Q book: THE (un)LUCKY SPERM
‘THE (un)LUCKY SPERM’ AUTOBIOGRAPHY SHARES BIZARRE MEMORIES AND OUTBACK AUSSIE LIFE IN THE SIXTIES & SEVENTIES!
This extraordinary tale gives an insight into the reality of growing up as the "odd one out" in an outback mining town.
A narrative by best-selling author Brett Preiss, set in the background of Broken Hill, New South Wales shares his humorous collection of anecdotes growing up in this unforgiving outback mining town. It's a great tale of innocence lost, self-value and perseverance.
The (un)Lucky Sperm is one such book that will be memorable for its elements of harrowing, extraordinary and absurd accounts; all of it told with humour and exquisite attention to detail. The book contains elements of his childhood that offer surprise, laughter and tears as he recounts his personal life journey, complete with misadventure, and challenges that demonstrate the true strength of the human spirit. The (un)Lucky Sperm shares themes of survival and exploration of your own destiny.
Mr Preiss decided to approach actor Myles Pollard (famous for the insanely popular Australian series, McLeod's Daughters, Home & Away, and Thirst - a movie coincidentally filmed in Broken Hill) to narrate the audiobook version and was thrilled when he agreed.
Of Mr Preiss' book, Mr Pollard said: “Brett Preiss is an absolute gentleman and a fantastic writer. The novel is super funny, engaging and incredibly heart felt in so many moments. His writing is courageously honest and beautifully irreverent. Brett has a magical wit and a wonderful sensitivity. Having also lived in really remote Australian rural centres as a child, the physical and cultural landscape really resonated with me. He nailed it!”
A high-profile Australian actor, Mr Pollard has included audio performing in his extensive range of performance skills. He believes that this is an important direction in any actor's career and shouldn't be overlooked as just a simple narration that anyone can do.
“There is something very intimate about performing audiobooks that I love. You need to be incredibly immersed in the story at every moment in order to completely honour each subtle story and character change. You can't lean on physical demonstrative techniques for obvious reasons so instead you rely on connecting absolutely to the intellectual and emotional nuances of your voices,” he said.
In conversation with Mr Preiss about the variety of stories in his book; “It's hard to choose a favourite story. However, there are two that I hold dear to me. One, ‘My Own Designer Label' where at the age of eight I design and sew my own clothes in spite of the macho, hyper-masculine world around me. It taught me to always be true to myself. The second is, ‘The Final Countdown', where a generous mining manager in my hometown heard my story and gave me the money to head to university. That was my ticket to freedom.”
On his audiobook, “I wanted to create a version of the book that everyone could enjoy, including those with vision impairments, or when you are simply out driving, and keen for some entertainment during the trip” he said.
Nowadays, Mr Preiss lives in The Netherlands with his Dutch husband Jos who he met when working in Germany for 10 years. He travelled regularly to Amsterdam to see films that weren't dubbed. He met Jos and decided it was time to swap his lederhosen and sauerkraut for cheese and clogs. Whether he will move back to Broken Hill, “For me, home is where the heart is. I am a lucky sperm to be able to live in Europe and visit Australia whenever I can. Who knows what the future will bring?” Mr Preiss feels there are a lot more stories where The (un)Lucky Sperm came from, but in the meantime is content to enjoy his favourite aspects of life: a bath, his husband's chili con carne, and fresh sheets.
Purchase The (un)Lucky Sperm now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08TMSLN7K Or the audio version: https://amzn.to/31Lb2j4
Or from the author's website: www.brettpreiss.com