Sixties

The cultural revolution of the long 1960s (1960-1975) brought in one of the greatest cultural shifts the world has known. Music, dress, moral ideas, social manners, and political attitudes were turned upside down. The war generation hardly knew what motivated the post-war generation. Across Western Society a social fissure opened. The leaders of the revolution were twenty-year-olds ('Don't trust anyone under 30'), mostly from an educated middle-class background.Counterculture Dreams follows the lives of a group of young people in Sydney who navigate the changes, some grasping the changes, others resisting and even condemning them, and still others making disastrous choices. The story centres on Danny Williamson and his younger sister, Angela.Danny ends school, innocent of the traps in society that others, including Angela, see. He forms a relationship with clever Cathy Dunn, who clings to her Catholic traditions. He begins university in 1963 with Cathy, though at different universities. Meeting outlandish counterculture leader, Ronnie Newell, whose audacity impresses him, disturbs his relationship with Cathy. Not fully aware of the influences around Ronnie and his crowd, he gradually drifts away from Cathy. He does not see the disruption he is heading towards, despite Angela's and Cathy's warnings.All the while, Angela plays a mysterious game with Danny's best friend, Max Gallagher. But is it a game? Nobody is sure until Prime Minister Robert Menzies announces a national service scheme to meet the threat of communism taking over Southeast Asia, beginning with Vietnam. Danny and Max are eligible for the call-up. Gerda van den Donker, introduced in TIMES OF DISTRESS and with a bigger role in IN THIS VALE OF TEARS, reappears. Jannie de Kam, also introduced in IN THIS VALE OF TEARS, reappears in close company with Gerda van den Donker.As with each title in the Sixties Series, a major theme is the transition from the innocence of traditional life in the 1950s to the mayhem of the 1960s cultural revolution and how each character deals with the moral and political upheaval.The Sixties series will consist of eight connected but stand-alone stories. The themes of the 'Goddess', neo-paganism, and Gnosticism are threads through the stories. The historical, political, and ideological background is the cultural revolution of the long 1960s and the Second Vatican Council. The author who lived through those times recreates its atmosphere.Book 1 Times of DistressBook 2 In this Vale of TearsBook 3 Counterculture DreamsBook 4 The Counterculture Goddess (2025)Book 5 Love in the Counterculture (2026)Book 6 Dreams to Nightmare (2026)Book 7 The Castle of Heavenly BlissBook 8 A Sense of Loss due 2026 After a lifetime working in the book business (mostly educational publishing) I now concentrate on my writing. One of my formative experiences was living in Holland with my Dutch wife for two and a half years. On returning to Australia, I completed a major in Dutch Language and Literature before a master's degree in philosophy. My studies and immersion in another culture and language, together with my Catholic faith, form the biggest influences on my writing. But shaping those influences are my mother and father. One could not have more principled parents. My master's thesis was on Edmund Burke whose thought permeates my writing. My preoccupations are social and cultural from a Catholic and (Burkean) conservative perspective. This reflects my acceptance of the Catholic idea of the reciprocal relationship between faith and reason. My favourite fiction authors are Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Evelyn Waugh. Evelyn Waugh's style and mastery of English have been my biggest influence – not in vain, I hope. My favourite modern non-fiction author is philosopher Roger Scruton. I spend my leisure time reading and occasionally walking along the nearby shores of Port Phillip Bay. I love opera, musicals, and the ballet (The Nutcracker is my favourit

Prepublication review: Counterculture Goddess is a masterly exercise in weaving the many strands of history – religious, geographic, military, social, literary and political – into a novel. They were tumultuous times, and you've brought out the difficulties for many people, particularly faithful Catholics, in finding their way through them.Anneke van Engelen strikes deep enmity in Gerda van den Donker by mocking her goddess beliefs. She becomes nasty and jealous of her best friend, Nienke Nijboer, whom she thinks handsome, personable James Williamson prefers. She is wrong. James prefers her. When Anneke and Nienke start university in Amsterdam in 1966, they meet Wolter Langbroek and Luuk Rietveld.Against the backdrop of the 1960s sexual revolution and the turmoil left by the Second Vatican Council in Holland, Anneke's and Nienke's relationships evolve, Anneke with Wolter and Nienke with Luuk. They are drawn into the goddess movement, along with Gerda, whose hatred of Anneke has not cooled.Anneke must resolve her two-timing with Wolter and gets a taste of it herself when Katja van Amstel, a former girlfriend of Wolter's, walks back into his life. Their lives are further complicated by Wolter's relationship, through his job as an economics advisor, with Roy Clark, whom Luuk suspects of being a CIA officer. By the end of 1967, the entanglement of relationships and the political intrigues become explosive. After a lifetime of working in the book business, Gerard Charles Wilson now concentrates on his writing. The focus is on social, political, and religious themes. One of his formative experiences was living in Holland for two and a half years. He completed a major in Dutch Language and Literature and then a master's degree in philosophy. His studies and immersion in another culture and language, together with his Catholic faith, form the biggest influences on his writing.