Regional Queensland provides many of the key locations for CQU Alumnus Phil Smith’s door-busting new military thriller ‘Shooting Script’. In the words of the writer, “It’s high time Aussie heroes saved the day in an international plot with all the necessary white knuckle ingredients.” Shooting Script follows Smith’s success in TV and radio and writing for international aviation and travel magazines in the US, South Africa, the UK and New Zealand. Now a senior producer with ABC Radio, Phil graduated with his Bachelor of Arts from the then CIAE in 1982. Shooting Script is published in paperback by The Ninderry Press, and was snapped up by one of the world’s largest e-publishers, Zeus. An Australian film company is also considering Phil’s novel for development into a screenplay.

Shooting Script pits an Australian television news crew and their mysterious government liaison officer against French Foreign Legionnaires and Indonesian renegades. The action takes place on the eve of an independence ballot for the civil war torn island of Bougainville. Solving a World War Two riddle hidden in the jungle could change the power structures of the entire Pacific Region.

The book will be in stock soon at Collins Book Sellers at Rockhampton Shopping Fair. Sample chapters are available at www.zeus-publications.com Phil Smith has the first hand experience and the network of connections to write this thriller involving the media, military and political manipulation. An award winning broadcaster and correspondent, he’s filed from throughout South East Asia, the ‘Top End’ and the South Pacific. His credits include a TV documentary on the rebuilding of East Timor. Phil's service in the Royal Australian Air Force Special Reserve includes a Peace Keeping tour in Bougainville before the truce was signed, and humanitarian operations during the West Irian and Papua New Guinea famine. Phil has supported Special Forces and Strike jet squadrons from the Arctic Circle to the Korean DMZ and the Simpson Desert. As a combat camera producer he’s served aboard aircraft carriers and in battle tanks during Combined and Joint operations and exercises. Phil was awarded a Chief of Air Force Commendation following a hazardous assignment in Indonesia and the ASM for duty in Bougainville. He is the 2001 Air Force recipient of the Prince of Wales Award.

His series of outback yarns, ‘Round The Traps’, was broadcast by ABC radio, and Phil provided the character voices for the ‘Noah’ children’s stories on CD Rom. His freelance articles have been well published in aviation and travel magazines in Australia, the UK, South Africa, New Zealand and the US. Phil lives near Lake Samsonvale, north of Brisbane, with his wife and two daughters. He’s currently working on an inspirational book for teenage boys.

For details call Phil Smith on 0409 528 270 or 3882 3490 or SPUNYARNS@bigpond.com