Anthony Eaton

Anthony Eaton is a Western Australian author. He was English teacher at Trinity College, East Perth on the banks of the Swan River in Western Australia, but now he is busy writing full time and talking (Book through Booked Out) His work has specialised in young people's fiction. As all good authors , he writes for himself most of all, which means his fiction is lively, exciting, interesting, and of high interest.

His latest book is "Night People" (First in the Darklands Trilogy) Speculative fiction, it promises to be another exciting read suitable for adults as well as young people.! Read First Chapter (from Anthony's site)

Born in New Guinea in 1972, and often considered (despite a few first-draft flaws) to be among his parents better achievements, Anthony took to literature at a young age thanks largely to the efforts of keen parents and a succession of school librarians. After deciding to become (respectively) a radio announcer, lawyer, journalist, and political analyst, Anthony did the logical thing (an arts degree) before taking the totally illogical step of becoming a secondary high school teacher. Surprisingly to all concerned (Anthony especially) this has worked out quite well and he continues to teach English and Literature to this day. He started his writing career in 1997, after meeting Gary Crew [links about Gary Crew] at a writer's workshop organised by the Fremantle Children's Literature Centre. The result of this meeting was a young adult manuscript, Karijini, which was quite justifiably never published. His next attempt, The Darkness fared a little better, was picked up by University of Queensland Press and turned into a real book. His second novel, A New Kind of Dreaming, was released in September 2001.

His other interests include occasional bursts of exercise, music, painting, skiing, diving, and other pastimes that make his mother nervous. He is a keen traveller, and still reads from time to time.

The Girl in the Cave, by Anthony Eaton Children's Book Review: Reviewed by Sally Murphy Aussie Reviews

This is a taut and empathetic interlacing of history and the present through two young men's journeys of cowardice and courage.

Winner Young Adults Award Western Australian Premier's Book Awards 2004

Judges Comments:

This tale draws the reader into two distinct worlds yet manages to balance and interweave them with ease. In a contemporary setting, Vinnie retreats to the bush near Dwellingup to take stock after a terrible car accident has left him physically and emotionally scarred. He settles in an area of forest where a POW camp had existed during World War Two, the area providing the setting for the second story. Here we are drawn into the lives of the camp inmates, but particularly to the story of Erich, a young German soldier captured in North Africa who finds himself in an alien place trying to come to terms with the dishonour of capture. The West Australian bush is evoked powerfully through beautiful descriptive imagery appealing always to the full sensory experience. This is a work that broaches many subjects, including racism, patriotism, nationalism, loyalty, responsibility and sibling love, all with subtlety and sensitivity. Eaton has aimed high with this work and succeeded admirably in his deft handling of a complex plot and descriptive powers that bring people and place alive.

Nathan Nuttboard Hits the Beach is his book for younger readers. If your family has ever gone camping, this book reminds you of the fun, and horror.

Nathan Nuttboard Hits the Beach was launched by Geoff Havel who used a 1/25th scale Roman Catapault to physically 'launch' the book on 18 September 2002 at the P.L. Duffy Resource Centre, Trinity College. A presentation by the Year 4 boys brought some of the wonderful dialogue to life.

His second book A New Kind of Dreaming was published in September, 2001. It was launched by Boori Pryor ,15 November, 2001 at Fremantle Literature Centre.

A New Kind of Dreaming

The novel is a powerful piece of fiction. Eaton's combination of murder, mystery and adventure against the backdrop of Australian bushland, has resulted in an immensely intriguing and suspenseful novel. It's a story of a boy's journey to reveal a dark and buried secret, and of a town too scared of its past to face its future.

This novel has been shortlisted for the 2001 Western Australian Premier's Award.

A disenchanted teenage with a criminal record, a mysterious town with a number of dark secrets, a strange assortment of police officers from the town drunk to a brutal man who has many things to hide, a number of unsolved crimes, a barren place where the landscape takes on a life of his own - this book has all the ingredients for an intriguing mystery story. But this compelling story is much more than the sum of its parts, and Eaton has created an unputdownable book that is based on the deeper resonances of the horrors of the opening flashback paragraph which describes the discovery off the West Australian coast of a refugee boat in which all the people have been shot. The arrival in desolate Port Barren of Jamie Riley, on probation, leads to a number of unexplained events, culminating in a heroic journey through the desert which brings the truth of these ghastly events to light. This is an enthralling story for teenage readers, maintaining a great deal of anticipation, excitement and pace. The story of Jamie becomes an almost archetypal quest, and the landscape of the town and the desert take on a magical almost spiritual , quality which adds another dimension to a well-told and beautifully written tale.

McClellan, Catherine "A New Kind of Dreaming" Australian Bookseller & Publisher July 2001 , 80th Anniversary issue, p. 83

The Darkness is a book about belonging and should appeal to anyone who is finding or has had to discover their way in the world. It combines elements of mystery, suspense and the supernatural against the powerful setting of the Southern Australian coastal winter. The story has a timeless, mythical quality.

An impressive debut novel .. as compelling as anything seen in recent Young Adult fiction James Moloney ISBN 0 7022 3152 5 Released: September 2000

The last time that The Darkness had swept over the Barriers and engulfed the town I was only six years old. My memories of that time are pretty jumbled. It's not like I can't remember it though. The Darkness isn't something that you forget; no one who lives in Isolation Bay ever completely escapes from it. It's always there in the back of your mind; a shadow within the shadows of your memory.

Premier's Prize

2000

Judges' Comments

A dark, evocative, sometimes threatening seafarer's yarn about a lighthouse in Isolation Bay, WA. The people of the tiny ex-whaling town cling to life at the mercy of the Southern Ocean and the Darkness, the merciless storm that sweeps in every ten years. The novel works through superstition, fear, curse, and small-town gossip to build a narrative that reaches its peak when Rohan, already affected by the loss of both his father and grandfather during earlier visits of the Darkness, confronts the return of the storm in the company of the newly arrived Rachel on East Barrier Island. This strong tale of young adults against the backdrop of the sea and the broken lives of people at an erstwhile whaling outpost withholds the predictable romantic conclusion

Aurealis Awards

2000

Fiction Focus Review

"The setting, the blown cliffs, the shifting oceans and the abandoned whaling station provide a rich background for the developing relationship between Rachel and Rohan"

Williamson, Leigh "Eaton, Anthony, The Darkness" Fiction Focus, Vol 15, No 1, 2001, pp35, 36

See other reviews of Fiction authors and books at the Education Department of WA CMIS Focus on Fiction

Magpie Review

"The menacing atmosphere, the isolation and insularity of the community... the fury of the elements, all contribute to this gripping novel. The slow accretion of telling details effectively establishes and develops the sense of physical reality... this is.. an impressive first novel"

A New Kind of Dreaming

The Darkness

The beginning of Chapter One of The Darkness

Premier's Prize

2000

Judges' Comments

Aurealis Awards

2000

Fiction Focus Review

Magpie Review