Stephen J. Groak

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my website.

Pull up a chair, make yourself at home. I have the kettle on for a cuppa.

Tell you a little about myself—why, thanks for asking. I’m from the South, the Deep South—New Zealand, so I tend to view things with a southern hemispherical perspective (you do know that Stewart Island/Rakiura is near the top of the world). You’ll find my writing is also infused (word of the day/yes, I used it!) with this POV. In my fiction I like to explore some of the major questions du jour: the ideal toppings for a pizza, the over-versus-under toilet roll debate, the value of pi, and the purpose of life.

Kids, sprogs—yes, I have a children’s story entitled Christmas Yve: A Kiwi Elf’s Dream to Join Santa. Note: get ready to dream big!

Short on time. Why, I have a collection of short stories (all under 4’11”) entitled Bubble ‘n’ Squeak. To put it succinctly (yesterday’s WOTD): a Kiwi coming-of-age collection of short stories.

If poetry is more your “bag, baby” (tip of the bowler to Austin Powers), I have a collection of devotional poems entitled, The Dust of Thy Feet.

All these books are available from the usual suspects. And of course, Fred, who flogs them off from the boot (trunk for you Yanks) of his car.

Enjoy,

Stephen J. Groak

Through the dynamic interplay between memory and imagination, Stephen J. Groak explores his colourful childhood in 1970s West Auckland, New Zealand, in a collection of twenty-seven stand-alone short stories. With Nigel Sorenson as an alter ego, the author experiments with POV in a hodgepodge mixture of voices and tales that chronologically gel together like the English-style breakfast bubble and squeak—a meal traditionally made on a Sunday morning from the leftovers of the previous evening’s roast dinner. From childhood loss, terrifying visits to the primary school murder house, Huckleberry Finn-type adventures with sister-mate Helen, discoveries of American fast food, the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and women, Bubble ‘n’ Squeak offers a poignant and humorous portrait of a Kiwi country boy’s coming-of-age Down Under.

©Stephen J. Groak

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