J. William Turner (aka James Turner) was born in Reading, England, forty miles west of London, in the late 1950's, and migrated with his family to south-eastern Australia in the mid 1960's.
The youngest of three children James spent the last seven years of his education at a boys' private school in the coastal city of Geelong. During his time here, he became a senior N.C.O. in the school's army cadet unit, having undergone basic, practical military training for promotion, on a regular army base for two weeks in 1971, as a fourteen-year-old, at the end of the nineth grade. After finishing the twelfth grade, he attended university to study science, but discontinued his course after two years.
In the early 1980's James gained his private pilot licence, was a volunteer operational member of St John Ambulance for ten years, and travelled to many parts of inland Australia and overseas, including two visits to the U.S.A.. He also penned the initial draft of Storm Ridge, the first of the four installments of Dangerous Days, in 1979, loosely based on a similar school hike he did in 1970 as an eighth-grader. Later, in 1989, Paddle Hard was drafted, based on an actual murder in Geelong in the mid 1970's, and his own experience at canoeing. Another ten years later, he drafted Outback Heroes after several visits to several parts of the vast Australian outback. Enemies Within was written just four years afterwards to give closure to the unanswered questions in Outback Heroes, and is set back in London, near to his ancestral roots. James has always liked putting pen to paper, and has had two articles published in Australian aviation magazines (1996 and 2008).
Over a six-month period from January to June, 2004, James wrote the first three stories of another, four-part, fictional autobiography, yet to be published, entitled Blades, about the traumatic and difficult teenage years of a 'top-gun' helicopter pilot named Julian. Set in the late 1990's, in Darwin, Melbourne, the central Australian outback, and southern California, Blades also reinroduces the three main child characters from Dangerous Days, now adults aged in their late-twenties, and their relationship with Julian. These three stories are entitled Street Kid, High Country, and California Dreaming. The final story, Aftermath, was completed in two-and-a-half months just midway through 2008, to bring Julian's life story almost to the present day.
Kendal Kirby is a morbidly obese fourteen-year-old boy living in Melbourne in a somewhat dysfunctional relationship with his widowed mother after his father's suicide. Taunted and tormented at school by his peers and some teachers, he is missing out on a happy and fulfilling adolescent life.
In the house next door to the Kirbys is the Boyd family. The father, Dr Ross Boyd (PhD), is a clinical psychologist who sees and understands their problems, and decides to intervene. With his mother's reluctant consent, in April, Kendal is sent to live with a former colleague of Ross, a retired psychologist named Dr Dennis Cooke, in his home in Hervey Bay, Queensland, for five months. And from the very day of Kendal's arrival, Dennis takes control of his life to instruct him in healthy eating and to impose a suitable exercise regime, whilst home-schooling the boy, home being an emotionally and socially safe environment.
An integral part of Kendal's new lifestyle is Donaldson Briggs, the skinny, good-natured thirteen-year-old living next door, who also considers Dennis to be his surrogate grandfather. Sharing a common interest and talent for computer games, the boys become instant friends. Through a combination of hard work, fun, and Donaldson's kindness and support, Kendal's weight decreases quickly, as the close bond between them increases to the point of being almost fraternal.
Finally, after ten weeks and a loss of twenty-five kilograms, Kendal reaches his goal weight. He then commences karate lessons and a basic training program in long-distance running. After six weeks, he enters four events at a local weekend junior athletics competition where he wins all the races whilst breaking three track records and equalling one. A few days later, his new confidence and martial arts skills allow him to defend against an aggressive intoxicated older teenager.
Returning to his home and school in October, after a sad parting from Donaldson, Kendal is physically and emotionally a totally different person. None of his old classmates recognise him at first, and when they finally do, he is treated with new acceptance and grudging respect, especially after beating a former bully who picks a fight. At Dennis's request, Kendal's P.E. teacher finds him a good private athletics coach. He also discovers that girls in his school now think he's attractive.
Facing challenges he never expected, Kendal emerges as a hero by overcoming his physical and emotional difficulties to build trust and self-confidence. But he also shows human fraility as he come to terms with those same emotional demons.
Throughout Fat to Fast, the reader is given an opportunity to join Kendal on his journey through the narrative of Dennis Cooke, and the private thoughts of both Kendal and Donaldson, as Kendal heals himself from within, establishes meaningful relationships, and works to fulfil his sporting dream. Also, Fat to Fast allows readers to reflect upon themselves, to consider the trials and tribulations of their own lives, and to think about how they might deal with similar circumstances.
Enjoy the raw honesty, pain and humour that Kendal's story has to offer
Título : Fat To Fast
EAN : 9781466071100
Editorial : J. William Turner
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