This is where it begins.
Before Wolf Creek 2 hits cinemas, comes an unprecedented venture in Australian horror—a series of prequel novels detailing the formation and rise of our most iconic horror villain. Not only has there never been a sequel to an Australian horror film (as Michael Helms informs me!), but we’ll be simultaneously fleshing out the WC universe in a way never imagined here before.
And who better to depict Mick Taylor’s bloody origin than the sequel’s co-writer? Yes, I can finally announce that my fevre dream imagining of Mick’s horrendous upbringing Wolf Creek: Origin will be published January 2nd from Penguin books (alongside the second in the series—Brett McBean & herr director’s Desolation Game). Plotted out over a crazy lone road trip to John Jarratt’s home town of Aramac in central Queensland, then written in a highly-stressful but surprisingly-enjoyable five months (seriously—five months from conception to deadline), it’s amazing to now have the book in my hands (which resulted in this special moment with N—and no she’s not allowed to read it yet. Or maybe ever, I’m not sure):
I guess I’m now one of the few writers in this country to be both a novelist and a screenwriter. They’re somewhat diametrically-opposed skillsets in many ways, but I’ve been jumping between the two for some years now so I’m more than happy straddling both fields. Producers/Editors/Agents take note.
You’ll soon be able to order Wolf Creek: Origin from the Penguin site, or when it becomes available in stores.
http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780143566717/origin-wolf-creek-book-1
http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9781742537672/origin-wolf-creek-book-1 (ebook)
It’s a shame it’s not available for Christmas, though I’m not sure I want to be responsible for this little shocker at the bottom of someone’s stocking.
WOLF CREEK: ORIGIN
Nature vs nurture turns out to be a bloodbath
The wide open outback offers plenty of space for someone to hide. Or to hide a body.
When wiry youngster Mick Taylor starts as a jackaroo at a remote Western Australian sheep station, he tries to keep his head down among the rough company of the farmhands. But he can’t keep the devils inside him hidden for long.
It turns out he’s not the only one with the killer impulse – and the other psychopaths don’t appreciate competition. Is Cutter, the station’s surly shooter, on to him? And what are the cops really up to as they follow the trail of the dead?
In the first of a blood-soaked series of Wolf Creek prequel novels, the cult film’s writer/director Greg McLean and horror writer Aaron Sterns take us back to the beginning, when Mick was a scrawny boy, the only witness to the grisly death of his little sister. Origin provides an unforgettably bloody answer to the question of nature vs nurture. What made Mick Taylor Australian horror’s most terrifying psycho killer?
For more posts: THE LATEST.
