Stay Buried #author Jane R. Miles

 A terrifying new psychological thriller.
Christmas Eve, 1974.

As Cyclone Tracy tears through Darwin, four girls disappear into the heart of the outback. No tracks. No bodies. No answers.

Decades later, one returns.

She claims to be one of the missing. But is she? There is no proof of who she is, only a keepsake that once belonged to another missing woman - Sally, a teen mother whose disappearance never mattered to anyone but Von, the daughter she left behind. Sally's return rekindles the cold case, as desperate families plead for answers - and a dark mystery begins to surface.

A hidden bunker ... a ghost ... scratches on a concrete wall ... pictures inside a View-Master ... and the little girl who understood the darkness better than anyone.

Inspired by true events, Stay Buried is the darkly thrilling tale of secrets unearthed, the will to survive and a legend that refuses to die.

To connect with Jane ....
https://www.jane-r-miles.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jane.r.miles/ 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

It's good afternoon. Jane R. Mills. Welcome to Yellow Shelf, Jane.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hi, uh, thank you for being uh thank you for having me here. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

It's my pleasure. Debut author, reason to be here, and a fabulous book as well, which I've been lucky enough to read already. Congratulations. You is called Stay Buried. I'm just gonna let you run with it and tell us all about it.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Yeah, well, broadly speaking, broadly speaking, to nut out 80,000 words, it's about the closure and the cost of survival. So it begins in uh 1974, Christmas Eve, when Cyclone Tracy makes landfall in Darwin, where at the same time four girls are forced to seek shelter inside a bunker in remote outback uh Northern Territory. So they're in there, and then the story takes off 30 years later with the families left behind. So we follow the survival of the girls inside the bunker as well as those left behind and they're uh coming to grips with closure. Yeah, and obviously it kicks off in the 30-year timeline with a woman who comes forward claiming to be one of the missing girls. So that's the kind of catalyst in that timeline.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

And you know, I love the idea that this is obviously a work of fiction, but it's based on real events because as you mentioned, you know, Cyclone Tracy 1974, a major incident in Australia's history, a major, I guess, cyclone. Um, so yeah, this book is, I mean, I I wasn't born in 1974, I'm not gonna add, but I grew up in the 80s, so I knew how much that impact had on not only just Darwin, but you know, on the wide of Australia as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

No, I I agree. And I think every generation since it's has bred a kind of fear or kind of warning, and that not just with Cyclone Tracy, but a lot of stories that come out. So I'm thinking of the Beaumont children specifically, or um Azaria Chamberlain. There's these warnings that happen, or um, any of the incidences that have happened on the Stuart Highway where things can go missing, things can go wrong, and we have to kind of make up a story along the way to try to make sense of it rightly or wrongly. And that's where this tries to tap into because we live in a very specific place at a very um that's so vast that things can go missing and we can never know truths. And so we have to find a way to live with that sometimes. And I think that's a uniquely Australian um characteristic as well, that we don't even realize that we do.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

And it's your book's been described as uh suspense, even psychological thriller. Are you I I'm gonna ask, are you comfortable with where that has been uh tagged in that genre?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

I think so. I think it gets difficult when a book crosses multiple genres. You have to kind of think where the highest percentage is. I think psychological thriller is where it sits more comfortably. Australian Gothic, it's been called as well. There is a little bit of horror elements in there, but not uh grotesque. But it's um more, and there's some speculative elements in there too. But at the end of the day, they're all for an earned outcome. So it's not um nothing's unnecessary. I think everything is purposeful.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yeah. And I look, I'm a huge fan of the cross of genres, and you know, the genres often, you know, labeled in books are just labels, aren't they? So it's people need to get into the book and read it.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yes, I think don't judge it by what they bring your own sensibilities to it, and I think that you'll find that there's something in there for everyone, and it's even if it's a darker edge, it's it's an honesty too. So it's um human honesty and an emotional truth to it as well. So those uncomfortable that people don't like to ask themselves, that's the kind of book it is.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah. And Jane, you I mentioned Davu author, a massive achievement. Do you want to share with us a little about you as an author? I guess people are learning about you. Anything you want to share with us? And tell us about your writing style.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Big questions. Uh, yeah, I I was part of the Royal Australian Navy for um almost straight out of school. And then I left there and joined the Department of Defense and fell through a few jobs until I landed um in more of the acquisition and sustainment of military assets. And then I went onto the contractor side. Um, and then I moved to the Netherlands and I worked with the Dutch Army for the same kind of things, and um yeah, so it's been a kind of uh yeah, change of career path.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Interesting, yeah, really interesting career. Um, and tell us about your writing style. So you decide you're gonna become an author. How does that play out? Like, are you is this like a burning desire? I'd love you to share a bit about hey, I'm an author, and and this is how I wrote the book. Research the book.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I wish I could tell somebody exactly how to write a novel, but um you have to I for me it was just about getting excited. As soon as you're excited about an idea, just start writing, and who cares what happens next. And that's the way I try to approach it. No expectations of getting published, just writing for myself with the pursuit of trying to get better each time and try to get a little bit further each time, but with no, yeah, no ambition really to get it published, just to um get better as a writer myself. And it just, I guess done luck, really, of being in the right place at the right time.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

So yeah, what it whatever it takes, it's it's a wonderful achievement. You should be really proud of this. I hope you are. Yeah, no, I am, I am a little surreal still, but well, lean in because I feel like you know, people will watch this and be inspired, or people will be that author who needs to continue to persist away at that dream. Um, but you know, it's it's a question I always love authors to share because you know it's never linear, it's often quite always quite interesting.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

It is, yeah. And you know, not a straight path. I mean, I I talk flippantly about it, but I was so I feel so grateful that I found the this thing that I really love to do.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Like like a lot of us, we do um professions and jobs and careers that we're good at, but not necessarily passionate about. And that's a big difference. And once you get a little bit older, you realize that's you'll hear about this passion that people talk about, but you don't actually experience it. And I I feel like when I found that with writing, I can't, I couldn't think of anything else. And I finally understood what people meant when they said that you never could do in your life if you enjoy what you do because it makes sense. So yeah, thousands of hours later, and I still can't get enough.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Oh Jane, well, congratulations. Like I said, if anyone's watching anywhere in the world, because I know you're an Australian, an expat living overseas. You I guess do you have this transient lifestyle? Like, do we find you in Australia or do we find you in the Netherlands?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

We're doing it very inefficiently. We're trying to do five years in Australia, five years in the Netherlands. So we're four years in at the moment in the Netherlands, but the cat is very traumatized from what we're going to do.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Jane, I mean, anyone who's curious about you in your writing and and curious about you as an author, you've got Instagram, you've got a website. So I'll put those links in the show notes. Um, and the book is available now. Congratulations. Is it weird seeing it out there either online or in physical format in shops?

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah, sometimes I feel like it's just my laptop that has all of this, like it's the Truman show or something. Which is most like a lot of ego, but also more believable than everybody else being able to see it.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Well, Jane, congratulations. Thanks so much for sharing. I love supporting Dave Bill authors. Um, and look, if if the dream is to keep writing and that's what you do, I would love to have you back to support any future work.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I'd love to be here.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Um, yeah, it's great to talk. Oh, Jane, all the best. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Thank you.