Peter Watt’s big canvas Australian historicals have garnered a popular following far beyond the shores of his homeland. And that’s how Peter - a man of action who’s been described as “the Australian Wilbur Smith” - likes it, because he’s always had a primary aim of entertaining readers and elevating Aussie stories to international notice.

Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Peter talks about living his dream life – volunteer fire fighting for six months of the year and writing his new historical series in the other six .

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

Why he's got the ideal lifeHow Wallarie became a star in GermanyThe little known history that excites himHow his passion for Aussie history has inspired othersThe writers he admires the mostWhat he'd do differently next time: (you'll be surprised!)

Website: http://www.peterwatt.com

Facebook:  (Fans of Peter Watt books - Public group)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/60777773968/ 

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: But now, here’s Peter. .  Hello there Peter and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

How Peter got started as an author

Peter:  Hello Jenny and 'Kia Ora' to all my New Zealand readers. (Ed note: Kia Ora is a Maori greeting of welcome.)

Peter Watt: Author and volunteer fire fighter

Jenny:  That’s fantastic, and you do

have a lot of New Zealand readers.  We’ll

get on to that.  But beginning at the

beginning, I always like to ask this question although it’s maybe a little clichéd

– was there a “Once Upon a Time” moment when you decided that you wanted to

write fiction?  And if so, what was the catalyst for it?

Peter:  Yes, well I’ve looked at this

question many times and I think I was aged 7 sitting on a tractor …. driving

round and round in circles, and of course in those days there were no cabins,

you just sucked in the diesel and sucked up the dust, and I thought to myself,

I’m going to start creating stories in my head so I don’t go mad.  It started there, Jenny.

Jenny:  But it took you a long time then

to get round to doing it.

Peter:  Yes, you know, we make the mistake of letting life get in the way and not devoting ourselves to what we really want to do.  I was about 50 when I commenced writing “Cry of the Curlew” (Book One in the Frontier series) and from there it’s been history, with all the other books following.

Cry of the Curlew: #1 in the Frontier series

Jenny:  Did you always know it would be

historical fiction that you would want to write?

Peter:  Yes, most definitely.  I was influenced by James A. Michener, Leon Uris and many of those other American writers who tended to write with the historical background. I always thought that our part of the world, Australia and New Zealand, had got very little exposure in literature, so I devoted myself to that.

 Jenny: 

I know you’ve said that actually you probably have been responsible for

a little bit of a tourist boom drawing people to Australia, having become

interested in the Australian stories, so you’ve been successful at that.

Peter:  Yes, it’s nice when I receive

emails from American readers who say, you know we never thought about coming to

Australia until we read one of your books. 

And I would sometimes meet them at the airport and give them a bit of a

guided tour.

Peter's 12-book Aussie family saga

 Jenny:  Fantastic!  What a lovely thing.  You’ve led a remarkably adventurous life and we’ll get onto that, but your series – you’ve got a 12 books Frontier series which is a very big family drama, in fact it follows the rivalry between two families and now you’ve started a new series, The Queen’s Colonial.  There have been a few stand alones and I think a Papua New Guinea trilogy in the middle there somewhere, but let’s talk about the latest book,