Contention
Description
The Contention book series is based on the world of horse racing and will intoxicate readers who love adventure, sport, crime and mystery. It will even capture lovers of romance. Its a mixture of the TV series "Dallas and Yellowstone"
Book one "Contention" introduces Logan Weston, a down-on-his-luck Australian racehorse trainer who can't seem to catch a break. Angus Masters, his arrogant training arch rival born with a silver spoon in his mouth, has kicked Logan in the guts one too many times. First Angus took Logan's wife and now he has stolen his prize horse out from under him. When Logan lays out Angus Masters cold with one punch, he is arrested and suspended from racing. His world is turned upside down. But when the Aussie underdog is offered a dream job in England by the Baker Racing empire his life looks to be turning around......
The Contention Book Series follows Logan's rags to riches journey and captures the greatest moments on the racetrack between horse, rider, trainer and owner. It delves into the dark criminal underworld of the racing industry and takes you on a roller coaster ride of race fixing, extortion, drug dealing and money laundering.
Finally, a book series written by a hands-on horseman with over 40 years' experience in the Australian racing industry.
Stephen Irwin captures the exhilaration, triumphs and tragedies of horse racing in a book series that will captivate you from the very start.
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Person
I was raised in the state of South Australia in Australia near a very small town on the end of the Murray River. The town was called Narrung. My hands on horsemanship started with the thoroughbred horse from the age of four. I was my fathers shadow and it was alongside my father my passion for racing began. I would ride track work before school and as soon as I would get off the bus I would head straight to the stables in the afternoon.
My passion was preparing yearlings for sale and I was very fortunate to sell many champions and million dollar plus yearlings over my time and also run my very own successful farm as well.
I never realized until about ten years ago I had an artistic flair and could also write. My Artist side is making metal sculptures and I have been fortunate enough to win a few significant awards. The front cover of my very first book Contention is actually a sculpture I made called "Taking the Plunge" that is now in the Sculpture Garden in the town of Mudgee NSW. (That is also me in the circle posing ).
My whole career in the racing game has provided me with a memory bank of so many characters for my books. All the highs and lows in life, the victory moments and also the heart breaking times in the racing and breeding game enable me to draw on my memory bank and bring to life my fiction story's.
Its sad in ways that I can say I've rub shoulders at the horse sales with a quite a few underworld figures while not knowing the real truth behind their wealth. Most of them always get caught and it shocks the hell out of us all with their underworld lifestyle we never actually knew about. I'm very fortunate to say that 99% of the people I have met in the horse industry are simply decent horse loving people. The fact is everyone loves a villain in a story and my books always have a touch of a underworld/gangster side to spice things up. Enjoy the read and please feel free to send me reviews and emails about what you thought about the book.
