sees affecting society, Michael said his ultimate aim was for "people to read the book and say, 'That was a really good read'." "I want people to say the story was great, the characters were interesting, and when they got to the end, that it made them think about a few things," he said. Michael said he had enjoyed his visit to Wangaratta while touring 'Smoke' last year, and was looking forward to his 4 September event to discuss 'Dust' with local readers and writers. "I'd love people to come along and ask all sorts of questions - I love meeting readers and talking about the writing process," he said. "People have been saying for years that the book is dead, but from what I see at these events, I certainly don't think so." Michael will be at the Wangaratta Library on Thursday, 4 September from 6.30pm, in conversation with Belinda from Edgars Books & News. To book your place, visit https://events.humanitix.com/in-conversation-with-michael-brissenden
