Chris Else

Publishing fiction for over 40 years. Seven novels and two collections of short stories. Short fiction and reviews in all the usual places. Co-founder and partner in TFS Literary Agency and Assessment Service (est 1989). Former Chairman of Copyright Licensing Ltd and former President and Vice-President of NZSA (twice in each case). Worth talking to on a number of subjects.


Genre:

  • Adult Fiction

Skills:

  • Manuscript Assessment

Branch:

Otago/Southland

Location:

Dunedin

Publications:


Black Earth/White Bones

Kit Wallace has spent his whole life running away. Through luck and lack of purpose he has finally washed up in the Pacific nation of Ventiak. Here, on the top floor of the Royal Albert Hotel, he avoids his past by drinking whisky and writing poetry he fully intends no one should ever read. Yet, despite himself, he has been drawn into the lives of the people around him. When he is invited to join a scam in the phosphate industry, which will defraud the Ventiakans of millions of dollars, he is torn between disbelief, self-serving cynicism and a loyalty that takes him by surprise. His life begins to unravel and his is forced into action. Meanwhile, in the upland forest, the Rage is beginning: a periodic rampage of millions of ants that will sweep over the island, carrying all before it.

Gith

Ken McUrran runs a service station in a small town. He's an ordinary kiwi bloke who wants an ordinary kiwi life. Trouble is, a young Austrian hitch-hiker disappears. Ken's niece, Gith, has seen which car gave the young woman back-packer a ride. Trouble is, because of a serious car accident, Gith can't talk properly. Ken is the only person who can understand her, let alone believe her. He sets out to prove to the police - and the world - that she is right. Trouble is, the town is big on gossip and Gith and Ken have a secret of their own.

On River Road

In the trendy satellite town of Durry, four couples live in the support and trust of their joint friendship. They've stuck by one another through young love and marriage break-up, hard times and rising affluence. Each knows the others inside out. But now the teenage daughter of one of them has been killed in a hit and run. Cracks begin to appear in their relationships. Can the centre hold?

Waterline

The world is going crazy. In a South Pacific nation overrun by technology an affluent family has fallen on hard times. Brian, Stella and their two kids must move from the capital to Byte, a small, rain-swept city in the grip of a Kafkaesque, computerised bureaucracy and a gang of religious vigilantes. When Brian falls foul of the authorities, Stella, Mandy and Luke must fend for themselves. Stella’s only option seems to be an offer of help from the least likely quarter – but with what consequences?
Waterline is a dramatic tale, laced with dark humour, about responsibility, self-determination and the search for love. It explores the choices we might have to make in our increasingly complex society.
Quentin Wilson Publishing 2019