December 2018 New Releases

Three Dummies in a Dinghy Edited by Claire Bell, James Cooper and Mark Worthing (Morning Star Publishing, October 2018) 

Three Dummies in a Dinghy is the third instalment of the Stories of Life series.

In it, ordinary Australians share their extraordinary stories of faith and life. Some tales are humourous, others are entertaining and upbeat. But not all are happy stories. Many writers describe how they were found by a loving God in the midst of doubts and great suffering, and the circumstances don’t always get easier. But the message still comes through loud and clear that God is faithful, near and active in the lives of ordinary people.

We discover that there are unsung heroes of all kinds among us. With their encouragement we can open our eyes a little wider, see more clearly, and trust more deeply in the boundless kindness of our Lord.

Link to buy

Deadly Misdirection by R J Amos (independent release, 23 November 2018) 

Coffee, hot cross buns, and … murder?
The anticipation of a five day break and the unexpectedly warm Easter weather makes Alicia eager to get going on her home renovations, despite the fact that she has absolutely no experience and is more at home with a test tube than a paintbrush. She is determined to get ahead with her laboratory preparations so that she can leave early and make the most of the Easter break.
That is, until she discovers the dead body of a student in a car outside the chemistry building.
Now all she wants to do is find out why Eloise died and not lose her job in the process.
Come and join Alicia and her friends Jan and Nate as they solve another cosy mystery in the delightful small town of Kingston Beach, Tasmania.
Get it now.
Amazon link

Second Chances by Carol Ashby (Cerrillo Press, November 26 2018) 

Must the shadows of the past destroy the hope of the future?

In AD 122, Cornelia Scipia, proud daughter of one of Rome's noblest families, learns her adulterous husband plans to betroth their daughter to the vicious son of his best friend. Over her dead body! Cornelia divorces him, reclaims her enormous dowry, and kidnaps her own daughter. She plans to start over with Drusilla a thousand miles away. No more husbands for her. But she didn’t count on meeting Hector, the widowed Greek captain of the ship carrying her to her new life.

Devastated by the loss of his wife and daughter, Hector’s heart begins to heal as he befriends Drusilla. Cornelia’s sacrificial love for Drusilla and her courage and humor in the face of the unknown earn his admiration…as a friend. Is he ready for more?

Marriage to the kind, honest sea captain would give Drusilla the father she deserves…and Cornelia the faithful husband she’s always longed for. But while her ex-husband hunts them to drag Drusilla back to Rome, secrets in Hector’s past and the chasms between their social classes and different faiths erect complicated barriers to any future together. Will God give two lonely hearts a second chance at happiness?

Amazon link

Book Recommendation | Three Dummies and a Dinghy (2018 Stories of Life Collection)

Review by May-Kuan Lim

Today we're delighted to welcome May-Kuan Lim to share a recommendation for a very special new release: Three Dummies in a Dinghy (and other Stories of Life), featuring stories from the 2018 Stories of Life competition longlist.

Three Dummies in a Dinghy is the third instalment of the Stories of Life series.

In it, ordinary Australians share their extraordinary stories of faith and life. Some tales are humorous, others are entertaining and upbeat. But not all are happy stories. Many writers describe how they were found by a loving God in the midst of doubts and great suffering, and the circumstances don’t always get easier. But the message still comes through loud and clear that God is faithful, near and active in the lives of ordinary people.

We discover that there are unsung heroes of all kinds among us. With their encouragement we can open our eyes a little wider, see more clearly, and trust more deeply in the boundless kindness of our Lord.

Welcome, May-Kuan!

Three Dummies in a Dinghy is the title of the 2018 Stories of Life anthology to be launched tonight, 29 November, 6:30pm at Tabor Adelaide. For the third year running, this writing competition has been seeking out stories of faith and testimony.

If I had to pick out one line that sums up the book, it would be this, written by Tsung Chung, in The Year:

“Some things don’t seem to fit together – freewill and predestination, beetroot and burgers, resentment and gratitude. And still, these odd couples are found everywhere –in the Bible, on the Hungry Jacks’ menu and, somehow, within myself.”

Tsung doesn’t spell out clearly what has happened, but whatever it is has forced him to be the one to pack cucumber and cheese sandwiches for Shaoey. Later in the year, he organizes a birthday party for her. He manages everything, except that the cake is store-bought, because he doesn’t bake. Grief is palpable.

This book is like a photo album of followers of Jesus from all over Australia, and even one from Africa. Each short story (and they are short – ranging from just under 500 words to 1500 words max) is a snapshot of an event, or a series of events, sometimes reflective, sometimes in crisis, sometimes meandering, sometimes short and sharp.

In A Thin, Delicate Thread Trevor Hampel writes about his wife’s battle with cancer. As he follows the ambulance, he prays, ‘though not knowing for what I should be praying’. As the end approaches, Trevor names the things he is grateful for – a son who flies in from Sydney and a daughter who comes back from Africa in time through a series of miracles. Of the moment itself, Trevor writes with grace and dignity. He is able to do this – I come to understand – because it is only a thin delicate thread separating temporal life and eternal life.

Jeanette Grant-Thomson writes of her friend Peter, diminished and diminishing through Parkinson’s. She weaves her story back and forth, past and present, so that we see this man in the strength and comedy of youth, and then we see him now, old and struggling to speak.

There are stories by children – Grandpa Really Nailed It! – and stories about children: children watched over by a frazzled mum, by a foster mum. But what happens when no adult watches over a young one? Stella Fortunata Collins writes of emotional and physical abuse in childhood. The details are disturbing, but she reclaims the past through the writing. In contrast, Cleo B writes of what it is like to be in foster care, right here, right now.

The stories are visceral enough to give you a picture of what’s happening: the smells, the sounds, the emotions – hilarity to desperation as a dinghy spins out of control in flooded waters – in the story that gives this anthology its title: Three Dummies in a Dinghy.

An authentic voice is key to good writing and the variety of voices in this anthology makes it a delightful read: some glad, some sad, some a little mad (those dummies again). It even features God’s voice, which Robynne Milne describes as ‘immensely kind’.

The writers have been honest enough to speak of despair and doubt. Many stories have not yet reached their happy-ever-after ending. They are written by people still in the messy business of living, so there are no neat resolutions, but rather, arrivals.

One writer, Heidi Tai explains:

‘Although Dad and I have reconciled, our story is far from perfect. The gap is closing but in reality it will always exist….Outside of eternity, Closing the Cultural Gap is an unfinished story but because I have faith in our final chapter, I will continue to write with hope.’

There is an arrival, even in Tsung’s story The Year. Father and daughter arrive in Adelaide. Steven Curtis Chapman’s song plays in the car, Trust God and take another step, And another step…. So that’s how beetroot goes with burgers, resentment goes with gratitude, and predestination with free will.


This is a surprising book, something you could leave on your coffee table, or your office reception, and people will pick up if just to find out what those three dummies are doing in a dinghy.

Collectively this book describes some of the most pressing issues of our times: loneliness, living with illness and disability, family breakdown. I have mentioned only a few stories here, not because they are better, but because they spoke to me. Should you read the book – and I highly recommend it – in all likelihood a different selection will impress you. We are drawn to what we relate to, and there’s such diversity in here to ensure that there’s something for everyone.

Although post-modern society has largely stopped listening to sermons and stopped going to church, people are still hurting and hungry for authenticity, for truth, for hope. I think creative storytelling is one of the keys to engaging with family, neighbours and colleagues.

Let’s celebrate Three Dummies in a Dinghy by reading and distributing it far and wide. Find Three Dummies in a Dinghy online at:

Morning Star Publishing | Goodreads

About Stories of Life

Let’s also consider to how we can contribute to next year’s anthology. If you’ve not already done so, or if you don’t usually write non-fiction, I urge you to try writing about an incident where you saw God’s hand at work, or heard his voice – in letters, in song, in nature – wherever it was that he met with you. Then send it in for next year’s competition. We will be accepting submissions at storiesoflife.net from 1 April 2019. We would love to hear from you.

May-Kuan Lim is a speaker, teacher and writer who blogs at maykuanlim.com

A Question of Interpretation: Introducing Stories of Life 2018

By May-Kuan Lim @ACWriters

Storytelling is essentially an act of interpretation, especially when we tell true stories of something that happened to someone.

A CCTV camera records pictures, and a court transcript records words, but neither tells a story in the artistic sense. A story needs something more. It needs interpretation. It needs to answer the question: what joins the plot points? Or, more importantly, who? And why?

In Steering the Craft, Ursula Le Guin writes:

Plot is merely one way of telling a story, by connecting the happenings tightly, usually through causal chains. Plot is a marvellous device. But it’s not superior to story, and not even necessary to it.

In the opening pages of the Bible, we have the plot points of creation, temptation, and the fall. The serpent questions Eve – ‘Did God really say?’ – thus introducing doubt. With naivety, Eve recounts the story, affirming God’s commandment, but the serpent then reinterprets the story to suit his purpose:

You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

The serpent’s version gets some facts right – God doesn’t want you to not eat – but some facts wrong – you will not surely die. Furthermore, the serpent adds a duplicitous explanation as to why God forbade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit – God doesn’t want you to become like him. Eve buys into the serpent’s version of the story, and eats the fruit.

It is only human to long to know if our lives are by design or by chance. If it is by design, we wonder about the identity and character of the designer: good or bad? Kind or cruel? Still invested in us or distant and disinterested? The way we interpret our lived experience affects the decisions we make and ultimately the life we live.

In the Bible, we hear heroes of the faith interpret key moments in their life. When Abraham saw the ram caught in the thicket, he didn’t thank his lucky stars. Instead, he named the place, 'On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.'

While running away from his brother who wanted to kill him, Jacob had a dream. He did not attribute this to stress, but said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.'

When Joseph’s brothers came begging for grain, he did not see this as a chance for revenge, but as evidence of God’s greater purpose, 'God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.'

These stories form the bedrock of our Christian faith. 

They tell us God joined the plot points. For our faith to be living and vibrant and active, we need to know that God still joins the plot points today.

In the 2017 Stories of Life anthology, The Gecko Renewal, I read exactly that. In one of the stories in the anthology, Three Miracles, Hazel Barker records what her Christian mother had said in war-time Burma. 'Last night, while the bombs rained down, Rose sang, Father, we thank Thee for the Night. Her eyes were shut when she thrilled out the hymn. I placed my hand on her forehead. Her temperature had dropped. I knew the crisis had passed.

In Freedom Calls, Shakira Davies recalls an abusive relationship, ‘Then you raised your fists. I knew what was coming, and yet I could feel an unusual strength inside that I drew on. I steeled myself and stared at you, almost daring you to act. You stared at me, drew back your hand, read to punch … but what happened? What did you see? Because you dropped your hands and walked out. I knew at that moment that God had been the one protecting me all my life. I knew at that moment God was protecting his child.’

In A Moving Experience, Jo-Anne Berthelsen poses the question, ‘Could God play a key role in such a practical matter as moving house? What do you think?’

We are Christians most probably because we have seen God’s hand in some aspect of our lives. I am writing today to ask a question:

Would you consider writing up one such story and enter it in the Stories of Life writing competition?

Our website states, ‘We are not looking for devotionals or reflections on bible passages.’ 

That is to say, don’t submit something like this blog post. Rather, tell us your story, with you, the viewpoint character. (You can also write someone else’s story, with his or her permission.) If a person of faith is the viewpoint character, the story will be a story of faith, whether or not bible verses are quoted.

Apart from the AUD4,500 worth of cash prizes, Stories of Life is also a chance to get your story published because all short listed entries will be published in an anthology at the end of the year. Some stories will also be broadcast on Life FM radio in Adelaide and may also be printed in the Eternity Matters column of various newspapers.

To date, over sixty stories of faith and testimony have been published. 2017 runner up, Lisa Birch, noted, ‘One interesting thing about being published in Stories of Life has meant that people in my life who don’t usually read have been really happy to read The Gecko Renewal – and not just my story either. The incidental collaboration with people from all walks of life is refreshing – there really is something for everyone in this anthology.’

At Stories of Life, we want to help Christians tell their stories well. We have numerous writing resources on our website and we are holding a free editing class tomorrow, Thursday, 21 June, at Tabor Adelaide. The first part of the workshop, from 7pm to 7:30pm Adelaide time, will be live streamed on Facebook. Those wishing to attend in person and participate in small group work, please register here.

The closing date for submissions is 31 July 2018. Winners will be announced at the official launch of the Stories of Life anthology in late October or early November.

About May-Kuan Lim

From 2007 to 2015, May-Kuan Lim wrote a monthly parenting column for The Borneo Post. She would interview experts for the column to answer her own parenting dilemmas. Interviewing people and writing became her way of trying to understand the world. In 2015, she won an Arts SA Emerging Mentorship grant for a narrative non-fiction work on asylum seekers. She is a member of Writers SA and Oral History Australia. May-Kuan blogs at maykuanlim.com.