Imago - La série

Nerdy, introverted genius lepidopterist, Lawson Gale, is an expert on butterflies. He finds himself in a small town in Tasmania on a quest from an old professor to find an elusive species that may or may not even exist. Local Parks and Wildlife officer, Jack Brighton, is an ordinary guy who loves his life in the sleepy town of Scottsdale. Along with his Border collie dog, Rosemary, his job, and good friends, he has enough to keep from being lonely. But then he meets Lawson, and he knows he’s met someone special. There’s more to catching butterflies, Jack realises. Sometimes the most elusive creatures wear bow ties, and sometimes they can’t be caught at all. Lawson soon learns there are butterflies he can’t learn about it in books. They exist only in a touch, in a kiss, in a smile. He just has to let go first, so these butterflies can fly. Imago is the story of finding love, bow ties, and butterflies.

Jack Brighton and Lawson Gale have been together for six months and are very much in love. Lawson’s work ensuring the survival of the Tillman Copper is as demanding as ever, and Jack’s work with the regeneration of the bushfire-ravaged national park is just as hectic. When Jack suggests they take a short trip, Lawson agrees. But then he is offered a two-week research position in tropical Queensland to help determine why the Ulysses butterfly is on the decline. Figuring they could combine work and pleasure, Jack and Lawson go on their first vacation together. Working alongside renowned professor Piers Bonfils isn’t easy. But personal and professional differences aside, Lawson is offered a more permanent role in Queensland. Torn between his new life in Tasmania with Jack and a dying species of butterfly he feels compelled to save, Lawson has to decide where his fate lies. But fate changes the rules. On a research expedition into the depths of the rainforest, suddenly it's not only the butterflies’ existence that hangs in the balance. A butterfly’s life cycle never changes. From larvae to imago, their course is plotted by design. Jack and Lawson need to determine where they stand, if they live through it. Because the only thing more incredible than one imago is two.

When Charlie Sutton’s neighbour Greg is notified by the Queensland government that they intend to run a pipeline through his property, Charlie vows to help him fight it. Then Travis remembers seeing butterflies at the creek near their joining fence line - the same butterflies they couldn’t find in any Australian butterfly book. Hopeful this might be their only chance to stop the development, they seek the help of a specialist. Lawson Brighton-Gale receives an email request to identify a butterfly in the Outback, only to discover it’s not an Australian butterfly at all. But that’s not all he discovers. The name on the request is familiar to Jack. An old friend from his university days, who also happened to be his old friend with benefits, Charlie Sutton. Years ago, two out-of-towners met at the University of Sydney. Both studying environmental sciences, both hundreds of miles from home, and both finding their worlds open to new experiences, they fell into bed together. Meeting again after all this time, in front of Lawson and Travis, won’t be awkward at all, right? Lawson and Jack’s trip to Sutton Station certainly doesn’t go to plan, and what they take back to Tasmania isn’t just butterflies, but a cocoon of possibilities.

When Jack receives a phone call from a colleague in the southeast of Tasmania with news of a newfound butterfly habitat, he and Lawson head off on another adventure. It’s not an easy trek to the location. The Franklin-Gordon National Park is famous for wild rivers, rainforests, and rocky cliff faces, and they’ll need to hike and abseil—in the dead of winter—to get to the site. It’s no ordinary expedition because this is no ordinary butterfly, and Jack and Lawson aren’t an ordinary couple. Join Jack and Lawson on another quest in this short story of extraordinary butterflies and extraordinary love. * Imagoes is a 17,000-word short story.