About the Author

Billarooby is the first novel of Sydney based writer and photo-artist, Jim Anderson, now being republished by Valentine Press. His second novel Chipman's African Adventure, was published by Valentine Press in 2015. Jim was the art editor of London's infamous OZ Magazine. He and the other two editors were briefly jailed in 1971 after a sensational 6-week trial at the Old Bailey for publishing obscene material. Some months later the High Court overturned the sentences and quashed the convictions, allowing the editors to continue publishing OZ. Another publication, LAMPOON an historical art trajectory 1976-2010, is a memoir and a collection of Jim's collages, cartoons and other artworks from this period and later.

Reviews

"Mr Anderson uses his young narrator's confusion as a symbol of the general confusion of his troubled times. War, he is saying, not only leads to a breakdown of morality but to a feverish inability to distinguish between truth and fiction." (New York Times) "It's a highly readable, magic tale, which dances through the minefield of childhood with surefooted agility. A book written with love and honed with care..." (Sydney Morning Herald) "Billarooby is not an easy book to read because beneath the exciting surface story are conflicts grown men and women should not have to deal with, much less an 11-year-old boy. But it's a book that will draw you in, capture your attention, and then leave you wondering." (United Press International) "The climax crowns a novel about credible people, not one of them a minor character, as the author presents each with failings as well as qualities that augur hope for a better future. It is a story that will remain in the reader's memory." (Publisher's Weekly) "Raised in Australia, Anderson effectively conveys its ambience, particularly in his terse yet vivid dialogue... this first novel is ultimately a very fine study of a child's mind." (Library Journal)