Jonathan Tromane
Author, Artist Copy writer and Creative
Welcome to the Jonathan Tromane website. Jonathan shares his time between writing - short stories, novels and occasionally poetry. He also enjoys painting, using acrylic paints. On this home page you will find his latest paintings, previews of books written and projects in progress. You can explore further by clicking on the buttons for the support pages. Enjoy your visit to the Jonathan Tromane Web site.
New paintings:
My village in Bittern has a large number of flowering gums and the little parrots love feeding on the flowers. Here is one of those happy little birds - so colourful.
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This painting called "Birdsong Sunset" was inspired by a visit to the new Lifestyle village on the Bellarine Peninsula. The site has lakes and prolific birdlife.
This painting recently won second prize for an acrylic painting at the Red Hill Show. It depicts the North Arm, a large inlet at the beautiful seaside town of Lakes Entrance in South Eastern Victoria.
Short Story Writing
There are many courses available on short story writing. Jonathan completed a short story writing course and novel writing course when he first started writing seriously. Based on his knowledge and experience with writing short stories he put together the article below. New writers might gain from reading it.
PUBLISHED WORKS
The Twilight Years
Mandate
The Twilight Years relates Jonathan's experiences working in the Australian Healthcare system as a Caregiver. Jonathan describes the difficulties, pleasures and learning experiences in caring for aged and disabled people in their own homes. During his 10 years in this role he met many wonderful people and helped them manage various medical conditions - Parkinsons, MS. MND, Cancer Cerebral Palsy and more - as they did their best to enjoy their Twilight years.
COULD AUSTRALIA HANDLE A MAJOR TERRORIST ATTACK?
MANDATE EXPLORES THAT POSSIBILITY WITH A FICTIONAL TERRORIST ATTACK IN MELBOURNE. Although this novel is set in 1989/1990 what happens then could easily happen today.
Projects in progress
The Van Bladen Deception:
When two young boys discover a sealed metal box in a dry lake bed and take it away to see what it contains thay unleash a deadly train of events that places them and various other people in extreme danger.
The events following the discovery attract the attention of ASIO intelligence agent Geoffrey Logan. When he starts investigating what has been happening he treads on the toes of his own boss and attracts the attention of an American billionaire and his associates. That group of high profile businessmen appear to be working on a major project to benefit all mankind but their leader and some of the group members appear to act in a manner that is questionable.
The action takes place in Australia and in the beautiful US city of Seattle.
V Four
A Melbourne radio talk show host is targetted by a secret group to promote their activities in moving the government to improve the justice system: to make the penalty fit the crime. In doing so they open a can of worms that leads to lethal consequences.
SHORT STORIES
Jonathan has written a number of short stories on various subjects but the genre he keeps drifting back to is 'The Paranormal'. He has written six stories in this genre. Two have been published, one in a book of short stories and the other in a UK based web magazine called 'Strange Circle'. His plan long term is to write about twelve or more and publish them as a book of short stories to be entitled 'On the Dark Side'
ON THE DARK SIDE
(A work in progress)
A book of short stories on the paranormal. The volume will feature twelve to fifteen short stories. Four have been completed - Details below.
Bright Moon
This short story was based on a poem Jonathan wrote called 'Wolf'. He has done this twice now; written a poem then looked at the make up of it and then expanded it, adding characters and additional elements to turn it into a short story. The theme and storyline remain the same, there is just a lot more in it.
SYNOPSIS: The setting is in North America somewhere very cold. On a bright moonlit night Daniel is awoken by a strange feeling that grips him. He decides to get dressed and go out for a walk in the snow much to his partner Naomi's distress. They argue and he leaves with the relationship in turmoil. Once outside he feels elated and ends up walking into the nearby forest where the reason for his strange feelings are revealed in a terrifying manner.
EXCERT: ...The night was so clear, my eyes had quickly become accustomed and I could see a long way with the help of the bright moon. A cocktail of thoughts passed through my mind as I moved slowly forward. The one that was most predominent was, why am I here? What made me come out on this night especially into such a foreboding place as the forest? It was the first time I had ventured into the outside world since ...
Natasha
SYNOPSIS: When The Deputy Chief of Mission of the American Embassy in Moscow meets a mysterious new female employee he is captivated by her. His obsession with her however leads him to the very depths of evil and a great darkness commences that not only impacts on the embassy but has more far reaching repercussions.
EXCERT: ...When Natasha returned my heartbeat accelerated once more and I almost felt that she had cast a spell upon me and I was willingly succumbing to its power. I found I had to turn my head and look away from those mysterious eyes; such a dark brown colour, so dark I couldn't see the outline of the pupils and yet, in contrast they had a hint of a light golden ring around the edges. It was as if those eyes wanted to draw me toward her and looking away was the only way to release myself. I forced myself to move on and spoke as I looked into the drawer where the satchel lay ,,,
Followed
SYNOPSIS: When Julie gets involved with the spirit world her partner Rob is very sceptical. Matters become much worse when Julie invites some friends around for a seance and the evening is a disaster. A few months later Julie rings Rob to say that her car won't start, she is walking in the rain and she thinks she is being followed. Rob sets out to rescue her but other forces come into play.
EXCERT: ...I found Julie behind a large tree, hunched up against the trunk. She stayed quite still and just stared at me. Her eyes were really wide open and the whites were showing. "Julie, Jules! Are you okay?" She continued to stare at me, her brown hair all matted on her face and rain mingled with tears running down her cheeks. Her clothes looked quite wet, like she had been huddled there for a while. For a moment I thought she hadn't recognised me but as I walked towards her she began to speak, quietly, in a forceful tone.
"No! No! Keep away!, Robby! Keep away! ... Get away from me!"
Beyond Retribution
SYNOPSIS: When a young Australian man named Rodney Simpson is murdered in a back alley in London, the killer is suspected to be the stranger he was talking to in a local pub but no one noticed that man so descriptions were vague. That suspect just disappeared and the case ended up unsolved.
Twenty years later another young Australian man, who had been having dreams and visions of the original victim, arrived in London intent on finding the killer and unloading the burden that had been haunting him for a very long time. Was the spirit of Rodney in that young man? Was he a reincarnation and who was the real killer?
EXCERT ... Stephen Peters walked the same street Rodney Simpson had some twenty years earlier. He had only drunk two half pints of beer so his head was not clouded by the affects of alcohol but a strange feeling came over him as he moved forward. He felt like an invisible force was compelling him to continue in a specific direction. Out of interest he tried to turn right and then left but found he couldn’t. His body was being controlled and he could do nothing about it. Twenty metres up the street he could see the entrance to a narrow lane. He could see it clearly because there was a strange glow emanating from it. He knew that when he got there he would be compelled to turn left. It was disturbing but not as disturbing as the sound of footsteps quite close behind him.
HThe Foresteading 1
Peter is being challenged in his work place. He has been given tasks that he is clearly unable to handle. This is also impacting on his personal life. His girlfriend is domineering and unsympathetic of his situation. Overwhelmed by all this Peter escapes to the forest to find some peace and tranquility. He finds that peace for a while but then things change in the forest and he finds himself lost and trapped by forces unknown. Is he really being attacked by unknown forces in the forest or is it all in his mind?
EXCERT: "It was totally dark now. I couldn’t see anything and something was caught around my leg again. It felt like it was pulling me, pulling me into the ground. I grabbed at the earth about me but it crumbled in my grasp. I was sinking. I was being pulled, sucked into a hole in the earth. My God, what was happening, I didn’t know what to do! I called out, yelled, screamed......"
A Lethal Connection
Renae is only beginning to recover from a car accident in which she was responsible for killing a man. She is still vulnerable when a friend invites her to a meeting of the local spiritualists society. She is sceptial of the whole thing and fearful of being picked on by one of the mediums. She tries to conceal herself in the crowd but is still selected and when a connection is made she is faced with her worst nightmare.
EXCERT: "Renae’s spirits lifted, she knew straight away who that might be and waited for more but then something strange happened. The look on Damon’s face changed from pleasant to one that looked like fear and he raised his voice, sounding very angry. “No! No you can’t push in like that, go back I’ll get to you in a moment.” Damon stepped forward and nearly fell off the platform, it was almost as though he was pushed. “Renae I’m sorry, there is a man here who says he knows you, he is angry and I can’t keep him away......"
