AustLit

'In space, no one can hear you open your presents.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'Have you heard the one about the guy who lost a grandfather, but found a girlfriend? It's funny. It's also kind of sad. And some of the bits that are sad are also kind of funny (but only if you laugh at that sort of thing).

'Adam thinks Samantha could be the one for him. But first he has to sort out his parents' crumbling marriage, stop getting into embarrassing situations involving public nudity, find out what's making his gran so angry, stop his little brother doing something really, really dangerous and work out what's so funny about two tigers on a beach. It can't be that hard, can it?' (Publication summary)

'Why would anyone want to live on a farm where the winds are so fierce that even the pigs are blown away? Fortunately Mum is a clever inventor and can think of one very good reason.

'A hilarious picture book with a very pertinent message about wind power and environmental sustainability, by one of Australia's favourite picture book teams.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Margaret Fulton is more than just our national cooking matriarch, she is a living legend. Her life story is full of the ingredients needed to make a musical. Doug MacLeod (head writer and producer of The Comedy Company and Fast Forward) and Yuri Worontschak (composer of everything from Fast Forward to Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell) collaborate with the Present Tense ensemble (Chants Des Catacombes) to bring her unique and surprising story to the stage, in this culinary musical experience.'

Source: Theatre Works website, www.theatreworks.org.au (sighted 05/11/2012)

'‘Twas the night before Mother’s Day,

Scary, but true.

And if you’re a mother,

This book is for you.' (Publication summary)

'"Wouldn't it be funny if they were real?"

"Shiny red men?"

"What if I were the sane one and everyone else was mad?"

'One night, the shiny guys visit fifteen-year-old Colin Lapsley. They don't speak, but Colin can read their thoughts. They want him to pay for the terrible thing that he has done. When the shiny guys won't go away, Colin is admitted to ward 44. There he discovers an alien world, a powerful weapon, a gentle giant, and a girl who may be able to see what he can see.

'The Shiny Guys is a dark, sometimes funny novel about how fantasy and reality can merge, especially when electricity is involved.' (From the publisher's website.)

Two girls from opposite sides of the world are forced to learn to live together on a snake farm in a remote and possibly mystical area of the Australian outback. Though superficially the program is a 'clash of cultures' narrative in which the British Skye and the Australian Tiger have to come to terms with one another and with their life on the snake farm, it incorporates such fantastic elements as the breeding of brand new species of snakes, snakes suddenly growing to enormous size, and teenage werewolves.

Short animated monologues in which various mythical creatures (zombies, Bigfoot, vampires, etc.) approach a psychologist for help with the various problems of their existence. According to the official wesbite at SBS Television, 'They may look like monsters, but they suffer from the same weaknesses as we do. Monster Auditions reflects the richness and diversity of Australian society through these engaging, humourous characters. Funny, warm and occasionally a little sad these characters relate to us all on a variety of levels.'

Source: SBS Television (http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/monsterauditions/about/page/i/1/h/About/). Sighted: 9/3/2012

'Follows the wild adventures of three young friends - Zigby the Zebra, McMeer the Meerkat and Bertie the Guinea Fowl. Based on the internationally successful children's book series by [British] writer Brian Paterson...'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 17/8/2012)

At thirteen CJ is already a hot DJ - the only trouble is most of her gigs are in her own bedroom. She can spin discs like no-one else, mix and scratch tracks like a pro - but in the deader than dead end of town where she lives, almost nobody wants to know. With her spiky hair and spikier attitude, CJ is little Miss Alternative struggling in a sea of normality - but there's no way she's going to let that get her down.

Source: Screen Australia record.

'What exactly is The Tight Trouser Club? Where do you buy children at bargain prices? How do you survive a father who buries you in the garden whenever you misbehave? And whom do you contact when your wife starts to shrink?

'None of these questions are answered in My Extraordinary Life and Death, though what do you expect if the author is dead?

'A roller-coaster of madness and surreal comedy awaits the reader brave enough to open the pages of this truly remarkable book.

'Based on a false story.' (From the publisher's website.)

'There is something strange at Tallis Point. Siggy knows, because he's seen it. And now the mysterious, non-blonde Amber want to see it too.

'Should Siggy take Amber to Tallis Point? On the good side, he might end up with a girlfriend. On the bad side, he might explode. It's a tough decision.' (from publisher's website)

Troy, living in 2008, meets Wiremu Love, the teenage navigator of timeship The Chronos, who has travelled back in time. Together, they travel further back and meet Carmen, a cavegirl. The three teenagers combine forces to combat time-viruses that could wipe out history's greatest inventions.

The program, which only ran to thirteen episodes, was created by Paula Boock and Donna Malane, and was a co-production between Taylor Media Pty Ltd (Australia) and Gibson Group (New Zealand).