Author — R J Healey, Historical Fiction and Fantasy

The dreams began decades ago — so vivid, so emotionally raw, that waking felt like the interruption. An immortal man named Nico lived entire lifetimes in those nocturnal hours, his world more tangible than daylight reality. For over twenty years I carried him, waiting until I found the words.

Sailing, Suffolk and Australia

I have walked Roman roads, explored clifftop ruins, and sailed the river that leads from The Settlement to the Germanic Sea. I grew up on the banks of that tidal river in Suffolk, England, sailing dinghies, often alone. I came to Australia in 1973 and my life of sailing continued. On night passages, moonlight transforms familiar water into something otherworldly. Countless hours at anchor in perfect stillness taught me that time can stretch into something close to eternity.

A native dog companion revealed the ancient bond between human and wolf. He was more cat than dog in his independence, more human than either in his intelligence. His spirit walks again as Beauty the wolf.

I played keyboards in rock bands, on stage in venues where the music was loud enough to shake the foundations. The raw energy, the crowd, the talented musicians around me. The very best of fun.

Like Nico, I moved to warmer climes and dived in clear azure waters, watching countless sunrises over seas that haven’t changed since his time. Nico shares my belief that a view is a glimpse of life in motion — that open horizons and unconfined spaces feed the soul.

Writing Vanishing Age in Far North Queensland

I live on a hillside above a tropical inlet in Far North Queensland. Every evening I sit on the veranda at Twilight Time — that hour the Greeks have always known deserves a name — and watch the light leave the range across the water. At night the dark flat lands become the straits, the range becomes Ithaca, and for a moment I am Nico on his terrace.

That is where the Vanishing Age trilogy was written. In that space between the real world and the imagined one, where they are sometimes the same thing.

While reading through the finished story, I began to recognise old friends. It is not surprising that they would appear in my dreams. One evening at Twilight Time I was texting a friend when I realised that she is perhaps 70% of Elly. It astonished me that I had not seen it before. So I can truthfully say I know Elly. The shadows of friends and all my experiences live in every page of Vanishing Age.

“In the still spaces between waking and dreaming, memories drift like whispers and the soul breathes life into shadows, turning decades of shared adventures, echoes of real people, and emotional truths into something eternal.”
— R J Healey, Author, Vanishing Age

Vanishing Age captures one beautiful moment in an eternal existence. Nico’s extraordinary journey has only just begun.

Meet Nico, Elly & Prim in the excerpts — Read four free scenes.