Cry of the Bunyips

Author's Commentary

 

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I began writing this book in May 2007, a month after signing the publication contract for The Mind of the Dolphins. At the time, my mother kept referring to that story as Cry of the Dolphins and I jokingly said I should call the next one Cry of the Bunyips, a name which has stuck ever since.

I mentioned at the end of my commentary on The Mind of the Dolphins that bunyips and Frizian honey might provide a good springboard into the next adventure, and that's how it's turned out. It's been a very long road, though, and a constant struggle to find a way of drawing the various story elements together without it becoming too contrived. I also didn't want it to become just a rehash of The Mind of the Dolphins only with a different species carrying an alien intelligence.

The Cornipean bunyips themselves began as a bit of a joke in Call of the Delphinidae, when Ron recalled how Mary as a child had wanted a pet bunyip but couldn't because of Bluehaven's quarantine regulations. From there, its pungent pheromones and  attraction to honey became an amusing underscore in both that story and throughout The Mind of the Dolphins. In this new book I wanted to link my Cornipean bunyips with the "real-life" bunyips of Australian Aboriginal mythology, which proved to be an interesting challenge and ultimately a rewarding one.

The ten-year-old twins David and Loraine Collins were another loose end from The Mind of the Dolphins. Setting Cry of the Bunyips two years on put them at the cusp of adolescence, a fertile ground for character development. The addition of their friend Joel Morison, for whom Loraine has a crush, created an intriguing triangle.

My thanks once more go to Ray Foret Jr who's been my sounding board throughout the writing of this book, and to Zeus Publications for again seeing something in the story worth committing to print. Thanks also to everyone for their positive feedback on the earlier books and I hope this one doesn't disappoint.

If you've finished the book and would like to see some of my thinking behind how it all came together, click here to view my full commentary.