The Staircase

Australian Adventure Stories

The Staircase series of books – What it’s about.

The Staircase is a series of four Australian adventure novels.  A.I. Free. It’s not high-art, horror, sci-fi or (overly) lewd and nobody is shooting anyone.  It’s about a man called Alex, who learns that his deceased father, whom he’d never met, left behind a tenuous trail of half-brothers and sisters. A law firm employs Alex to track them down.  The only clue was that his father had been a master carpenter who built wooden spiral staircases in different parts of Australia. Alex, is not an investigator, but he does have skills that help him to go further than most. 

The four novels are a series that should be read in order, but each is a stand-alone adventure. I hope you’ll like them. One comment. I dislike thick books that waffle on endlessly for hundreds of pages without getting to the point. These stories are not long. A couple of hundred pages each and there’s always something happening. The storytelling is dense. Your time is valuable!

These stories are Self-Published

These books don’t appear in bookstores. There is no Paywall, no login and no account requirements. They are present here as a free download in pdf, Epub or Mobi format for personal use.   If you don’t enjoy the read, then fine, it cost you nothing.  No obligation.  But if you did find it entertaining, and would like to make a contribution, rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 and send me $1 to $10 via Pay Pal.  This will help reimburse me for the hundreds of cups of coffee consumed during writing.  Maybe I’ll only ever get $1 coffees, or maybe you’ll like it and say “Hey that was $10 of entertainment” and click on the matching Pay Pal button. Your choice.

One request though… If you do enjoy the stories, please don’t send copies directly to friends, instead, link them to this site, staircasestories.com and they too can rate how much they liked it. This way we get a better idea of how many are reading this.

If money is tight, then that’s ok. Simply read and enjoy them.

Ian Jackson.

About the Author

Born in the early 1960’s, in suburban Melbourne, Australia. left school at 15 to become an apprentice telephone technician. An avid reader of SciFi and watcher of movies. Amateur Radio operator since the 70’s. Happily married since 83 and keen traveler when funds permit. Quit Telecom Australia in 1990 and started a business designing and manufacturing electronic systems. Author of a lot of technical articles and video clips. Still doing it in 2025. During the quiet hours of domestic and international travel, it seemed like a good idea to churn out a few stories. The rules are simple. Keep the characters moving, keep it interesting, write about topics that come from some expertise and try not to waffle. This website is the result.

Book 1 – Stair into the Past

When Alex Kingbridge learns about his father, his lifestyle changes from handyman to Detective. His search takes him to many places around Australia and even New Zealand, but all the trail keeps looping back to West Wyalong. 

If you are not sure where that is – look it up.  Alex had to.

CLICK TO READ BOOK 1

Book 3 – Stair into the East

Alex is a man who’s knowledge of China is limited to take-away fried rice and prawn crackers, yet now he must travel a cold trail to remote parts of The People’s Republic of China to find a child who may be his brother or sister.  He wanted to do this quietly and smoothly, but the exact opposite occurs and the Chinese police have him in their sights.

CLICK TO READ BOOK 3

Book 2 – Stair into the Abyss

An unexpected turn sends Alex to Tasmania.  The path of discovery takes him down the white water of the Franklin River and links to the 80’s when it was one of the world’s biggest environmental hotspots. Here he learns how his father played a secret role in the preservation of Tassie Wilderness.

CLICK TO READ BOOK 2

Book 4 – Stair into the Sunset

Alex knows that his father died and somehow made a lot of money before it happened.  What really took place in his last days and why did his father’s carpentry skills take him to one of the world’s most remote locations of the Australian Outback?  To find out, Alex was going to have to literally follow a trail into the desert and uncover one of the nation’s biggest secrets.

CLICK TO READ BOOK 4