Ballot: When Fate Called Their Name follows four young Australians conscripted by chance into Vietnam, and how that single moment echoes through war, espionage, and the uneasy aftermath of medals, memory, and mateship. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Life experience! As a 19-year-old, I sat with friends in a sweltering flat in Sydney and watched birthdates drawn from the conscription ballot. My date wasn’t called, but a friend of mine was.

The war in Vietnam had become hugely controversial. Anti-war and moratorium marches were frequent.

Attitudes toward the war were deeply divided.

The whole era left an indelible mark on me, and was unexpectedly resurrected when I travelled to Vietnam on business and saw the remnants of the war, including coffins draped in US flags being loaded onto an aircraft in Hanoi.

Mitch, Greg, Jay, and Kiwi feel like real blokes rather than archetypes. How did you shape their dynamics?

All based on friends and acquaintances I’ve met and known over the years, worked with, played with, and faced difficult times with. I’ve used my imagination to consider how they might have interacted had they known one another. Names are fictitious, of course!!

Jay’s choices raise difficult questions about survival and allegiance. Did you want readers to judge him, or sit with the discomfort?

I did want to evoke a sense of dilemma between loyalty, courage, survival, and freedom of choice, and to be a little provocative about what is good and what is best from differing perspectives. The clash of cultures, worldviews, and an individual’s life experience all play a part in shaping who we are and what we believe.

I think the discomfort is important. It’s real. Fight or flight. Very little in life is black and white. I think being faced with the choice between sacrifice and survival, and where to place allegiance, is one of life’s greatest tests.

That said, I am sure some readers will judge him, and that’s OK, it’s all part of the dilemma of choice, values, and self-preservation. I like the dichotomy.

What do you hope younger readers, far removed from the Vietnam era, take from this story?

It’s part of the ‘we will remember’ ethos of past wars and of those who sacrificed, who displayed courage, and who were willing to serve. So I’d like to think the story shines a little light on life during the period when the war was fought.

Perhaps, in particular, the world their grandparent’s lived in when choice wasn’t always freely available, when governments and ideologies demanded compliance.

Entertainment wrapped in a thought-provoking historical period that may create some understanding of the fickleness of life.

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