Second book launch for George Man

The Gunnedah author is set to launch his second book in a series about “Blue” the cattle dog.

Mr Man is releasing Sandra and Blue, a sequel to Blue – released in 2015 – this Saturday at the Gunnedah Newsagency, with Mr Man on hand to sign copies.

The original story tells of a young Dutch girl Sandra who moves to outback Australia and makes an unlikely friend in Blue, a cattle dog.

Sandra and Blue tells of Sandra’s return to Holland, and eventually with Blue in tow – where life is different for the pair but adventures are a plenty.

Blue misses the freedom of rural life in Australia, but remains loyal to his owner Sandra.

The idea behind “Blue” came about 15 years ago, when family members requested George to jot down his life story.

“I couldn’t do it, I found it very hard,” Mr Man said.

A young friend from Holland asked him to write her a book and Blue was born.

“I sat down one day while my wife Joelze was overseas and before I knew it the next day I had 40-50 pages written on Blue – it came out of nowhere.”

The book was originally written in Dutch but Mr Man said his Dutch grammar was lacking and translated it into English, and has now sold up to 200 copies.

Blue has now become the star of five books, with the three to follow to be published and released in the future, with one as early as next year.

“I enjoy writing and I want to keep going,” Mr Man said.

“Writing to me is like reading a book yourself.

“You just keep on going.”

Mr Man has signed with publisher, Web Design and Edge Editing, and has more projects in the wings including a new series about a girl who is born in Papua New Guinea and travels around the world, called Tumbleweed, and a series of short Christmas-based stories.

He has also given talks at a number of VIEW clubs across the region about his writing.

Mr Man, who was born in Indonesia to a Dutch family, said he hopes to one day complete his life story.

Blue and Sandra and Blue are available from the Gunnedah Newsagency and Amazon.