Arthur

The story of Arthur, hero of The Insatiable Moon, is based on a real character I knew in Ponsonby. He was a wonderful guy, who would come and have conversations with me regularly. We had a kind of revolving loan, whereby I'd lend him some money, and he'd eventually pay me back and immediately ask for another loan.

When he died (of renal failure caused by medication) he still owed me $20. Arthur was a larger than life character, a fluent Maori speaker who believed he had a special mission in life. He always wanted me to tell everyone about him. After he died, I decided to do just that, and wrote the novel which is a fictional impression of his world.

Now that we're under way to make the movie, I guess his story will in some way go out to touch the world, just as he would have wanted. Seems fitting really.