My First Book Is Out!

I must say, after over a year of focused work, it’s a great feeling to open a box and see books with my name on it. It’s a grand feeling to finally hold it in my hands and know it’s real! 🙂

Beautiful Nonsense is an anthology of 35 funny and odd short stories, in the vein of Monty Python, Blackadder, Jack Handey, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Here’s my official description below the photos.

BN2

BN1

An out of touch father trying to teach his bored son a unique form of martial arts.

A flashy superhero who cares more about his image than actually doing anything heroic.

A shy Martian longing to fit into high school in the American Mid-West.

The thirty five short stories within Kris Bather’s debut range from the bizarre (elderly friends hazily recounting their glory days) to the even more bizarre (competitors in a chili eating festival happily willing to die for first prize).

Surreal and silly, Beautiful Nonsense embraces the inherent oddness of interactions, both human and otherwise, and takes them to hilarious extremes.

You can buy the digital version for only $1.49 from the Amazon Australia store. The print version as well as the digital version are also available from Amazon’s other sites worldwide, including America and the UK. Canada! France! Brazil! India! Germany!

You can check out a preview of my book on the links above, but it is a random preview, so you may not get my complete stories. However you can check out full previews on my Wattpad.

It’s published through CreateSpace, which is effectively Amazon’s self-publishing arm, and I highly recommend it. Anyone can publish their books via CreateSpace and with Amazon’s global reach, it makes a lot of sense for indie authors like myself.

It’s been a challenging process at times, but also a very rewarding one. If you do buy a copy, I hope you like it and please let me know what you think.

April 27, 2017
Categories: Books, My Funny Stories, News, Ramblings, Short stories . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

I’m Back

I started this blog in 2008. I’m not the same man today that I was then.

I’ve written reviews about comics and films, both mainstream and independent. I’ve interviewed over 120 writers, artists and creative people across a variety of websites, plus the Extra Sequential magazine and podcast. It was fun, and exciting and eventually it became less so.

Then last year, I stopped. I stopped because the joy in doing those things stopped. I was no longer motivated to spend hours at home on my keyboard every week showcasing the artistic and diverse forms of expression that gave me pleasure. A number of quiet yet powerful events occurred to bring this shift in my focus.

Some health hiccups, tremendous travel opportunities, a new job. All these things exploded in my life in and they’ve opened my eyes to see things anew.

That’s given me a renewed sense of purpose, refined by God and some beautiful people I’m blessed to call my friends.

And that’s why I want to start blogging about stuff that matters to me, and I’m sure you’ll find it interesting. I have new priorities now. The last three years have seen a dramatic turn in the way I eat, dress, and generally live. I’m twenty kilos lighter. I read and watch more diverse media. There’s an incredibly exciting opportunity within the theatre world, plus I’m starting to write again. You can catch my stories on Wattpad.

I’ve also just had a short story published in the latest issue of the new digital magazine, Phantasmagoria (such a cool name).

Have a read of my fanciful tales, and let me know what you think. There will be more. Oh yes.

May 18, 2015
Categories: My Funny Stories, News, Ramblings, Uncategorized . . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: 2 Comments

Maj Monologues 2012 Finals

Last year I had the honour of being a finalist in the annual monologue competition at His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth. You can read my script from last year here.

I submitted a new monologue this year for the theme Modern Gods but alas, didn’t get picked, but no-one else did from last year either by the looks of it. If you’d like to see this year’s competition, it starts at His Maj on Wednesday May 2 and ends on Saturday May 5. Get all the info you need here, and below is my submission for this year. I must say, I struggled a bit with the theme this year. Last year, it came rather easily.

The Cult of Donald

My step brother Donald once tried to start a cult. Actually, he didn’t try; he succeeded. Though I often wonder, how exactly do you measure the success of a cult? By the number of robe clad bodies the police have to put in body bags? Or maybe by the number of successful Hollywood actors who follow your teachings?

Thankfully, Donald didn’t kill anyone, or himself, but he did prove that you don’t need a good education or even a pleasant body odour to amass followers who believe whatever craziness spouts from your mouth. Apparently all you need is a mildly entertaining delusion, and no awareness of personal space. Continue reading →

April 17, 2012
Categories: My Funny Stories, News . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

My Monologue

A few months ago I wrote a monologue for a competition. I was one of the finalists which meant my monologue was performed every night for a week at His Majesty’s Theatre, here in Perth. It was a great opportunity and a real encouragement to see my words bring laughter to a crowded theatre.

The actor who performed my monologue  was Nick Candy, who can currently be seen on the TV ad for Blueprint Homes did a great job, and we both received a glowing review.

Below is the complete script. The performance on the night had to be less than 12 minutes, so a few paragraphs were cut. The theme was Treachery and Lechery in the 21st Century, which meant my story, inspired by my own experiences from a few years ago, was slightly ruder than my usual stuff.

A huge thanks must go to the Maj Monologues, presented by the Brainbox Project, and I’ll be sure to enter again next year.

Hit the Read More link for the whole shebang, and I hope you enjoy the dark humour.

 

 

 

The best thing about having one testicle is the jokes.

“What did the teste cancer patient say at the party?” “I’m having a ball!”

“What do Lance Armstrong and the Tower of Pisa have in common?” “ They both lean to the left.”

Ah, classic.

My own story to becoming a Uniballer is filled with laughs, greed and more needle marks than a Keith Richards weekend at home.

Four years ago, I was studying creative arts at Uni. It was my attempt to avoid working for a living. You see, many years ago, my grand parents won the second ever lottery in Australia. They were already wealthy and were shrewd investors, so they were able to retire in their fifties. As part of their will they left a hefty payment to my parents as long as they had children, and had the same deal for myself. So when I was born my parents’ bank account instantly became filled with more zeroes than my school report. My granddad was a rather paranoid Polish immigrant and was determined to keep the family name alive. He thought that if there was a generous financial reward encouraging children then his name would live on. Not a bad idea really, although it didn’t spur me on to pump out any kids. It just made me veer dangerously close to becoming Hugh Grant’s character in About A Boy – a selfish, bored waster of time and money. Landing at Uni was at least a pleasant distraction from any potential cubicle dwelling existence.

Continue reading →

September 26, 2011
Categories: My Funny Stories . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: 3 Comments

My Maj Monologue Review

I did my first interview (on the other side of the keyboard for the first time) and now I’ve received my first review. How exciting. My monologue (performed by an actor) went down well and almost every night at His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth was sold out last week. It was a great honour to be a part of the theatre scene and although I didn’t win any of the 3 awards, just being a finalist and having my words coming out of someone else’s mouth on stage was very exciting. Here’s my first and only review of my monologue, Nut Job.

Nut Job by Kris Bather. Actor Nick Candy bounced his way through this often hilarious work about a very dark subject; testicular cancer. The pace was relentless and the double entendres and witticisms were reminiscent of a Seinfeld episode. Even more so when our hero moves to New York. Bather developed the plot extremely well – there was pathos as well as black humour and a clever twist to the love interest angle in the story. A gentle warning to men in the audience was a subtle touch with which to finish.

Yep, my name in lights. Kinda.

Mladen (the hairy one) and me. Your Extra Sequential podcast hosts.

March 29, 2011
Categories: My Funny Stories, Reviews . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

My Maj Monologue

Yay! A friend told me about this annual competition at Perth theatre, His Majesty’s (the only operating Edwardian theatre in the Southern hemisphere!) so I entered and I made it into the final 8. Woo hoo! The theme for this year is Treachery and Lechery in the 21st Century and we had to create a monologue for an actor that was 8-15 minutes long.

Last night was the premiere and it runs until Saturday night. I gotta say, it was a blast. My monologue is entitled Nut Job and is a dark comedy based on my cancer experience. I’m all good now though.  It’s great to hear my words coming out of someone else’s mouth, and to hear a packed room laugh at all the right places. It’s such a blessing and an encouragement.

Below are a few (they don’t show much, as I couldn’t distract the actors) photos of last night and an interview with me that appeared in a local paper last week, with my Zoolander pose. It was fun to be on the other side of an interview I must say.

March 23, 2011
Categories: My Funny Stories, News . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: 1 Comment

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