Weather has always fascinated me. I am one of those people who will actually sit and watch The Weather Channel—and not just for the local on the eights. They have some seriously killer programs that cover a wide range of weather phenomenon from hurricanes to blizzards to hailstorms. But my favorite shows are the ones about tornadoes. I don’t have an explanation as to why I find these the most engrossing. If I had to come up with one, I would blame the movie Twister. After seeing the movie in 1996, I devoured anything about tornadoes and storm chasers. Almost twenty years later, I still devour the subject. Any documentary, movie, or live coverage will keep me in front of the television for hours. I will re-watch programs I’ve seen multiple times without batting an eyelash. Because of this, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the subject. I mean, almost twenty years of fascination I had to know something, right? I didn’t know diddly squat. I understand now why, even though I’ve wanted to write a storm chaser character for years, I haven’t. I wasn’t ready. Deep down I knew this would be one of the most…

It was a huge surprise to this inner-urban Melbourne girl who wears too much black, when I stopped jumping on long-distance inter-continental flights and had a look in my own backyard instead. Actually, I had to be dragged, grumbling and protesting, by my then-new partner who was determined to show me what I was missing. Not only were we going to see this great country, we were going to bush camp while we did it and within 24 hours I was hooked. Our great love is Australia’s outback, an area that is sometimes hard to define. Is it geographical or a state of mind? Either way, the intersection of endless red dirt, brilliant blue skies and the grey-green of saltbush and mallee is what makes us happy. We’ve camped up and down some of Australia’s great rivers; the Darling, the Murray and the 1300km long Cooper “Creek”, the setting for RED DIRT DUCHESS. During flood years wildlife abounds; waterbirds, huge flocks of parrots, moths as big as your hand. After years of drought, a sudden sluice of floodwater can awaken a landscape poised for renewal within a week. After a couple of days alone in the bush, we ‘go into…