That woman is Suzsi Mandeville.
And from that moment of mild literary outrage, a writer quietly, and then not so quietly, emerged. Well, she argues she’s not a “writer” at all.
“Creative,” she says instead. Because writers, in her world, wear scarves indoors and know what a semicolon is supposed to do.
Still, the evidence is stacking up, poetry, short stories, plays, and now three novels later, the label is looking less like a label and more like an admission.
She’s picked up a few awards along the way too, though she doesn’t appear to have let them interfere with her main priorities; painting, clay sculpture, gardening, renovation, and maintaining a respectful, long term relationship with the sea.
A good day, according to Suzsi, involves swimming or launching her little tinny out into open water, a ritual she describes less as leisure and more as “thanking the universe for not killing me today.”
Russell Island, she says, is the real muse. Not the romanticised version with sunsets and serenity, but the slightly eccentric, salt sprayed version where characters practically introduce themselves over the fence.
She’s even written a two act comedy set here. Naturally, it involves island eccentrics (names changed to protect the guilty and, more importantly, protect her). The plot? A floating airport proposed between the Southern Moreton Bay Islands to solve the plane noise problem. Because nothing says “community consultation” like launching a protest against aviation infrastructure that hasn’t been built yet. Chaos and comedy, she assures us, is the point.
Suzsi’s writing process is less “discipline and routine” and more “possession with wifi.” She starts with an idea, then steps aside politely while the characters take over.
“I just take dictation,” she says, like it’s normal to have a committee of historical personalities arguing in your head before breakfast
One novel even featured an accidental murder of a lead character, a moment she handled by calling a friend in mild panic, only to discover said friend assumed she was referring to her husband and immediately offered help hiding the body. That plot twist became the backbone of the book.
Her novels roam through history like they’ve been given a visitor’s pass and no supervision. Escape from the Valley of the Kings (Egypt, 1922), Escape from the King’s Company (London, 1666), and Escape from the King’s Island Prison (Tasmania, 1839). All anchored by Tiffany, a time travelling teenage goth with attitude, poor survival instincts, and a deep distrust of anything without plumbing.
Tiffany exists, Suzsi says, because of a simple observation made over a conversation with her partner, Pete. Modern kids would not survive the past. So, she decided to test it. Repeatedly. On paper, with consequences. Pete now plays the role of patient wine supplier and general witness to Suzsi’s creative chaos - a vital position in any serious artistic operation.
Suzsi cites James Clavell and Terry Pratchett as guiding lights; one for storytelling depth, the other for making serious points while making readers laugh when they probably shouldn’t.
That blend is fairly obvious in her work; history, humour, and a steady refusal to take anything too solemnly, including death, disaster, or continuity errors.
Her favourite scenes tend to involve people arguing across centuries, cultures, and injuries, including a Scotsman and a Frenchman attempting to “out wound” each other in what can only be described as historical competitive complaining.
When asked if her writing is autobiographical, she gives the only sensible answer available to anyone writing fiction while living on an island with chooks, renovation dust, and historical hallucinations.
“Mostly no, occasionally yes, sometimes the characters simply visit,” she says without irony or further explanation.
These days, Suzsi is re-editing and re-releasing her work, with more on the way. Books two and three are quietly lining up for release, while life on Russell Island continues to provide both inspiration and material, often in the same afternoon. She’s also part of Writers on Water, a group that meets monthly and is preparing a short story collection for Christmas. Presumably involving fewer floating airports. Though on Russell Island, nothing is ever entirely off the table.
You’ll find Suzsi’s stories on www.vocal.media and Amazon Kindle, just type Suzsi Mandeville into the search bar and prepare for the rabbit hole.
