Literary You: Author Meryl Brown Tobin

I'm delighted to welcome one very interesting lady today! Meryl Brown Tobin, multi-published, multi-genre author, launched her beautiful romance Broome Enigma back in November. I was unable to host her then, so I am especially thrilled to be able to share her work with you now. But first, let's get better acquainted with this talented author.

Welcome, Meryl!

1) What sort of books did you enjoy reading as a child? Did you have a favorite book or series?
I was an Enid Blyton girl and read every book of hers I could. I especially loved the Famous Five series.
 
2) What sort of books do you enjoy reading nowadays?
I read a variety of books including ones about First Nations people and books by them. ‘The Dark Emu’ by Bruce Pascoe and ‘Talking to My Country’ by Stan Grant are two I found illuminating. I also like Australian historical fiction, especially books by Chrissie Michaels. 

As I have a lot of writer friends I try to support, I read whatever they write, which includes poetry, short stories and novels in various genres.
 
3) Around what age did you realize that you liked to write? And when did you know that you wanted to write books? 
In early primary school, I started to write. When I was about eight, I joined several children’s clubs attached to newspapers and contributed to them.  In my mid-twenties, I wrote my first novel.  While the theme was noble, the writing was very amateurish. When I was about 50, I was keen to try again but couldn’t get in the mood until I could see a long stretch of time in front of me. Then I was offered a voluntary redundancy package from my day job and saw that as my chance.

Bravo!
 
4) What’s the first thing you wrote that you remember being proud of? 
When I was 11, I wrote a short item for a short story journal to which my mother subscribed. I described our family’s visit to a nature sanctuary.
 
5) Tell us about the creative force within you. What inspires you to write, to create? 
I write because I have a mind made up of jigsaw pieces of thoughts and memories.  Every now and again the pieces fit together and insist I write them into a story, a poem or some other piece of writing – even a cartoon.
 
6) What’s your writing space like?
When I first started writing, my writing space was the end of our kitchen/dining room table. Because it was very frustrating clearing away my typewriter (in those days) and relevant paperwork at mealtimes, I yearned to have my own den. Eventually I got a small one which I soon filled with filing cabinets and magazines and other publications which had published my writings. Once our children left home, I spread into one of their bedrooms. That’s now full of writing paraphernalia including a desk, computer and printer, boxes of magazines containing my published pieces, boxes of travel material, notes and papers I might need for my writing one day.

It sounds like a great space!
 
7) Do you have a favorite time of day to write? Any habits or little rituals that put you in a writing mindset? 
After doing what else I have to do for the day, I write. At night I prefer to watch TV though.  I do two mornings of exercises a week and try to do an early morning walk the other days if I am not going out or doing heavy housework. If the weather is bad, I do a half-hour exercise session on TV at 8.30 am. Then the day is clear for my writing apart from regular breaks from the computer.
 
8) Time to talk about your latest release (rubbing hands together). First, how did you come up with the idea for Broome Enigma? Are there any interesting tidbits you’d care to share with us? 
My family and I love travelling around Australia, and Broome, an Outback cosmopolitan town in Western Australia is one of our favourite places. On one trip we met a handsome young man working in a caravan park. Dressed in only jeans and sandals, he had a tanned torso with muscles showing and looked as though he had just stepped off a film set for a surfing movie. However, he had a damped-down personality that didn’t match his looks. I played the What If? game to try to come up with a reason as to how he came to be working in the caravan park. After some years a story started to formulate and develop.

Fascinating! The man that day became one of your characters!
 
9) Now let’s hear more about Broome Enigma! 
Broome Enigma came out on November 20, 2023. It’s on sale on at least 33 websites in at least 16 countries including Australia, Austria(?), Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India(?), Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, The Netherlands, Switzerland, UK and USA.
 
Many people have now read my book and many comment on the setting, Broome in 1986, and
how it brings back memories of their visits there or how it has inspired them to want to go and
visit. For individual readers’ comments, see https://sites.google.com/site/merylbrowntobin -
NOVELS.

Action in the novel also takes place between Broome and Perth. As I am also a travel writer and
wrote ‘Exploring Outback Australia’ for which my husband, Hartley Tobin, did the photographs
and maps, and we have travelled the route a number of times, writing accurately about the areas
covered was relatively easy.

10) I comprehend that you’ve just recently published a book. Still, I can’t help but ask – do you have anything waiting in the wings?
Yes, more novels.

My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, goes out of its way to help writers. Thanks to Val Mathews, TWRP editor who first encouraged me, and Ally Robertson who helped me ‘get over the hump’, I was able to rewrite ‘Broome Enigma’ in a style favored by them. With the publication of the book and numerous comments from readers, I now know what works with them. Now I shall apply all I have learned and rewrite all my other novels so they ‘get over the hump’.

I agree. I love The Wild Rose Press. It's a wonderful publishing house. 
 
11) Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Although ‘Broome Enigma’ is my first published novel, I have been writing for most of my life and have published fiction for adults and children, non-fiction, especially travel, poetry and educational puzzles.

I have had 21 other books published, including two poetry books with other poets.  My published books also include puzzle/activity books, black-line masters books of educational puzzles, work books for primary students, a travel book, a children’s picture storybook, a poetry collection. In total nearly 300,000 copies of my first four puzzle books were sold in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Hundreds of my poems and puzzles, scores of my short stories and travel and other articles, and some cartoons have appeared in more than 150 magazines, newspapers and anthologies in Australia and elsewhere, including the US.

For more details see https://sites.google.com/view/merylbrowntobin-author.

It's been an honor hosting you, Meryl. Thank you for sharing your time with us. Congratulations on Broome Enigma! 

On a working holiday in Australia's cosmopolitan Outback town of Broome in 1986, Jodie, a young book designer and artist is open to romance and adventure.

At the holiday village where she is staying, she meets Joe, a young man who works there. Despite the strong attraction between them, the many unknowns about his earlier life keep them apart. To try to uncover his mysterious past, they travel to Perth and back to Broome and are drawn into not only bizarre but also dangerous situations.
​
Is Joe the person she thinks he is, or is he some alter ego? Can Jodie and Joe stop their relationship from developing until they have answers and know if he is free to love her?

Excerpt 

A big gust of wind rocked the van and flung Jodie hard against Joe. He pushed her off.

“Joe, it’s me, Jodie! Wake up, wake up!”

“Jodie, is that you?” He threw his arms around her and buried his head in her chest.

She brushed his hair back from his sweating face.

“Take it easy, Joe. Take deep breaths. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

He stopped shaking and pulled back from her.

“What’s happening?”

“It’s the cyclone. Don’t you remember?”

Another huge gust shook the van and sent Jodie sprawling on Joe’s bunk and into the wall. 
“Ow, that hurt!” She picked herself up and rubbed her head. The van rocked violently again. Joe and Jodie grabbed for handholds.

“Quick, come into my bed with me, Joe. It will be safer there.” Tripping and feeling their way along the wall, the two made their way to the double bed and clambered in.

Her breathing coming in short spasms, she lay on her back and took deep breaths. The storm whined and screeched about her, and the roof creaked and scraped.

“Oh, my god, the roof’s going to take off any minute!”

Joe’s arms enveloped her. “Hush, everything will be all right. But will you be okay if we have to make a run for it?”

“Yes.” She let out a sob. “But I like our chances better in here than out there.”

Joe kissed her forehead. He pulled her closer and they lay locked against each other while the storm
raged around them.

About the Author

Meryl Brown Tobin is an Australian writer of short and long fiction for adults and children, non-fiction, especially travel, poetry and educational puzzles.

She has had 21 books published.  These include puzzle/activity books, black-line masters books of educational puzzles, work books for primary students, a travel book, a children’s picture storybook, a poetry collection and a haiku collection with four other poets. In total nearly 300,000 copies of her first four puzzle books were sold in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Hundreds of her poems and puzzles, scores of her short stories and travel and other articles, and some cartoons have appeared in more than 150 magazines, newspapers and anthologies in Australia and elsewhere, including the US. ‘Broome Enigma’ is her debut novel and more novels are in the pipeline.

Awards:
        
Her work has been shortlisted in competitions run by
the Australian Society of Authors Inc., Fellowship of
Australian Writers (Victoria), Poetry Matters, Positive
Words, Redoubt, The Society of Women Writers
Victoria, Waterline Writing Competition, Woman’s
Day, and Writer’s Friend. In 2011 she won The Society
of Women Writers, Victoria Inc. Biennial Literary
Award for Women for a short story.


For more details: 
https://sites.google.com/view/merylbrowntobin-author
https://www.swwvic.org.au/member/meryl-tobin/

---

From left to right: Meryl with Vision Australia radio presenter, Roberta Ashby, who launched ‘Broome Enigma’ at the Melbourne launch.

With Australian author, Chrissie Michaels, who launched ‘Broome Enigma’ at the regional launch.  

Audience at the regional launch

All photos by Hartley Tobin

WHERE TO PURCHASE BROOME ENIGMA by Meryl Brown Tobin

1) Amazon.com : broome enigma 

2) Amazon.com.au (Australia)Broome Enigma : Tobin, Meryl Brown: Amazon.com.au: Books

3) Amazon.co.jp: Broome Enigma : Tobin, Meryl Brown: Foreign Language Books (Japan) 

4) Broome Enigma: Amazon.co.uk: Tobin, Meryl Brown: 9781509250639: Books (UK) 

5) Broome Enigma (English Edition) eBook Kindle - Amazon.com.br (Brazil) 

6) Få Broome Enigma af som Hæftet bog på engelsk (saxo.com) (Denmark?) 

7) https://www.saxo.com/dk/forfatter/meryl-brown-tobin_17387719  (Denmark) 

8) Amazon (France)Broome Enigma (English Edition) eBook : Tobin, Meryl Brown : Amazon.fr: Boutique Kindle

9) https://www.amazon.in/Broome-Enigma-Meryl-Brown-Tobin-ebook/dp/B0CHWLFTSZ (India)

10) Broome Enigma (English Edition) eBook : Tobin, Meryl Brown : Amazon.es: Tienda Kindle (Spain) 

11) Broome Enigma (English Edition) eBook : Tobin, Meryl Brown : Amazon.de: Kindle Store (Germany)

12) Better Read than Dead (Sydney)Welcome to BRTD - Better Read Than Dead Bookstore Newtown
 
13) Barnes & Noble (USA)Broome Enigma by Meryl Brown Tobin, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
 
14) Booktopia 
(Australia)https://www.booktopia.com.au/broome-enigma-meryl-brown-tobin/book/9781509250639.html

15) Thrift Books
(USA)https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/broome-enigma/51028362/item/61510947/#idiq=61510947&edition=69970320

16) Browns Books 
(UK)https://www.brownsbfs.co.uk/Product/Tobin-Meryl-Brown/Broome-Enigma/9781509250639
 
17) Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199746026-broome-enigma  

18) Mighty Ape  (NZ)
https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/broome-enigma/38222278

19) https://www.bol.com/be/nl/p/broome-enigma/9300000163632008/ (Netherlands) 

20) Walmart  
(Sacramento) https://www.walmart.com/ip/Broome-Enigma-Paperback-9781509250639/5067638128

21)https://www.exlibris.ch/de/buecher-buch/english-books/meryl-brown-tobin/broome-enigma/id/9781509250639/ (Germany, Switzerland, Austria?) 

22) Broome Enigma eBook by Meryl Brown Tobin - EPUB Book | Rakuten Kobo Canada  (Canada) 

23) https://bookshop.org/p/books/broome-enigma-meryl-brown-tobin/20657825
 
24) https://www.ibs.it/broome-enigma-ebook-inglese-meryl-brown-tobin/e/9781509250646 

25) Broome Enigma by Tobin, Meryl Brown | eBay $AU57.22 

26) broome enigma by meryl brown tobin on ebay  $AU44.46 

27) broome enigma by meryl brown tobin on ebay $AU52.02 

28) broome enigma by meryl brown tobin on ebay  $AU52.07 

29) broome enigma by meryl brown tobin on ebay  $36.77 

30) broome enigma by meryl brown tobin on ebay  $40.45

31) Meryl Brown Tobin Broome Enigma (Poche) | eBay  UK 19.65 Euro 

32) Broome Enigma by Meryl Brown Tobin - Books on Google Play  US 

33) BROOME ENIGMA BY Meryl Brown Tobin Paperback Book EUR 33,42 - PicClick FR

On sale world-wide and also 16 specific countries selling Broome Enigma:
​
Australia
Austria?
Brazil
Canada
Denmark
France
Germany
India?
Italy
Japan
New Zealand
Spain
The Netherlands
Switzerland
UK
USA
 
It’s on sale on at least 33 websites in at least 16 countries including Australia, Austria(?), Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India(?), Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, The Netherlands, Switzerland, UK and USA.