AustLit

'From the author who has made the Deep Fantasy genre her own, comes a lyrical tale of a journey deep into Australia's blood-red desert heart and into the deeper mysteries of self.

'When we set out into the wilderness, what is it we really seek? Do we seek new sights or do we seek new selves? And are we really on one journey or on two?

'Journeying fifteen thousand kilometres into Australia's blood-red heart, Nikakis discovers that every journey is perilous, for travellers risk carrying the clutter of their outer lives with them; a clutter that blinds them to the other journey they crave; that of the inner soul-journey into a deeper understanding of self.

'To enter Australia's vast Outback wilderness, is to enter a place of endless horizons; a place doused with brilliant gold dawns and dazzling sunsets; a place silvered by star-encrusted night skies and, most importantly, a place of hidden sacred places in whose deep stillness our inner journeys can at last unfold.

'In the spirit of travellers like Robert Macfarlane and Scott Stillman, Nikakis asks what it is we really see, feel and understand when we follow in the steps of those who have gone before us deep into the wilderness.

'Drawing on her Ph.D. in Joseph Campbell's hero myth, and using original poetry and novel extracts, Nikakis takes us on this second journey; a journey of the sacred, spirit and soul, where our inner selves finally have the time and space to gift us richer and more fully-realised lives.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Orin has pursued Genn for seasons uncounted, but the beautiful Velven has no intention of ever locking wings with him, no matter how glorious he is. If she locks wings with any Waiwin at all, it will be with one who wants to nest with her and raise their young together.

'Orin is determined to win her and Genn avoids him by escaping to her favorite riven, a place filled with the most wondrous glass-stones. But when she visits the riven this time, the glass-stones are smashed and the remains of a massive she-dragon lies amidst the wreckage.

'Flintsaurs have stripped the dragon’s flesh, gnawed her bones, and devoured her final clutch of eggs, all except one, which Genn is determined to save. But flintsaurs are powerful adversaries and they are always hungry.

'Her escape blocked by flintsaurs, Genn sets off into the riven’s cavern in a desperate bid to deliver the egg to safety, but dragon sprites are even more ferocious than flintsaurs and when the egg threatens to hatch, Genn’s quest becomes a perilous race against time.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Jax is on the run from his past. A shifter from the island of Rua, he is trapped on the mainland amongst the despised Off-islanders. Even worse, he’s in the military, with a less than exemplary military record. So when he is ordered to pack up his kit and is flown away in the middle of the night, he is in no position to argue. And it’s not as if he has any other place to go. 

'Ten years before, when Jax was just twelve years old and in bird-form high above his island home, it blew to smithereens, leaving him the only survivor, or so he believes.

'The mystery flight dumps him at a new base where he comes face to face with Matiu, the boyhood friend Jax thought was as dead as his previous life. The military want Jax for an important mission and Matiu wants Jax too, but for different reasons, but there is no way Jax is going to resurrect what took him ten long years to bury.

'As the pressure on him ramps up, Jax flees but is confronted by something more deadly than his nightmarish memories. To stop the other Islanders suffering the same fate as his people, Jax must finally face who and what he really is, and decide where he truly belongs.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Winter grips the Vales as the battles to rid the lands of the Tallon invaders build to a bloody climax. Geth, Ceannasai of a Ranger band, has already lost his closest friend Nyar to their swords, and is furious when Nyar’s sister Kyth appears on the eve of the final battle. 

'She should be safe in the Crags, where Geth promised Nyar she would remain, but Geth has something Kyth wants, something he has denied her, and when he denies her a second time, she refuses to leave.

'To add to the dangers, Kyth has a glass-heart with her, a lesser being with slurred speech and strangely hooded eyes. Glass-hearts are mysterious but there is one thing Geth is absolutely certain of: its presence at the battle-front imperils them all.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'In a world made deaf by hatred, who will hear the messenger?

'Severine's world ends the day her family is murdered. Being raised in the loving community of gay Travelers always marked her as an outsider, but being female puts her in mortal danger. Women are scarce, precious, and hunted.

'When chance brings Severine face to face with the father she has never known, he assigns the son of his murdered best friend to guard her. They soon clash.  Severine believes all men are violent brutes and Jeph resents his freedoms being curtailed. 

'An uneasy understanding grows but Jeph is glad to deliver her to the Enclaves, a sanctuary her father has carved out in the mountains for his women and children.

'But there is no safety in a world broken by war and sickness and when violence follows her, Severine flees to the northern city of Andhaka in search of a home amongst her mother's people. Jeph follows, bound by loyalty to her father, but the north holds terrible dangers for him.

'It's been years since Andhaka has welcomed outsiders with anything but bullets, and to survive and to protect Jeph, Severine must learn to use her enemies' weapons against them.

'As the stakes rise, she comes to understand the horror of her mother's loss, and what drove her father north seventeen years before.

'His quest becomes her quest, but she hasn't counted on the savage legacy that war and sickness have left behind, or on falling in love.

'Can Severine succeed where her father failed? Or will her fate prove even deadlier than his?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It seems Lady Luck has smiled on Viv at last. Or has she?

'When Viv is offered the chance of a home with the little girl she loves, she grabs it but then the child is snatched. To rescue her, not only must Viv battle the little girl's enemies, but those who love the child as well.

'The perilous quest leaves Viv horribly injured, and she ends up in a world where she is offered the opportunity to finally heal herself. It means opening herself to terrible new risks but also the possibility of securing the little girl's safety, once and for all.

'She returns to the child's world but is pursued by those who believe she holds the key to their deepest desires and, as their threats escalate to violence, Thris reappears. Viv's happiness soon turns to dread, as he reveals a threat that could destroy the little girl's world, as well as his own.

'Thris joins with Ky and Ash in a desperate fight to avoid the impending catastrophe and as events build to a climax, Viv prepares to sacrifice everything for those she loves.

'Will Viv's search finally deliver her the loving home she craves? Or will she, and those she cares about, end their lives in the cataclysm that threatens?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Viv thought things couldn't get any worse, but she is about to be proved wrong.

'Disfigured by the ordeal she has somehow managed to survive, she realizes her grotesque appearance prevents her continuing her search for her mother and ends any hope of a future with Thris.

'But Viv's angel blood is strong and, aided by its healing, she sets out to find the little girl. She is helped by a man whose kindness is something she has never experienced before, and love blossoms.

'He demands her trust, but haunted by images of witch-burnings, Viv daren't reveal what she really is.  Complications multiply until being with him, and the child she loves, seems all but impossible.

'Thris is bound by his pledge to guide Viv to her mother, and returns, but his search for Viv ends so catastrophically, that he yearns for death.

'All Viv's nightmares come true when she discovers his fate, but saving him, might cost the lives of countless others.

'In Thris's absence, Ky and Ash uncover warnings about a trinity of angels the three of them resemble but who disappeared eons before in mysterious circumstances.

'The warnings about their fate are fragmentary, as if they have been deliberately destroyed.

'Can Viv save the angel she loves? Or will she lose him and everything else she has come to care about?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'What is the price of peace?

'With the fighting over, Tierken pursues Kira to Kessom where she is overjoyed to be reunited with him, but neither have escaped the battles unscathed.

'Kira's health is fragile and Tierken's aggression is honed from months of fighting. To add to the complications, Tierken's enemies in Sarnia have taken full advantage of his absence in the south.

'Angered by their scheming and frustrated by Kira's refusal to bend to his will, his arguments with her escalate until Kira realizes the breach between the Tremen and Terak is too large for her to mend.

'Her hopes for a future with Tierken shattered, she sets out for home, but the Sarsalin is full of dangers and enemies lie in wait.

'Caledon waits too as he struggles to reconcile his own want of Kira with the wants and needs of the stars.

'They travel south together and when they come upon a sick Shargh child, Kira begins to understand the brutal consequences of the fighting, and that bloodshed can only ever seed more bloodshed.

'Desperate to prevent future warfare, Kira resolves to offer the Shargh people healing, despite knowing it will likely cost her life. But when she reaches the Shargh settlement, she makes a shocking discovery that changes everything.

'There are Shargh women there who crave peace as she does, but she comes face to face with the man who believes her death will deliver him everything he desires, and as the final chilling part of the last Telling unfolds, she realizes for the first time, what is truly precious to her and what is worth fighting for.

'Will Kira survive to return to all she loves, or make the ultimate sacrifice as she strives for peace?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Must Tremen healing bow before Terak swords?

'Kira's deepest fears are realized when the Tremen are forced from the forests to join the devastating conflict on the plain.

'To add to her guilt, she can't remain with the people she leads but must go north. Sarnia has no healing, and if the fighting spreads, their wounded will die.

'Leaving behind those she loves, she endures the perilous journey back to Sarnia, only to confront powerful forces determined to keep the ways of the despised Healer Kasheron out of the city.

'As Kira fights to create a place of healing, aid comes from an unexpected quarter, but a healing place without fireweed will save no lives.

'Kira's search for fireweed grows increasingly desperate and then her worst nightmare comes true when the person she loves most in the world is mortally wounded.

'As the fighting drags on and winter deepens, the injured flood in and Kira's struggle to save them takes a deadly toll.  

'In the south, the Shargh tribes join, and Tierken makes a terrible mistake that puts Sarnia at risk. Distrust weakens their forces and as the bloodshed grows, treachery promises to deliver a Shargh victory.

'And then, as Tierken and his men fight for their very existence, word reaches him that Kira's life hangs in the balance. Faced with a terrible dilemma, he makes a choice that risks the destruction of his leadership in the north

'Kira flees to the healing settlement of Kessom but to reach its sanctuary, she must navigate the raging torrent that claimed Tierken's father.

'Will Kira survive to reach the healing she so desperately needs? Or will her journey end in the watery darkness?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Who is friend and who is enemy?

'When Kira’s Shargh captors are attacked, she finds herself a prisoner of those who might prove even deadlier. But then, in a heart-rending twist of fate, their leader is revealed to be the bearer of everything Kira most loved in the world and everything Kasheron most despised.

'Kira hides her identity but her subterfuge is discovered and the dangers multiply. Her quest is to gain aid from her northern kin, but the forests that hid the Tremen from enemies, also hid them from friends, and there is no help for a people without alliance or treaty. To make matters worse, the northern histories tell a very different story of the great Healer Kasheron.

'To aid the Tremen, Kira must turn south again, to where Caledon will bring the Tremen fighters but she and the northern leader share a powerful attraction and he’s determined to keep her safely in the north, far from the Shargh.

'Desperate to learn of Kira’s fate, Caledon journeys north too and they are reunited, but his arrival generates antagonisms that threaten alliances and treaties alike. As Caledon strives to decipher the stars’ intent, the stakes escalate, and he fears following his heart could cause the deaths of countless others.

'Kira is no slave to the stars and, driven by her duties as leader, sets out for the south. Besieged by squalling winds and icy storms, her escort comes under Shargh attack and she finds herself in a desperate flight through the night in a terrifying attempt to outrun them. But Shargh hunters lie in wait, and in a deadly rain of spears, her mare goes down.

'Can Kira survive to finally deliver aid to her people? Or will her quest end in the wind-swept darkness?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'What truths lie hidden in the stars?

'Kira is alone, her food all but exhausted, the forest and those she loves, far behind her. When she stumbles on a stranger under attack, she faces a terrible choice: betray everything Kasheron fought for or walk away.

'The stranger, Caledon, knows a path over the mountains and has friends nearby who can help them, but Kira’s quest is clear: go straight north, gain aid for her people, and return home.

'They continue together but the Azurcades are perilous and when a terrible storm threatens to sweep them to their deaths, their journey becomes a battle for survival.

'Kira’s trust in Caledon grows and his gentleness rouses other, deeper feelings, but Caledon is ruled by forces that pose a lethal threat to her quest. She plans her escape, but new lands bring new enemies and she is taken prisoner.

'Fleeing her captors, Kira finds herself with a people under Shargh attack. As the carnage mounts and she joins with their Healers to save the wounded, her stocks of fireweed run dangerously low. Caledon strives to regain her trust and the stakes escalate when he reveals terrible truths that threaten the Tremen’s very existence.

'As the slaughter continues and Kira embarks on a hazardous search for fireweed, disaster strikes and she is snatched by the Shargh warrior who has long hunted her. Can Kira survive to reach the north and finally deliver aid to her people? Or will her quest end at the Shargh’s brutal hands?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'How can fire quench fire?

'The Tremen are dying and Kira is in a deadly race against time to save them. Somewhere deep in the Warens’ labyrinth of underground tunnels, lies the answer to a riddle and the cure to Shargh wounds.

'To find it, she must defeat the tunnels’ unmapped darkness and Kest, the blue-eyed, blond-haired Commander of the Protectors. As leader of the force Kasheron established to keep the Tremen safe, Kest is sworn to protect, and everything Kira does puts her at terrible risk.

'As she fights to heal, and he to protect, they join in an uneasy alliance to save the people they love.

'When Kira is made Tremen Leader, the stakes rise even further. The Tremen are riven by division and Kira must fight to stop the Tremen community from breaking apart. Desperate to find the cause of the Shargh attacks and stop the Tremen’s suffering, she goes ever deeper into the Warens’ perilous darkness. Kest searches too, his quest in the sunlit forests above.

'When he and his men make a gruesome discovery, he realizes what drives the Sharghs’ murderous attacks, but then he makes a deadly mistake.

'As Kira learns more of her brutal lineage, she is confronted with the horrifying truth that to save her people, she must lose them forever. Can Kira preserve Kasheron’s legacy of peace and healing? Or will all he fought for be swept away by the violence he fled?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A gold-eyed Healer, a prophecy, two brothers at war.

'In seasons long past, twin gold-eyed princes sundered a kingdom. Rejecting his brother’s warrior ways, Kasheron led his people away to establish the Tremen community of Allogrenia, deep in the great southern forests. Forgotten by the outside world and protected by the trackless trees, the Tremen flourish for seasons uncounted, upholding Kasheron’s legacy of peace and healing. All Tremen delight in the healing arts, but Kira is the greatest Healer of them all.

'To the north of Allogrenia, drought grips the land, and the Shargh suffer. A herding people, they lost their grazing tracts years before to the Northern invaders, through long and bloody wars. As the drought tightens its grip, and their herd animals die, the chief’s younger brother seizes on an ancient prophecy to snatch the chiefship for himself.

'The prophecy links the Shargh’s doom to a gold-eyed Healer, and Kira has gold eyes.

'The Shargh attack with devastating consequences, and Kira must fight to save the wounded. But the Shargh wounds rot, no matter her skill, and as the blood-shed continues, Kira faces losing everything and everyone she loves.

'Can Kira cure the Shargh wounds? Or will the Tremen community be destroyed?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Viv’s life has just got a whole lot more dangerous. Her pledge to care for a child means she must put the child’s needs above her own and delay her search for her mother and the beautiful Thris. She nicknames the little girl Poss and heads for Esh-accom where the Scharii say Poss’s surviving family might be. But Poss falls ill and desperate to save the little girl’s life, Viv calls on her thieving skills and is captured.

'To make matters worse, her captor is from the camp she accidentally blew up, the man who pursued her on horseback, the man she only escaped thanks to the pig-bear attack. Yet mystery surrounds him. While he aids Poss, Viv is forced to make a bargain with him that will have terrible consequences.

'Viv has had little to do with children and Poss is very untrusting, but as they journey on, love grows between them. They fight their way over hazardous ridges but as they near Esh-accom’s safety, are overtaken by Waradi fighters. The fighters are on the run with Eshadi fighters hot on their heels, and while Viv manages to hide Poss, she is taken prisoner.

'The Waradi don’t get far before the Eshadi catch them and a massacre follows. The Eshadi leader believes Viv is in league with the Waradi and, only prevented from executing her on the spot by one of his men, condemns her to a slower, more painful death.

'In Ezam, Thris struggles to care for Ky, who is so traumatised by his travels in the folds, that he flees in terror and accidentally transits again. Thris pursues him and they find themselves marooned in an alien fold. After a long search, they discover a way out, but it bears all the signs of a death-trap.

'Ash is unaware of his friends’ plight. Desperate to find reasons for the plumage of ascension in his wings, he goes to the White Helixai, but its pristine pools of pure light rob him of memories of the outside world and of the angels there he loves. And as time stretches away, and he sinks deeper into a trance, the words of his blue angel predecessor, Senquar-archae, that light is the lure and light the trap, might well prove prophetic.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Viv is lost and alone in the Rynth. Thris is gone, his exquisite body torn apart by a beastman, and borne away by Ash and Ky. Without Thris, Viv’s chances of finding her mother are zero. The best Viv can hope for is to find a fold where her angelic traits go unnoticed. She transits on but each new fold holds more perils than the last.

'Ash and Ky deliver Thris’s ravaged body to Crystal Fold but the Principae return a very different angel to Ezam. Ordered back into the Rynth by his furious mentor, Archae Kald, Thris retraces his route in search of Viv. As Shadow, Ky must go too, but terror consumes him and plunges them both into danger.

'Ash continues to draw on the Blue Helixai’s resonance and is rewarded with visions of his friends in the Rynth, but his new-found powers pull him into Kald and Dejon’s destructive rivalry. The appearance of white plumage in his wings increases the risk to him from those who seek his destruction.

'Thris finds Viv, but her joy in his return is short-lived. He is terribly altered and she decides to continue alone but then, in a moment of star-filled beauty, they make love as angels do. They go on together, but come under attack and Viv crashes through into another fold.

'There she finds a child, the sole survivor of a massacre and, desperate to atone for the accident that jailed her, sets off with the child deeper into the fold.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Warrain is plagued by inherited memories of dispossession and slaughter, buried deep in his DNA. Thousands of years before, his ancestors roamed the red desert sands of Australia, but colonising Europeans murdered them, robbed them of their lands, and later of their children.

'And then, when Warrain is just twelve years old, the nightmare repeats.

'But Warrain no longer lives in Australia, or even on Earth. He lives on the planet Imago, in the mixed scientific-technical community of Station One—until the technicians get high on the opioid arrash and break into the weapons’ store. In the bloodshed that follows, the scientists are expelled, Warrain’s father is killed, and his mother and unborn sibling lost to him.

'Over the next five years, the scientists carve out a new rudimentary home for themselves in the Iron Ranges, and the boys Warrain’s grown up with, start to build their own scientific skills. Not Warrain. He wanders the tunnels in the Striate Forests or climbs to the Tors to stare down at the Station, dream of his mother and sibling, and plot revenge.

'And then one day, a series of dramatic events change everything: he is involved in a murder, one of Imago’s sentient fauna, a maggot, calls him by name, and a third moon appears in the sky.

'To make matters worse, when sickness strikes the Station and technicians arrive seeking help, the woman Warrain barely knows he loves, agrees to aid them. Warrain goes too, seizing the opportunity to deal them a blow they’ll never forget. But the third moon brings changes that threaten them all and, to aid the maggot, whose kind is being dispossessed and slaughtered as Warrain’s ancestors were, he must turn his back on the hate that has long sustained him, and find another way to live.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Viv is on day release from jail to attend the funeral of the drunken thug she thinks is her father, when a stranger appears at the grave and offers to reunite her with the mother Viv thought dead. Desperate to find the only person who’s ever loved her, Viv agrees, and is wrenched through a rift into the male angel fold of Ezam. The stranger is an angel and her father, and that makes Viv a half angel or daimon. Nor is this Viv’s only shock. She discovers Ezam is just one of the countless worlds or folds, that make up the uncountable worlds of the Rynth.

'Her father, the powerful Archae Kald, appoints his handsome protégé Thrisdane, a lower order angel, to train Viv for the long and difficult journey through the rifts to her mother. It is a journey that, once accomplished, will speed Thris and Archae Kald’s quests for transcendence. But life in Ezam can be perilous. There are angels there who believe daimon are abominations that must be destroyed, and even Thris’s closest friends, Ash and Ky, see Viv as a threat.

'Thris is kind and caring, and totally unlike the men Viv has been with before. He strives to keep her safe but Viv has lived on the streets and is both damaged and untrusting. She is also crippled by guilt over the accident that landed her in jail.

'Nor is Viv what she seems. Her name, Violet Iris Vacia, hints at a deeper mystery that, as her latent angel traits emerge and Thris’s desire for her grows, brings terrible risks to their journey through the Rynth. Disaster follows disaster until Viv ends up alone in a terrifying fold of creatures that are half beast and half man. And as they slowly close in, she fears that being part-divine, might not be enough.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Fleet is a young Sceadu hunter, strong, fast and fearless. She hunts deep into the forests and frigid, snowy wastelands in search of meat for her people. The seasons have faltered, robbing the rivers of water and fish, and plunging the Sceadu into a fight for survival.

'The Sceadu are guided by shamanic Siahs who vision the future. While Fleet is on hunt, the old Siah dies and the new Siah marries Ashin, the man Fleet loves. The new Siah visions Fleet a task: cross the impassable mountains and retrieve that which will return water and fish to the Sceadu’s rivers.

'Fleet refuses. As a rival for Ashin’s love, she believes she is being sent to her death, but when she breaks the hunter’s sacred law of Talabraith, she sets out into the mountains to atone with her life.

'It is journey that takes Fleet deep into the earth’s darkest places, and even into death itself, and as Siah’s vision inexorably unfolds, Fleet discovers that, doing the impossible is just the beginning.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Seven years before, the love affair of true-Eadar Rangers Etaine and Cormac goes catastrophically amiss—with tragic consequences. As the years pass, Etaine slowly rebuilds her life but the Eadar are under attack from the Fada, religious zealots determined to replace the goddess of the Eadar’s misty lands with their own gods of stone.

The emerald-eyed Eadar are especially targeted, for the wisdom of the goddess runs deep in their veins.

As the violence escalates and the Eadar fight for their very existence, Etaine comes under Cormac’s command, the last Eadar she ever wants to see again. Together they can defeat the Fada, but to do so, Etaine must learn to trust once more and Cormac to Remember.

And time runs short: the Serpent rises.