Blaze by Di Morrissey Page A

safe. But for how long would it remain so if she returned to the country of her childhood as a high-profile achiever? This was supposed to be a big career move. If only Nina realised, sending Ali back to Australia could crumple the tightly locked mask she showed the world.

TAKE FOUR . . .
    Sydney, 2000
    M anny Golan sniffed the red wine appreciatively as his lunch was put before him. ‘Promising,’ he conceded. ‘And the food is beautifully presented, but what is it?’ He raised an eyebrow at the waitress.
    â€˜Roast emu fillet, wild pear wrapped in a crispy crepe with munthari berry and apple,’ said the waitress with a smile.
    Steve Vickers, managing director of Trends Advertising Agency explained to the bemused New Yorker, ‘Edna’s Table is one of Sydney’s top restaurants that’s made a name for itself with Australian native cuisine. It used to be known as bush tucker, but this is a far cry from witchetty grubs and a goanna thrown on the hot coals.’ He lifted his glass, ‘ Bon appétit , welcome to Sydney.’
    â€˜Thanks. I really do feel I’m on the other side of the world.’ Manny gingerly tasted his meal, then nodded in satisfaction. The two men talked food and dining experiences until the main course was cleared and their wine glasses refilled. Manny glanced around, ‘I suppose a cigar is out of the question?’ But he knew the answer to that one, so he broke off a piece of bread and chewed it instead of his cigar. ‘Let’s talk business. Nina’s brought me out for a couple of months to set up the financial structure, break in the new financial controller and drum up business. That’s where you come in. We want the big boys to advertise with us. We have a head start as Nina is pals with most of the multinationals. We intend Blaze Australia to be as successful as the others. To do that, in a small country like this, we have to dominate the readership – male and female. We’re printing one million for Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific islands to start. And we’ll be injecting enough resources into the marketing of Blaze to make every one of those one million copies sell. As Nina has said, this is not just a new magazine. It’s a revolution in publishing standards for Australia.’
    Steve let out a low whistle in an expulsion of breath. ‘That’s more than a sizeable chunk in this crowded marketplace. Nina might be able to pull in favours to start with, but you’ll have to deliver those circulation figures to keep attracting the cream of the big accounts.’
    â€˜Chicken or the egg, eh?’ grinned Manny. ‘Listen, you tell your account executives they are buying into Triton, one of the slickest, biggest media organisations in the world. Now, instead of having to buy the New York edition in Sydney, they’ll have their own baby, the sophisticated sister of the biggest magazine in the world. This baby’ll be carrying enough material from the New York edition to keep the old readers happy, but she’ll also be tackling the top local stories.’
    â€˜I take your point. There’s an established readership already buying the US edition of Blaze. If your research is right, this new one should have a lot of appeal.’
    â€˜Cost less too. The infrastructure is in place,’ added Manny.
    â€˜So let’s go over your profile of the readers,’ said Steve making notes in a small notebook.
    â€˜Smart women, clever men . . . women who want to be on top of more intelligent information than fitness and fashion, though they will have that too, and men whose interests stretch past sport,’ said Manny quickly.
    â€˜It’s not going to evolve into yet another classy version of a women’s magazine?’
    â€˜No way. This country is full of women’s magazines that you and I wouldn’t pick up. Nor would our wives. To quote the august