Four Small Stones (Urban Hunters #1)

By Gary Taaffe

FOUR SMALL STONES (book 1)

Billy’s gotta find some girls, or he and his brothers face extinction, the last of their kind living a Stone Age life in the Australian bush. The spirits choose Billy to see what he can find in the big city. But he’s never even seen a girl before and all he’s got to wear is a loincloth. His dad wants a fat one to keep him warm in winter and his oldest brother Mallee, wants six! No one knows what Pindaari wants.

Before he goes he must pull off the impossible and earn his brother’s respect, outsmarting them at their own game with a stinking dead kangaroo, a flooded cave crawling with bats and a quartz crystal.

Could life get any more difficult? Why yes it could, Billy could fall in love ...

“AWESOME!!!” Andrew, UK

“I was cracking up laughing. It’s really good.” Kris M, Australia

“So fun guys I highly recommend it.” Nancy Y, USA

URBAN HUNTERS is laugh–out–loud, gut–churning, heart–wrenching storytelling at its best. Unlike anything you’ve ever read, in typical Taaffe fashion. Hilarious as usual. Always surprising. Wonderful!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Taaffe
• Release date: Aug 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9780987176004

Gary Taaffe

Gary Taaffe is the No.1 Bestselling Amazon Author of 9 fiction and 2 non-fiction books, including the Urban Hunters series for Young Adults and his Stampede series, a no-nonsense guide to book marketing for authors.New York Book Review, W.D La Rue said, “I would read ANYTHING this man wrote.”Gary lives in Forster-Tuncurry, Australia, where he’s surrounded by waterways for fishing and bushland for hunting. He writes fulltime with new books coming out in quick succession.If you want to be the first to hear of his latest release, sign up to his newsletter, and if you want to find Gary socially, click one of the links below:Subscribe to my Readers Group newsletter to be the first to hear of new releases in the Urban Hunters series: http://eepurl.com/_E311Subscribe to my Marketing Strategies that Work! newsletter: http://eepurl.com/baqxn5Instagram: Gary_Taaffe https://instagram.com/gary_taaffe/Pinterest: Gary Taaffe https://www.pinterest.com/garytaaffe/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Taaffe/212091488802148Twitter: @Urban_Hunters: http://twitter.com/urban_huntersPUBLISHERGary is a perfectionist who creates stunning books, both inside and out.He always has formatting jobs on the go for fiction authors but his latest claim to fame are his step-by-step publishing guides that are paving the way for clubs and committees around the world to gather large groups of people together to publish their stories, photos and works of art into highly sought after full colour books.Check out his Services page for more information.

Book preview

Titles available in the

URBAN HUNTERS

series

1. Four Small Stones

Billy’s gotta find some girls. The problem is he’s an Aborigine from the Australian bush and all he’s got to wear is a loincloth. Not a good look in the city. And what’s worse, he’s never even seen a girl before. Could life get anymore difficult? Why yes it could. Billy could fall in love …

But first he has to survive two devious older brothers and a couple of initiations to prove his manhood. Great.

AWESOME!!! Andrew, UK

I was cracking up laughing. It’s really good. Kris, Australia

So fun guys I highly recommend it. Nancy, USA

URBAN HUNTERS is laugh–out–loud, gut–churning, heart–wrenching storytelling at its best. Unlike anything you’ve ever read, in typical Taaffe fashion. Hilarious as usual. Always surprising. Wonderful!

2. Tribal Scarring

3. Walkabout

4. Budgie Smugglers

5. Bullies

6. The Orphanage

7. Bowels of Hell

8. Final Straw

Urban Hunters Box Set (Books 1–8)

9. WANTED! New Dad

10, 11, 12. Coming soon!

For more information on these titles, click here to get started:

http://BunyaPublishing.com

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Book 1

FOUR SMALL STONES

Gary Taaffe

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COPYRIGHT

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher

Copyright © Gary Taaffe 2011

Published by Bunya Publishing

Cover artwork by Toby Quarmby Copyright © Gary Taaffe 2011

Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to customs and cultures, actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

The moral right of the author has been asserted

ISBN: 978–0–9871760–0–4

Edition: v11.1.16smash

http://BunyaPublishing.com

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Cast of Characters

Whenever you come across a character for the first time in this book, they’ll be linked to the Cast of Characters at the end of this story. It's a great reminder of who’s who in the zoo. Plus, you’ll learn how to pronounce their name.

Be sure to check out the Glossary too for some interesting Aussie spellings and colloquialisms.

New words are added to the main Glossary on the Bunya Publishing website as each new book in the series is released.

Table of Contents

Titles Available in the Urban Hunters series

Title Page

Copyright

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 — Four Small Stones

Chapter 2 — Sanctuary

Chapter 3 — The Stench of Something Dead

Chapter 4 — Don’t Wake the Bats

Chapter 5 — Billy’s Special Biscuits

Chapter 6 — Waiting Despondently for the Inevitable

Chapter 7 — Beware the Excess Load

Chapter 8 — Tea Cosy

Cast of Characters

Glossary

Thank You!

About the Author

Urban Hunters Books

Bonus Feature

End of Book

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— CHAPTER ONE —

FOUR SMALL STONES

"Where’s your spirit, Billy?" Cobar said as his withered legs lowered him to the edge of the cliff face beside his great–grandson. He peered past his dangling feet to watch a stone descend beyond his eyesight into the river far below.

But Billy didn’t answer.

Cobar’s wisened years afforded him an enduring patience, so he tuned into the caress of cooling shade lavished upon him by a tortured old eucalyptus tree. He admired the twisted, gnarly, old trunk that bulged and clung with determination to a crack in the ancient rock wall. He unconsciously gave his nose–bone a twist while he considered how life had sculpted his own body. A fall down an embankment and a gash in his forearm had drawn a hungry dingo to the smell of his blood. So Cobar ate the dingo and salvaged its foreleg for a trophy. The bone now sat above his lip like a moustache, giving him an air of importance, and a memory that made him smile. All the twisting had made his nose itchy, so he slid out the bone and gave his nose a good scratch.

Finally, Billy sighed as if dragging himself into the relief of his elder’s presence.

Mother come to me last night, he said.

That’s why we have Corroboree here, Billy. Cobar spread his arms wide, displaying the mist swirling up through the carpet of treetops across the river. The spirits are strong, the ancestors can talk to us.

She want me to follow the river till the brown snake stand up, where he watch over them whitefellas.

Ah, it’s you! Cobar said while sliding his bone back into place. She show me big Red kangaroo go down river in a canoe.

Why she want me to go, Grandfather?

No future for you boys here. We the only Aborigines left. We gotta find you some girls or no more Dreaming.

But, Grandfather I’m only thirteen! I’m not even man yet. Them whitefellas gonna kill me too.

Your mother won’t let that happen, Billy. That’s why she pick you — you smart, you listen her, not like brothers. He indicated his head towards Billy’s older brothers, Mallee and Pindaari.

A tiny smile curled one edge of Billy’s full lips as he noticed Mallee selecting some stones from the dirt around their campsite — he knew his day was about to get interesting.

Not time yet anyway, Cobar said. "Maybe when it is time, you be man. When you see the big Red kangaroo, you will know