Clan Destine Press Blog — Fin J Ross

"Meet Miss Fidelia Knight. She set out from England with her parents on the SS Great Britain and arrived in Melbourne in 1874. Alone, except for half of Samuel Johnson." So opens a recent review by Jennifer Cameron-Smith of Billings Better Bookstore & Brasserie. Of Fin J Ross' book, Cameron-Smith goes on to say "what a word feast this novel is!…I discovered new words, met some old favourites, and loved the alliteration… Every one of the twenty-six chapters opens alliteratively. My favourite today is x." Claire Louisa calls it "a different kind of novel and so wonderfully uplifting and serendipitous."...

Want a sneak book peek into one of Clan Destine Press' newest books Nifty Fifty: 50 Cryptic Crosswords With an Aussie Flavour by dual-puzzle lovers Fin J Ross and Willsin Rowe and author interviews? Great, we have you covered. Read on! Some writers love penning cliffhangers but hate reading them, do you love doing tricky cryptic crosswords? Fin: In my book, nothing beats a cliffhanger, so equally satisfying is creating a clever, devious cryptic clue that perplexes and confounds and maybe adds to a puzzler’s vocabulary. WILLSIN: I love doing cryptic crosswords, and from as wide a range of setters...

Fidelia placed Samuel Johnson on the chair – a hard but utilitarian way to augment her height to desk level – plucked a sheet of parchment from the heavy desk drawer, struck a match to light the candle and loaded the pen with ink from the well. She had had the A, B, C, F and H sayings in her head most of the day and was eager to get them down on paper.She knew how to help the flustered man in Billings Bookstore. During the afternoon, while she sat on the rise of Parliament House, she had gazed down...