Australia’s Neo-Noir Fiction Author Comments About His Woodridge Upbringing

Logan City’s dark fiction specialist talks about his hometown and what it was like growing up in the suburbs south of Brisbane in the 70s and 80s.

“It wasn’t the ghetto everyone says it is,” says Michael Forman, “not to those who lived in Logan back then. To us, it was home.”

In the 1800’s, the region was barely a timber village making use of a nearby railway stop. The trees were cut down, harvested mainly for their eucalyptus oil. The population on the ridge grew, and the train siding turned into a fully formed train station. The suburb of Woodridge became so in 1917.

“We thought we were tough, but it was a different time for toughness. It wasn’t measured by drug or knife crime. Staying out late and playing Galaga or Space Invaders at the local BP service station without our parents’ knowledge, was what we thought was breaking the rules.”

“My ol’ mate Knightsie and I knocked about the streets of a young Logan City on our push-bikes and wreaked video game havoc here and there. If we weren’t doing that, we were making cubby houses or playing war games in the bush. We made our own fun.”

“Things have changed since then. It was never Emerald City, but it was a safe place. There was nothing to worry about. Kids could go out all day, and parents didn’t have to worry. There was no such thing as helicopter parenting. They wanted us to go outside! We came back when it was dark and hungry.”

Logan City was originally part of a large Shire that covered an enormous space between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. By the late seventies, it was clear that the rapid and growing density of Albert Shire around the suburb of Woodridge would change. Logan City came to be in 1981.

“Logan City played a significant role in my novel. I’ve got an area near Armstrong Road Loganlea written into the narrative. There’s also a smattering of places between Woodridge and Kingston mentioned. The novel is neo-noir. That means it’s dark fiction and written in modern times. A body count grows as a night killer stalks victims during nights of great thunderstorms.”

Strap yourself in. Hell is about to come to Logan.

“My English teacher (Ms Todhunter) was at Woodridge High during my senior years. She was the one who suggested I keep writing. I dedicate this novel to her.”

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