Due to technical issues, publication and distribution of these books was delayed. The books will be on sale to the public soon, information will be posted here.
by Ruth Skilbeck
I thought I would share with you some of the themes of The Antipode Room in my literary novel series Australian Fugue, which will be published as an e-book and printed book.
Ruth Skilbeck
Photo: Jacquelene Drinkall, 2013
Australian art, love, eroticism, free spirits, betrayal and
revenge, in the contemporary art/punk scene, are the themes of Ruth Skilbeck’s
first novels in the Australian Fugue
series, The Antipode Room, and Sayonara, Baby.
Ruth
Skilbeck’s Australian Fugue novel
series, traces the trajectory from not knowing to self-knowledge of the main
protagonist Roxanne- Ruby.
The
series begins in the novel, The Antipode Room. The
first novel is set in the 21st century, in London, Sydney, Newcastle
NSW, Cooper Peedy and the desert. The main character “Countess Ruby Rivers”
arrived in London, from Australia in a state of fugue, loss of awareness of
self, she has lost her memory of her own identity and past – and met her to-be
husband, a professor of
philosophy, when she takes a course to try to find out more about herself,
through philosophy. With Hugo's support, she runs a
contemporary art gallery and the polyphonic narrative traces their one-way
doomed trip to Australia to collect contemporary Australian artists for The
Antipode Room, where she meets by chance artist Raymond Furness – one of the
reasons for her leaving Australia and going into a state of psychogenic fugue,
and she goes with him on a painting trip to the Central desert, in a
nightmarish night of hallucinations in the opal town Coober Peedy, in the
desert, she confronts the causes of her fugue, and returns to find violinist
Margarita – who is metaphorically murdered in the course of a sexual
encounter. How this murder happened and who did it is the theme of the fugue,
the first in the series Australian Fugue, which introduces the four voices, of
Ruby, Margarita, Raymond and H.
The second Fugue novel, Sayonara, Baby is set in 1980 and 1981
mainly in Adelaide, also Melbourne, Canberra, rainforest outside Grafton and
high country near Cooma, and in Sydney. Told in realism mode, it reveals the
“true story” of how Roxanne-Ruby, who moved from Northern Ireland to Australia
with her (Australian colonial) family- struggled to cope, when her best friend
Margarita from school in County Antrim, moved into the place she vacated in her
family home, in Canberra, after being kicked out by her Father who disapproved
of her affair, aged 17, with biker, S. Unknown, perhaps, to her parents he is
an heir to a fortune, inherited from his deceased German-Jewish father who
committed suicide after S’s mother left him for her relationship with the
principal of S’s alternative school in Melbourne (himself the heir of an
Australian General’s dynasty). In this realism-mode of first person confessional
novel, Roxanne, runs away from home only to leave S when Roxanne begins her own
independent life at university. Things go awry after Roxanne begins a
passionate “not-love” affair with Ray Furness, unofficial leader of neo-Dada
art group the Art Criminals in Adelaide when her former best friend Margie
moves into Roxanne’s new love with Ray;
after a series of triangular relationship betrayals, and revenges, Roxanne
leaves Australia, feeling nothing, and unaware of what she is flying into. But
following the first novel’s hysterical tone, Roxanne, the narrator, is able to
reconcile the truth against illusion and fantasy and come to the freedom of
self-empowerment.
Reading:
As
they are not consecutively ordered, and have circular structure, either fugue
novel can be read first. They are separate novels written in different styles,
and it is likely that some readers may like one more than the other, the second
has more ‘sympathetic’ characters, and is a realistic view into the cultural
time in Australia, it is set in Australia in late 70s to the early 1980s. The
first fugue narrative is told in several voices, interweaves dream, reality,
carnival and sophisticated eroticism, and is fantastical in places some readers
may find shocking. The novels focus on the representation of self, and love
in art and in life, they offer new literary fictional insights into passionate
love affairs and the creative process, in contemporary Australia, of artists
and writers, and are intended for a mature audience.
Both
novels are fictional, and contain no intentional references to any real
characters or events (other than the public figures and cultural and political
history mentioned in the narratives as background to the stories).
The
novels first began life, in much earlier form, as the novel Ruth Skilbeck wrote
for her MA in Writing, at UTS. She went on to do her PhD in Creative Writing on
fugue in literary narratives. This is due to be published soon, to
be followed by a second book of critical theory on fugue narratives by Ruth
Skilbeck that expands on her PhD.
The
two novels will be for sale through Ruth’s Pozible campaign from the week of
28.10.13, as physical books and as e-Books that may be read on computers,
phones, tablets, and e-Readers. The books will be delivered by mail after the Pozible campaign has ended. The e-Books will be
sent after the campaign is ended. These is a numbered limited edition of
the first print edition, and the author Ruth Skilbeck will sign the numbered
copies of the printed book first edition.
The
links for the Pozible campaign will be made available at intervals through
Facebook by Ruth Skilbeck, and also on her websites, and website of her
author-publisher house, Postmistress Press.
Pre-order the Antipode Room here: The Antipode Room pre-orders
Coming
Next by Ruth Skilbeck:
Ruth
Skilbeck’s Australian Fugue novel
series, traces the trajectory from not knowing to self-knowledge of the main
protagonist Roxanne- Ruby. The series begins in the novel, The Antipode Room.
Planned publications:
PhD
Critical
theory book from PhD
AUSTRALIAN
FUGUE Book 3 - Faerie Child - 2014
Faerie Child is set in the
civil war in Northern Ireland where Roxanne is a teenager
All the best and happy reading,
Ruth
About
Ruth:
Ruth Skilbeck has worked as a freelance: writer,
art critic and literary reviewer, journalist and photographer, in Ireland,
England and Australia including for the BBC World Service, national newspapers,
magazines, and international arts periodicals; her work is also published in
academic journals and books. She has a BA Honors in Philosophy from Birkbeck, London, MA and PhD in literature from UTS (University of Technology,
Sydney). She also has a university teaching qualification in Higher Education Teaching and Learning She has taught Communications and Media, and English and Creative
Writing, and has designed, written and taught courses in writing and media publishing.
Now Available:
Australian Fugue: The Antipode Room a novel by Ruth Skilbeck is on sale from PostMistress Press and on Amazon.
The link to the print book and kindle ebook on amazon where you can buy the books:
