
Award-winning, critically acclaimed novelist Ray Blackston traveled to the Australian Outback while writing Lost in Rooville, the highly anticipated third book in his popular “Flabbergasted” series, releasing July 1 from Revell.
Taking the 26-hour flight from his hometown of Greenville, SC to Alice Springs, a tourist town in Central Australia, Blackston said the trip and the research helped craft Lost in Rooville. After several days of exploring, hiking, cooking over campfires and riding an ornery camel named Mona, Blackston returned to the Carolinas, bringing to life the Outback experience in Lost in Rooville. Like his own excursion, the book is billed as “an adventure of a lifetime.” Lost in Rooville features Blackston’s trademark humor, quirky characters, original poetry and electrifying dialogue, all mixed in a relational gumbo. Narrator Jay Jarvis has commitment on his mind, and girlfriend Allie Kyle, who wants to see the wildlife. Steve Cole has a map in hand, girlfriend Darcy Yeager at the wheel and a struggle with commitment. Taking the trip of their lifetime, the two bachelors drive their women deep into arid plains in separate Land Cruisers while pondering a common equation: “Australia + woman + ring = good plan.” What it actually equals is a male-narrated romance set in a hilarious, sometimes treacherous, baked debacle in the vast down under.
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