Geoff Parkes is making his debut as a fiction author - but his CV highlights a long and varied career across multiple areas.

He's worked in abattoirs and wool sheds in New Zealand, he’s been a hay contractor, sold insurance and has been an executive of a Fortune 500 company in the medical industry. 

He's also made a name for himself as a rugby writer - and he's written his debut novel set in rural New Zealand, When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole.

"There's certainly elements of my experience - people, events, even little snatches of dialogue, things like that. They're dotted in the book, but by far, the majority of it is fictional...and that's really the process."

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