Short listed in the SANTA FE WRITERS PROJECT (SFWP) 2022 Literary Awards: Desperate for experience, and a chance to earn his stripes, 23 year old pilot, Will is forced to accept gruelling work in remote Outback Australia, with cringeworthy, hilarious and often hair-raising consequences. ACE student, William Boyston's whole life has been about flying. He's sacrificed everything to get his pilot licence, leaving him with a massive overdraft, an unhealthy Top Gun obsession, and an addiction to Luigi's coffee - the big-hearted, hopeless romantic, and Italian proprietor of Will's favourite cafe. Renting a shared house in Nineties Melbourne, with Adam, his impossibly cool, Fedora wearing, bushwalking flatmate, Will only has one thing on his mind - getting his Captain's stripes so he can fly Boeing jets for an international airline. If only jobs weren't so scarce in the city. At the bottom of the career ladder, and desperate to pay off his escalating debt, he'll take any work, however menial. So when he gets his only job offer he knows that he must take it. Even though it means relocating 3000km to the harsh, far north of Australia. Even though it means saying goodbye to his prized Toyota Corolla T18, to Adam, and to their intriguing new flatmate, Molly Malone. In the isolated towns of the Northern Territory, Will's life is soon defined by stifling heat, squalid accommodation, and the peculiar habits of the locals. Social opportunities are almost non-existent. Work is erratic. Living expenses are sky-high. Life up here is nothing like the big city - snakes, scary neighbours, crocodiles, and relentless hordes of blowflies. But if he's ever going to get into an airline, he needs thousands of hours in the air. No, he must stick to the plan and focus on filling his log book. He lives to fly. It's all he's ever wanted. So why can't he stop thinking about Molly, the girl he left behind?
