Gosford glyphs feature in sci-fi novel

The Gosford hieroglyphics feature heavily in a fantasy science fiction book by Newcastle author Nathan Bell.

Bell, who has schizophrenia, wrote Kings of the New Age: The Quest of the Balancing Stones with support from two creative writing mentors provided by the NDIS creative arts service Rely-Ability, finally realising a dream he had had for many years.

“I am 37 now and tried to write books throughout my twenties but didn’t really know how to go about it,” he said.

“In my early thirties I was working on some other art projects when I made the decision to focus once again on writing.

“I was writing a blog at the time and I just sat down and started writing the novel.”

“I first became involved with mentor Robert Burley and we worked through the book for around two years.

“The I worked with a second mentor – Brooke Forbes.

“All in all it took almost three years to write the book but I was determined to finish it.

“It is the story I always wanted to tell – a post-nuclear apocalyptic tale.”

Bell first became interested in the Gosford hieroglyphics around five years ago.

“I found the glyphs and the various explanations surrounding them very interesting,” he said.

“I thought ‘wouldn’t it be interesting if the Egyptians had come to Australia’ and used that one theory as my premise.”

In Bell’s story Egyptians and Tibetan monks have created a special cure for post nuclear war radiation poisoning which needs to be thrown down a specific hole to the centre of the earth.

The monks have a key to decode the hieroglyphics, which will reveal the location of the cave where the cure needs to be dispensed.

Finished two years ago, Kings of the New Age: The Quest of the Balancing Stones has sold 520 copies, many of which have been sold by Bell himself at his roadside stall in Newcastle and now he wants to spread word of the novel further afield.

He said the mentorship provided through Rely-Ability was vital.

“Writing this book had been my goal for almost 10 years and I finally got to do it,” he said.

With a love of fantasy novels such as the Lord of the Rings and Dragon Quest series, Bell said these days his reading involved more study on science, politics and world affairs.

“I have a full schedule of activities with Rely-Ability and have abandone rading fiction for now,” he said.

“I get up very early and like to do a bit of writing at about 5am, but my writing these days is done in seven hours of mentored sessions over two blocks each week.”

Following two timelines, one depicting the affairs of a city in chaos and the other a mission to save the Earth, Bell’s book is available through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/Kings-New-Age-Balancing-Stones/dp/B099ZPJDX1/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1673074639&refinements=p_27%3AMr++Nathan+Bell&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Mr++Nathan+Bell&fbclid=IwAR0ykZMlXnEairev2hm9StS2B_C_g7kA14rVDwy_i7wBmhTguB0KlW_UeHI

For more information on services offered by Rely-Ability, call 0432 044 410.