Night Watchers

Night Watchers

By Miles Rothwell

The engaging debut novel from Sydney author Miles Rothwell!On an island where the traditional ways are increasingly undersiege by encroaching western influences, the ¡¥NightWatchers' support and protect life until the dawn of the newday.

When something goes amiss in the fabric of the NightWatchers, small disturbances start affecting people's lives. Anexperienced official on the verge of retirement struggles withhis inability to solve a gruesome murder, a mother anddaughter are banished from village life, a man escapes fromprison, and a hired driver battles with the pain of losing hisdaughter.

Though seemingly unique and individual, each of thesepeople soon discover how interconnected they are in theland of the Night Watchers, where no one goes unobservedor unprotected.

After reading Joyce's 'Ulysses', Miles Rothwell knew he wantedto become an author. His first manuscript was written whileliving in Darlinghurst, Sydney, in the eighties. Miles startedworking in the corporate sector and continued to write moremanuscripts. Miles ranks making Spike Milligan laugh at anABC shop book signing as one of his greatest personalmoments and publishing 'Night Watchers' as another. He iscurrently working on his next novel.

Night Watchers
www.shortstoppress.com
Author: Miles Rothwell
ISBN: 978-0-9873559-7-3
RRP: $24.99


Night Watchers by Miles Rothwell

The idea for Night Watchers came from a dream i had while visiting Bali with my children. The dream was essentially about being surrounded by moving shapes or forms that protected all life and supported the physical world around me. The forms were passive and seemed to be well organised in almost a military sense. I remember in the dream having the idea that they would disappear as dawn broke. As i told my daughter about my dream the next morning the idea of writing a story started to take shape.

Although some of the people and settings in Night Watchers are based on my experiences in Bali, which has a rich cultural tradition as well as being known as a tourist destination, the themes explored in the novel are apparent wherever different belief systems are exposed to each other. I have always been interested in the idea of beliefs, ownership and self-awareness so these themes became an important part of the story. In writing Night Watchers i was very conscious of trying not to judge the characters and their beliefs.

The narrative is written in a straight forward manner, almost like an allegorical tale. I deliberately did not go into great detail about the backgrounds of the characters, so that the reader is gliding over the events, as described in a section where i describe how the sea birds who visit the island see the ocean and land from up high.

The local inhabitants are taught from childhood to believe in their traditions just as the foreigners who visit have grown up to believe in their beliefs of money and ownership. The locals on the island tend to dwell in the past but try to live in the moment, whereas the foreigners tend to dwell in the future while trying to stay focused on the present, so those two prevailing forces create tension and sometimes conflict. The local inhabitants, especially the Mother in the story, are subjected to difficult circumstances and are then observed how they react.

Night Watchers observes the repercussions of losing touch with village traditions for the ease and comfort of modern life. During the day life goes on as it has since anyone can remember, but at night unseen essences support and protect life until the dawn of a new day gives the island back to the locals.When something goes amiss in the fabric of the 'Night Watchers', small disturbances start affecting people's lives. An experienced official on the verge of retirement struggles with his inability to solve a gruesome murder. A mother and daughter are banished from village life. A man escapes from prison and a hired driver battles with the pain of losing his daughter. They all find that the disturbances created by the mythical 'tear in the sky' affect them in their own individual way.These individual stories are linked by the search for meaning and the pursuit of resolution, and when none of these attributes are forth coming the characters are forced to decide how to continue.

Essentially, Night Watchers is about hope and perseverance. When the realities of life pose challenges, the locals are challenged to see if their traditional beliefs remain relevant while the foreigners are challenged to see if their beliefs of money and ownership can co-exist with the locals. When different cultures have conflicting priorities the outcomes are usually a stalemate resulting in tension or both parties can agree that neither one is more correct than the other and settle down to accommodate each other.

The essences which are the Night Watchers uphold the night but they also look out for tears or rips in the fabric of existence which lead to disturbances in the fabric of society, which was a metaphor for people striving to develop self-awareness so that their actions do not cause issues for other people. Self-awareness is a rare commodity in modern life. Modern society trends towards easy options and short term gratification. Long held traditional beliefs are by definition engrained in the culture, and rightly or wrongly can become a stabilising influence.