Michael Meadows - author

03/10/2022

A visionary young Swedish scientist, Andreas Berggren, migrates to Australia in 1887 to pursue his research into the links that bind people, society and the natural world together. He discovers evidence of what he believes is a rare colony of crayfish living high on a remote peak in southeast Queensland but mysteriously disappears during an obsessive search for the creatures. One hundred and thirty years later, a young biologist, Ruby Rouge, stumbles across his diaries and begins a quest to unravel the mystery of his life, discovery and disappearance. She is inexorably drawn closer to him, his revolutionary ideas and his family through a series of unpredictable visions, dreams and her own memories of childhood. Ruby’s journey takes her to his birthplace before she returns to a remote, rainforest-clad mountain that holds the secret of his demise, discovery and bequest. She must rely on reconnecting with the past as she explores a future in the face of a looming global extinction event driven by climate change.

The bequest eBook : Meadows, Michael: Amazon.com.au: Books

10/01/2022

My first venture into Young Adult fiction...

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BGL85VGL

Synopsis: When 15-year-old Tom Griffiths moves with his aunt to Stradbroke Island to live he has no idea of the secrets locked inside the old house she has bought for a song. With his high school friends, he uncovers a web of corruption on the island threatening to destroy its environmental and Aboriginal heritage. Tom discovers a portal which transports him 100 years into Stradbroke Island’s past where he meets a lonely 11 year old girl, Emily — a time-traveller who holds the secret to his true identity.

03/01/2022

https://books.apple.com/au/book/the-living-rock/id1563608845

‎History · 2021

22/06/2021

Synopsis: ‘Charlie’ Novak is a time traveller — a paleobotanist — who explores the past by searching for evidence of climate change in ancient plant spores locked in sediments laid down millions of years ago. She inherited ‘the gift’ — an ability to ‘see’ into the future — from her stepfather, Jimi, following a miraculous kidney transplant when she was 11 years old. Now an accomplished scientist, her secure albeit solitary lifestyle at the Little Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Brisbane is thrown into chaos when she receives a mysterious invitation to meet with dissident emigre botanist Tomaz Petek who has made a remarkable discovery in the Tasmanian wilderness. Buried deep within the largest living organism on the planet — a massive Huon Pine forest — Tomaz has discovered evidence of an imminent environmental catastrophe. Charlie confirms his findings but realises they can never be published because of the unconventional manner in which he gathered his data. Undeterred, she joins with his son, Tom, and two of his friends — beautiful and gifted Phoebe and dependable Ray — in a circuitous quest to gather her own evidence to support Tomaz’s startling claims, both assisted and tormented by her inherited ability to see elusive visions of the future. Tomaz tragically dies during one of their wilderness sojourns, leaving Charlie alone to complete her quest. She is torn between a growing affection for Phoebe and an an old school friend, Max, as she seeks to publish the truth about an impending global climate crisis.

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BH2QQBS1

The inheritance eBook : Meadows, Michael : Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

22/06/2021

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BGRPVG9Z

For as long as he can remember, Jimi Little has had the gift. At least that’s what his ageing grandmother, guardian and family matriarch Gwen Little has insisted for his entire life. But what is the gift? Jimi has never been entirely sure of how to define the special powers his influential grandmother — a pioneering doctor — is adamant he has inherited from the strong female line in his family. But when confronted with the most important decision he has ever made — a choice between saving the life of either his grandmother or a 12 year old girl called Charlie — can he rely on the powers of the gift to guide him when he needs them most of all?

The gift eBook : Meadows, Michael: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

22/06/2021

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BGL51JXT

Synopsis: Four Australian travellers in southeast Asia become inadvertently caught up in a complex web of suspense, political conspiracy and love, as each searches for the secrets of fulfilment against a background of East Timor’s emerging independence. Hack writer Martin Beard is trying to escape from his world of predictable, mainstream journalism. He is forced to re-examine the very basis of the journalism practices which have shaped his career as he becomes deeply involved in the lives of three fellow travellers—Sarah; her long-time friend Angela; and Jim, a charismatic and elusive nomad, who has mysterious connections in Indonesia and East Timor. Jim’s activities in the region attract the attention of Australia’s secret intelligence organisations along with a corrupt Queensland undercover police officer. The complex web created by Jim to disguise his real objectives draws all of them inadvertently into the twilight world of drug smuggling. Martin is forced to re-examine his beliefs in the democratic process when he uncovers an extensive web of corruption and money-laundering involving governments and his own news organisation, guided throughout by a mysterious informer and the good sense of Angela, who can see beyond the limited boundaries of traditional media. This is about the secrets, events and relationships which draw four disparate people together in their search for meaning in journey’s end—and in the journey itself.

Secrets eBook : Meadows, Michael: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

22/06/2021

Welcome to my fictional world. It's a range of stories I've been writing over the past three decades, now available for a modest fee through the Amazon bookstore as either online or paperback versions

The stories range from a journalism/spy drama-romance set against a backdrop of East Timorese independence ('Secrets'), to a series of three books involving some of the same characters: 'The gift' and 'The inheritance' and soon, the final book in the series, 'The bequest'. The books are concerned with broad questions like climate change and are driven by characters beseiged by strange visions that offer obscure clues into helping them resolve the dilemmas they face - with a touch of romance. Of course, climbing and outdoor activities feature in each of the novels in the trilogy. The stories are set in locations around Southeast Queensland, the Southern Alps of New Zealand and the high country in Tasmania. I've also just released the e-version of 'The Living Rock, the invention of climbing in eastern Australia', and a Young Adult fiction book, 'The mystery of Red Sands'.