He was beginning to believe what he was sure others must already know: he was a one-hit wonder. When he won the Esther Arlo Prize and his first novel was published, he thought he’d made it. He thought he was going to be huge. Bigger even than Pete, who was making a pretty solid living from his adventure stories. He and Pete had always loved reading and writing when they were younger, so it had made perfect sense when Pete got into writing in his early twenties.

What was strange was when Tony announced that he’d also written a novel — crime — and was ‘joining the family business’. That had surprised Darren because Tony hadn’t ever been much of a reader. He was smart and did well at school. Really well, actually. But his thing had always been maths or economics or computer studies.

Darren had spent a lot of the advance for the two-book deal they’d offered him within a few months. A new car, a few new electronics, several big nights out, and a large chunk was gone. But at the time, he was confident more would be coming. Royalties would start rolling in. Overseas book deals. Maybe he’d sell the film rights. It was just the way the publishers spoke about him, as though he was some sort of prodigy.

But then the book hit the shelves and he was given the sales figures for week one — ninety copies.

‘Is that good?’ he’d asked his agent.

Elizabeth’s voice was gentle. ‘It’s not what we were hoping for.’

‘Okay, but it’s decent? For the first week?’

‘Not exactly.’

He thought sales would pick up the next week, or the week after. They didn’t. The publishers entered his book into the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and the Voss Literary Prize. It didn’t make the longlist for either. A scathing review in the Sydney Morning Herald came out in week four from renowned critic, S. Carter. Standout words included: pretentious, amateur, clichéd. He hated S. Carter. He often harboured vividly violent fantasies involving S. Carter.

The publishers admitted that maybe they’d packaged it incorrectly. Maybe the jacket wasn’t quite right. Maybe the tagline didn’t represent the feel of the book.

He asked if they would change the jacket design for the smaller paperback. Apparently, there wasn’t going to be one.

But they were hopeful they could turn it around with book two. How is book two coming along? they asked, more recently on an increasingly regular basis. They were keen to get it in so they could plan the publishing schedule.

‘It’s close,’ he kept promising. Even though he was now two months past the original deadline with nothing but a bunch of half-written plot notes to show for his efforts over the past two years.