Ian Bone

My latest book is Love Cuts, published by Penguin Books, Australia

It’s about four close friends who've left school. It's about the way they love: as friends, as a mother, as daughters, as sisters, as boys, as mates, as girls and as lovers. It's about how love can cut you up or make you feel like you're walking on air. It's about how hard the real stuff of love is, the forgiveness, the commitment, the staying around when it feels so bad.

The best thing about being a writer is dreaming. And being asked to dream. Driving along a boring road and suddenly getting an inspiration. Writing for a few hours, then looking up and wondering where the time went.

If I wasn’t a writer I’d be doing my other job, which is to make e-learning programs for tertiary students.

My first published work was Rose's Lullaby, ABC Books in 1986! For very little kids.

Morning person or night-owl? Unfortunately, I'm both a morning and night person. Have to be, in order to get everything done. However I'm happiest when I wake up early, go for a walk then come home to a hot coffee and brekkie.

My first job was washing dishes at a pancake restaurant. The owners were actors in their 'other' lives, and were very dramatic, having arguments that used to range from the kitchen to my little wash-cave in the back. We once had the world-famous mime artist, Marcel Marceau, come to eat pancakes. One of the owners put three spoons of sugar in his orange juice because he didn't think it was sweet enough. I stood at the kitchen door watching him through a little window. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but then again, with Marcel Marceau, you didn’t need to hear him.

On a quiz show, my special subject would be a toss-up between the Geelong Football Club, 1964-1969, or the events of September 11, 2001. (The last one I'm researching for my latest book)

My last holiday was at my wife's family beach house in Carrickalinga. New Year's Eve we had a three-course gourmet meal for 25 on the beach with the water virtually lapping at our feet. There was no-one else around, except for the dolphins who swam past. When it grew dark someone let off fireworks up the beach. We decided that they'd done it just for us. 

My perfect Saturday is reading the paper, watching Geelong beat Collingwood, walking the dogs with my kids then getting a great DVD out and eating curry while I enjoy it.

The last CD I bought was Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs and Englishmen

I’m currently reading two books. (Hey, I'm an author, we multi-read!) The Seven Basic Plots, by Christopher Booker (an excellent name for someone who writes about plots) & Arabian Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz. He's a famous author of Arabic fiction, winner of the Nobel Prize. His book is full of allusions and political and cultural metaphors which I'm sure I only get about one tenth of. 

Big Brother or Australian Idol? I'm an Australian Idol tragic, and I still can't believe that Emily didn’t win last time. I hope someone has a word to Kyle about actually having an informed opinion. Maybe it's just an act with him. Maybe he's hiding his genius….

Favourite film/tv show is West Wing I share with my wife and eldest daughter. Australian Idol (Oh, the shame…) I share with the whole family (except my son who is 20 and won't have a bar of it.)

My favourite book is... Only one?Alias Grace, by Margaret Attwood. Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Shipping News, by E Annie Proulx (Do I have to stop?)

The book character I would most like to meet is Smeagol from Lord of the Rings (just as long as he was in a cage)

The book character I would least like to meet is the obnoxious, farting Ignatius Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces. He appealed to my teenage sensibilities when I first read him. He was the perfect anti-hero, offending everyone, breaking every rule, and I laughed out loud as his world descended into farce. Come to think of it, he's the character I'd most like to meet!

The worst thing I’ve ever written is a story from my second year in High School. I can't remember the title, but I'd written about a tough, mean gang of bikies who terrorise a small town. The trouble was, I'd misspelled bikies as 'bickies'. Which, when pronounced out loud, sounds like an abbreviation for biscuits. Choccie bickies perhaps? My teacher (who I shall not name) took great delight in reading my story out loud to the class, emphasizing every instance I'd used the word bickies instead of bikies, "The largest bickie had a beard down to his waist…" You get the idea. The class was in stitches, and I learned my first lesson (the hard way) about editing my work before I was ready to show it to the world.

When I was growing up I wanted to be a mechanical engineer. The fact that I had no idea what a mechanical engineer actually did was no barrier. Of course, when I found out what the job entailed, I realized that it would be very boring (for me) so I then announced I was going to be a photographer. Which is probably why I'm now an author…

My heroes are... I am very wary of the word, hero. I think it is over-used and misused. Not because I'm a pedantic, grumpy author, but because the media tends to make everyone a hero these days so they can sell more newspapers or TV shows. The people I admire are those who quietly work at doing good around them. And that can be anybody from a parent at school who takes the time to coach a bunch of kids in their own time through to someone on the world stage who has the courage to speak the truth when the truth is only going to get you into trouble.