LEWIS WOOLSTON - THE EVERLASTING

Lewis Woolston grew up in a small beach bum town in Western Australia. He hated it and left as soon as he could.

He misspent most of his youth in Perth and Adelaide, did a short and miserable stint in the Army, then spent years living and working on remote roadhouses on the Nullarbor and in the Northern Territory.

He now lives in Port Lincoln with his wife and daughter.

This is a short story collection about life and lives in remote Australia.

I once drank metho for so long I had a fit, shat blood and nearly died and it was less painful than listening to that bullshit. from Viva Adelaide!

Life was a pilgrimage to joy, she was certain of this, at least she wanted to be certain of this. from Sunday Mass in Smoky Bay

Perhaps he simply weighed up the benefits of being clean and found them wanting. from Kevin Bradfield’s Legacy

If I had to grow up in Whyalla I’d be angry at the world too, she thought. from As Far as Cultana

From warriors to wage slaves, the decline of Western Civilization in a nutshell. from Career Advice from an Old Sailor

I thought my status as an Afghanistan veteran mattered. Did it fuck. from Viva Adelaide!

They had adsorbed that fundamentalist mentality which teaches that life is a trial to be endured on behalf of a stern but loving God and one pleases this God most by cutting all joy, fun and laughter out of life. from The Only Teacher Who Ever Reached Me

I was happy with my life, something I never would have predicted when I was younger. from The Everlasting

“You’re a bit weird sometimes, Uncle Jack.” from Brothers, Cousins and Nieces

Why would anything good happen? This is Adelaide! from Viva Adelaide!

It was one of his often repeated phrases whenever he seemed to be living good or scoring one off the system. “Gawd bless the Australian Taxpayer,” he’d say, as if they’d personally handed him a big cheque or a cold beer. from You’ll Always Remember Fremantle

Charles had felt the end of his working life like a man losing a limb. Turned out there wasn’t much to him once you took away the getting up and going to the office every day. from Sunday Mass in Smoky Bay

“You say that like it’s a prison sentence, “Modbury”, just a lump of a word. Surely, it’s not that bad, is it?” from Viva Adelaide!

“I don’t think you read music magazines, I think you study them, I think you dream of the day you get interviewed by one of them.” from The Only Teacher Who Ever Reached Me

I remember the despair at being forced to waste my youth on ancient Biblical nonsense. from The Everlasting

He despised the managers who thought they’d achieved something by climbing up one rung on the ladder. from Night Shift Laughs

Clarky thinks of this often. He wishes he could get a time machine and go back to talk to his younger self. from Over Pebbles and Sand

“The media will have moved on in a week or so, you know how fickle the public are. Some footballer will be caught doing coke off a hooker’s arse next and nobody will remember I did anything.” from The Country Electorate

Got to watch them dopamines. from Viva Adelaide!