Ryn Shell
  • Ryn Shell - Artist - Author
    • Contact
  • Art Vlog
  • Historical Mystery
  • Books Blog
  • Print Shop
  • Art Courses Shop

Chapter of Star Struck, and a painting of a boy and geese at the creek.

4/17/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Become a Patron!

Boy and Geese at the Creek
Prints and original through fine Art America.
Author artist Ryn Shell

Step-by-step photos of painting process

This original painting has been listed for sale at Fine Art America where you can also order museum quality prints framed to suit your decor. 

Picture

Star Struck by author and artist Kathryn Shell

Chapter 1 of Star Struck
A stand-alone novel by Ryn Shell

Linton bent and picked up a stone, hurling it far into the distance. He calculated the chance of smashing Rose’s parents’ window was about the same as being hit by a piece of space junk—one in several trillion. It was too far away to tell for certain. Linton had an uncomfortable feeling that the stone had struck its target—he’d destroyed something else aside from Rose.
He ran. He wasn’t going to allow anyone to witness his tears.
The odds were not in his or Rose’s favour. She’d been struck first. Moonstruck at exactly 12.56 pm on July 21st, 1969, Australian Eastern Standard Time, as Linton lay over her on the worn leather sofa, in front of a black and white television set. In the background, the sound of Neil Armstrong’s voice came through the television speakers. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Linton and Rose thought their moment was monumental too.

Picture
Both sets of parents usually cottoned on to things pretty quick. But, it was the sixties, and the teenagers were exposed more to new ideas than their parents’ generation was at the same age. The parents didn’t have a clue what was going on behind their backs with their kids.
Rose’s parents, Bess and Ray, assumed that Linton’s parents, Jean and Brian, and older brother, Trevor, along with six-hundred-million people worldwide, would be watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon on the television in their lounge rooms. But, Linton and Rose were unsupervised.
It wasn’t the first time they were alone—together. Trevor put them up to lots of stuff; they were his perfect alibi. They protected him so that his parents would not find out he had a boyfriend. You didn’t easily come out and tell conservative parents and wider community you were gay, in the sixties, unless you had a death wish.
Trevor took Linton and Rose for country drives. He’d pick up his mate, Alvin, once away from their small home town. Then the couples would part, go for separate hikes together, then stop at fast food venues on the way home to dine in different corners.
As it happened, on the moon landing night, Linton’s mother was visiting a relative out of town, and his father and brother were in a truck carrying a load on a highway heading north. Meanwhile, hostage to teenage hormones, and in love, Rose and Linton got carried away—heading south—heading for trouble.
Art Prints

Apparel

Picture
Parents have ways of finding out about these things. Rose’s pacing back and forth in the garden gave Bess an inkling that something was up.
Jean took to sniffing sofa cushions—not her scent. Then she smelt Linton’s clothes—Lux laundry flakes. She knew that something was very wrong when her teenage boy washed his clothes and a towel without being asked. Jean spoke to Brian the moment he returned home.
Linton and Rose were both grounded—parents’ orders. Linton had no idea what was going on or why he was in trouble for doing his own washing. He curled up on the leather sofa, remembering Rose and reading the newspaper about Skylab, the replacement program for the moon mission. Skylab would not be a single structure, but a cluster of four units, three of them designed for human occupation.
The dimensions and future astronaut intake interested Linton. He wished he could hitch a lift, out of there, to the moon and stars. What a great way that would be to forget about weird parents. Spacemen were real men. Linton allowed his mind to fantasise about occupying the house-size Skylab. He fancied that he would spend his days working—real man’s work—in the cylindrical orbital workshop. NASA would build this from the shell of the propellant tank from the Saturn V rocket’s third stage. The upper part would contain food lockers, refrigerators, water tanks, and spacesuit lockers; enough equipment for a party, even a wedding reception.
Linton closed his eyes—in his mind’s eye he led Rose to the end of Skylab, to where the Apollo telescope was mounted to create a solar observatory. The other astronauts could look out for the docking ports and spacecraft controls. Linton thought he would love to head all the scientific experiments. He enjoyed science class as much as he loved tinkering with trucks—he would be a great astronaut.
Linton envisioned watching Earth from above with Rose and telling her how he would provide for them and protect her—if she waited for him.
The deep voice of his truck driver father jolted him back to reality. “Hoy! You—brat!”
“Huh!” Linton looked up from the paper. “What are you talking about?”
“Get your kit together. You’re taking your brother’s place out on the road with me, where I can keep my eye on you.” Brian boxed Linton’s ears. “She’s jailbait, you stupid little fool.”
“Don’t come back home.” Jean handed Linton a packed duffel bag and hugged him tight.
“But, Mum.”
“Just do as your dad said and stay away.”

​

Picture





Linton stayed away, although he thought of Rose, and saved his money for when they’d be old enough to tell their families that they planned to marry. His dad took interstate jobs, and Linton, travelling with him, kept busy learning the ropes of loading and unloading cargo, checking the time and stock sheets, and learning the everyday maintenance and management involved in a long haul trucking business.

This story continues in the Australian rulal-lit novel Star Struck by Ryn Shell. 

Home Decor

About Star Struck

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Linton and Rose didn’t care if the NASA Skylab’s safe re-entry over Western Australia was a cover-up, as long as they could be together.
A stand-alone, not quite cozy, mixed genre novel.
Come on a powerfully emotional, twenty-year journey of family love, mystery and danger in rural and outback Australia.
In a year of wonders, teenagers Rose and Linton pledged their love, and men walked on the moon. But as the moon mission ends, Rose is pregnant and Linton is gone. Rose and Linton’s love seems doomed from the start. But, can the enduring love Rose maintains for Linton win them a happily ever after, when even ‘the heavens’ seem to be against the lovers?
An intriguing story with universal appeal.
Romance and recent historical fiction combine in an Australian story that is highly relevant in today's world. As with Ryn Shell’s other historical fiction and rural-lit mystery novels, there is betrayal, resilience and love at the core of a semi-biographical story set in outback and rural Australia.
This book may be read as a stand-alone story or in series order.

Art Prints
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Your FREE eBook here

    Open Mystery

    Ruth Randall's novel "A Judgement in Stone," opens with this line.
    "Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write."
    In open mystery novel, the reader knows who the murderer is, from the beginning; the mystery is why, and how, they did it, and if they will be caught.
    In The Stolen Years series of novels, the reader has a view of who commits many of the crimes. There is plenty of suspense while no one else suspects who the murderer is.

    The Stolen Years Series

    From an Australian bestselling author comes mystery thriller of determination to find one's place in a world that men are threatening to tear apart.

    Ryn Shell
    Gallery


    Psychological Thrillers

    Psychological thrillers often deal with characters who have post traumatic stress disorder often caused by a mysterious suspenseful situation as happens within The Stolen Years Series of novels by Ryn Shell.
    Picture
    Ghost

    Rural Noir

    Noir  or hardboiled, often detective fiction is a genre of crime novels featuring detectives or private detectives who see the dark, edgy side of life. As in The Stoles Years, Ryn Shell is writing of a dark side of Australian history these novels fit the rural noir sub-genre.  These novels by Ryn Shell are lightened, to make the reading enjoyable, by the family saga story of resilience and love.
    Picture
    Dream

    Historical Mystery

    Historical mystery genres are often crossed with other genres. Ryn Shell has always combined two or more genres or sub-genre  in the telling of the complex stories in her books.  Her characters come to life in her head while she writes them and demand more.
    Picture
    Fire

    My Studio Cats Recommend​
    ​Automatic Litter-Robot III Open Air

    Picture
    Picture

    Discount for YOU! through our Litter-Robot link

    ​Art studio assistant cats, Valentine and Tabby share the amazing Litter-Robot III Open Air. Get a bonus by purchasing via our link.
    Affiliate fee also assists in supporting Tessa's therapy work in aged care.

    RSS Feed


    My Blog Categories

    All
    Acrylics
    Art Journal
    Australia NSW
    Australia NT
    Australia QLD
    Australia SA
    Australia Vic
    Australia WA
    Bookbinding
    Colour
    Country Breakfast
    Cozy Mysteries
    Crafts
    Drawing
    Flowers
    Gouache
    Ink Pens
    Newsletter
    Oil Painting
    Pencils
    Positive Aging
    Pyrography
    Soft Pastels
    Studio Chat
    Tonal Value
    Tonal-value
    Travel
    Watercolour
    Wildlife


Ryn Shell Fine Art - An Investment to Enjoy

Art Prints
Picture


Picture

House with A Lethal Laundry
A View From The Balcony Mystery 1



Angela Paige, lawyer, and live in, long-time hostess and former lover to a powerful man, Logan, looks out at a deadly view and realises she’s living life too close to a cliff edge—literally.
She seeks the help of a homicide detective, Harry, to find a missing girl and becomes his prime suspect for murder.


Historical Crime Fiction through to Cozy  Mysteries by Ryn Shell

The Stolen Years Stories of Crime, Betrayal, RESILIENCE, Love and Australia by Ryn Shell  

Picture
Ghost
Picture
Dream
Picture
Fire

~~~Read ALL Ryn Shell's Novels for FREE NOW with Kindle Unlimited Subscription~~~


Kick-Ass Historical Fiction Women Series, Set in Italy, France and Australia

Picture
Picture
Picture
Escapades
Starstruck
Gold
If you enjoy these novels, leaving  a review is a lovely way of letting the author know. Thank you.

  • Ryn Shell - Artist - Author
    • Contact
  • Art Vlog
  • Historical Mystery
  • Books Blog
  • Print Shop
  • Art Courses Shop