The Recipient is Dean Mayes’ forthcoming novel, scheduled for release in 2015 and promising to be an intriguing thriller with many twists and turns.

Set in Melbourne, the story follows Casey Schillinge, a young woman with much promise who is struck down by an illness which may threaten her life.

Saved by a heart transplant, Casey becomes a shell of her former self, prompting her to find the source of her nightmares; which may lay within the heart beating inside her.

No stranger to the heartache surrounding life threatening ailments, Adelaide writer Dean Mayes’ work as a nurse in an intensive care unit inspires his writing and his writing gives him an outlet to channel the challenges of his work.

Born in the Victorian town of Moe before moving to Adelaide, Mayes has been published by Canadian independent press, Central Avenue Publishing.

His first novel The Hambledown Dream was a best seller for Central Avenue Publishing, but Mayes said it took him a while to become disciplined in writing a full length novel.

“I have been writing, in one form or another since I was a kid, but I really didn’t knuckle down until around 2007. The journalist Matt Price, who was a hero of mine, had died suddenly in that year and I think that compelled me to take my writing seriously,” he said.

Dividing his time between the paediatric ICU at The Memorial Hospital in North Adelaide, home life with his partner and two children, and writing fiction; Mayes said these interactions are what develops and inspires his writing.

“I’m inspired by many things but I would say human interaction is perhaps chief among my inspirations. I’m especially drawn to people I don’t always agree with and I’m inspired when we can reach some common ground and we part with a greater respect and feeling of having learned something,” he said.

The Recipient will be Mayes’ third novel; his second, Gifts of the Peramangk was nominated for the EPIC Award for Contemporary Fiction in 2013.

Although known for its dedication to The Arts, Adelaide can be a tricky place to break into creative industry and the bestselling novelist has worked hard to establish himself.

“Being a smaller city, the opportunities to market myself effectively in Adelaide have been challenging. The competition has been quite fierce, particularly in the traditional media and it has been difficult to cut through,” Mayes said.

Despite the challenges of a competitive industry, Mayes still considers Adelaide to be his muse and enjoys the creative stimulation he finds around his home town.

“Adelaide offers such a diverse palette of landscape, environment and culture, and many rich stories can be found in some wonderful corners of this city,” he said.

“The city informed much of my 2012 novel Gifts of the Peramangk in terms of culture and environment.”

Gifts of the Peramangk is set in Adelaide and is an exploration of race relations and the dysfunction caused by one of the darkest times in Australia’s history.

Writing from the perspective of a character from a different culture than one’s own can be challenging and Mayes worked to ensure he was well researched to undertake such a pursuit.

“Gifts of the Peramangk was a journey that tested me from the moment I began working on it and I was plagued by self-doubt. But, I felt the story was strong and I knew if I committed myself to learning as much as I could, the story would work.”

“I talked with Aboriginal Australians who are living in urban Adelaide today and who were directly affected by the policies of the past. I was helped in my journey by a small group of knowledgeable people, including a Peramangk descendant,” Mayes said.

Dean Mayes’ forthcoming novel, The Recipient is what he describes as a “nasty little murder mystery thriller” which evolved from a dream he had.

“The premise of the story evolved out of a dream I had where I was being attacked. I woke from it so disturbed that I began madly scribbling down as much as I could remember. I went to work that night and looked after a transplant patient and the story took shape from there,” he said.

But to whet your appetite for the new book due for release next year on eBook and print edition, you can buy Dean Mayes’ previous work by clicking here.

Check out his website: www.deanfromaustralia.com

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