AustLit

'When demoralised Warren Yeats abandons his failing business, his ex-wife and his city lifestyle to embark on a road trip with more twists and turns than Sydney’s streets, he has no idea how gruelling the outback can be.

'Set during tropical Australia’s oppressively humid build-up to the annual monsoon—the Suicide Season—when tempers are short, children are constantly irritable, and adults are tight-lipped, Yeats stumbles across an illegal wildlife poaching operation, falls in love with an attractive female mechanic, and becomes an unwitting trespasser on Aboriginal land.

'Whether sharing Yeats’ admiration for an apricot-hued sunset as it soars across an aurora borealis-like sky, watching nectar-eating parrots getting tipsy on the fermenting blossoms of paper bark trees or learning how to bake damper over hot coals, odds are you have never enjoyed a journey as unique as this, following one of life’s nicest losers as he becomes a winner.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Under Centauri contains fifteen short stories about life in contemporary rural Australia. The stories are about local people encountered during extensive overland travel through remote regions. They include a story about a Greek migrant with a speech impediment who found acceptance in Darwin during the devastation of Cyclone Tracey; how a fishing boat crew encouraged a crocodile to follow their vessel in order to get rid of the refuse thrown overboard—and the consequence; how a dead child saved his mother during a major flood. They are humorous or poignant, universal in their themes, socially aware and have emotional impact.' (Publication summary)

'These Selected Poems are representative of a lifetime crafting and coaxing words into poems. They capture the optimism and humour associated with young adulthood, the poignant truths and observations that become apparent in maturity and reflect on the transitoriness of existence.' (Publisher's blurb)