AustLit

'"Marilla looked quickly away, not wanting her sibling to see the same look of concern and doubt on her face. This grand adventure that she had planned to live and explore the world beyond the confines of the coven was proving to be more difficult and dangerous than she had first thought. Her dreams of emulating the skills and mastery of magic in a real world was fast becoming a nightmare instead..."

'A tale of deception and greed and the evolutionary enlightenment of two traditional witches into a contemporary world.' (Publication summary)

'Paul Arnold, CSIRO scientist, pays $1000 for sex with Rachel Doyle, prostitute from Northern Ireland who has a technique no other prostitute can match. Rachel escapes from Derry to Brisbane after a client threatens an acid attack.

'Here she meets up with Fergus Burrows who is living in Brisbane.

'At a barbecue hosted by Fergus, Rachel meets Matthew, who after paying $500 for sex, offers Rachel $20,000 to relaunch her career in Australia. The offer has serious strings attached.

'Paul has divorced his wife Louise, who returned to Cowra to live with her parents and two sons. Paul switches his research from physics to biology to follow a path to reduce the need for abortions. When Paul sees Rachel, her bodyguard Steve, recognises Paul and pursues him.' (Publication summary)

'Butcher's boy Jimmy D'Aubin went willingly to war when duty called in 1916. Excited, thrilled to be part of a big adventure and determined to play his part in fighting the enemy.

'Like so many of those fortunate to return, this son of a loving Melbourne family soon found his life had changed forever. The bright-eyed lad had vanished somewhere amid the mud and trenches of the battlefields of France and Flanders. Replaced by a man physically and mentally broken.

'A stranger to all who once knew and loved him. Even his parents.

'His battle now is with alcohol. And with the thieving needed to sustain his addiction.

'There are minor victories among his defeats. He marries, fathers four children but is incapable of supporting them.

'Divorce follows. He lives on the streets, often sleeping where he falls. He welcomes his frequent spells in prison as they provide a bed and a meal.

'Help is offered but war has damaged him mentally as well as physically. He finds Billy, his battlefield mate, has fared no better.

'Jimmy's story mirrors the life and times of the author's grandfather. It paints a vivid picture of mid-twentieth century Melbourne.

'A period endured by many who went willingly to war and returned to find a bigger battle awaited them.' (Publication summary)

'In a world where there are things even the human eyes cannot comprehend, things or mythical creations are hiding in the unknown. There is a world full of suspense and secrecy waiting to be discovered.

'Whoever reads this book, must always have been intrigued by fables of the past, bedtime stories or tales that no one dares to believe. This book sheds light on the lives of mythical creatures, many of which you may know such as vampires, gargoyles and demons. Or some of which you may have never even heard of.
Creatures such as the Dullahan, a beast that has no head, rides a horse and causes trouble at night with whoever is unfortunate enough to cross paths with him.
Then there're crazy, delusional or simply evil outlaws, like Rumplestiltskin who ruins the lives of others for fun. There are many places or realms where magical monsters lurk/hide, like the Hidden Empire, which is safe from the world outside, from humans to be exact. There are places called safe havens and the perfect example is Hallow Valley.

'This book contains a collection of intertwined stories and delves deep into the world of beings.

'Beings like FOG (Frances Owen Gregory) who goes on a journey around the world, trying to get more information about fantastical creatures, the Grim Reaper who founds his own organisation, Aya the Kitsune who must train for the Samurai Guild to protect the honour of her family. There is Cleopatra, the last ruler of Egypt who started the dynasty of Cat People and Freya the Viking Vampire, daughter of the legendary Bjorn Ironside.

'This book will definitely not give you a scare. This story is very different to others in that it doesn't contain chapters which you have to read in chronological order, you can choose where to start to read and stop. This is a tale with a difference. A unique story like no other. Open the book and immerse yourself in the hidden world within our own. A hidden world of mythical beings. Like the title suggests Seeing Beings is the path to Believing.' (Publication summary)

'What happens when Sandgroper meets his penfriend Squirrel from the British Isles? From that moment, everything goes wrong when Squirrel and Sandgroper start their adventures along the beaches of the Indian Ocean.

'Follow Sandgroper and Squirrel as they make their way on a most unexpected journey. It's a chaos of misunderstandings and adventures - not to mention meeting some unforgettable animals of the Outback. 

'It's a story that comes to us from the imagination of James Voûte, writer and accomplished illustrator. ' (Publication summary)

'Early one morning a baby zebra was born.

The baby lay close to its mother. Mama Zebra looked down at her baby and was surprised to see that something was different. As we all know, zebras have black and white stripes, but Baby Zebra's stripes were all the colours of the rainbow!'(Publication summary)

'Felix Schmidt is backpacking on the Camino de Santiago when he meets the love of his life, the beautiful French Pascaline. He brings her back to Australia where he joins a new firm of management consultants. Deeply engrossed in the company's growth, he neglects Pascaline. She believes his addiction has reduced him as a person, wearies of his obsessive workaholism and returns to France. Felix pines for his lost love, but as the company expands, he advances into management and is totally immersed. Disillusioned that ambition has seduced him to climb a ladder that leads to nowhere, that forces him to inflict pain and make decisions he abhors, he loathes the character he has become. Eventually, he quits his work. Once free of responsibility, he aims to win back Pascaline, but first he must work on himself to restore the former person before succumbing to distortion. With trepidation he returns to France, anxious about the person he will find in Pascaline.' (Publication summary)

'Professor Arif Ahmed steps warily into a seedy massage parlour in suburban Melbourne, uncertain what he will find beyond the beaded curtain.

'This is unknown territory for the inquisitive academic. A personal voyage of discovery with few preconceived notions.

'Reluctantly he succumbs to the urgings of Amelia, the baffled young woman assigned to service him. He accepts a gentle shoulder massage but nothing more.

'A conversation develops. He discovers Amelia is far more than her massage parlour job suggests. A migrant like himself, but one struggling to survive. A student with a degree in disciplines similar to his own but lacking the resources to progress and achieve her ambitions.

'True to his belief that human life can consist of more than one existence simultaneously he follows his heart and endangers his family life and professional career to help Amelia reach her academic goals.

'Could this bring relief from the scars and insecurities he still bears from his own adolescence? As he fosters Amelia's rapid success at university his mind transports him back to his own student days of uncertainty, deceits and deception.'(Publication summary) 

'The tramp steamers went anywhere and everywhere. As the workhorses of the sea, they were cheaper than other cargo boats, so conditions were also cheap, dangerous and unpleasant.
The events and people in this publication are drawn from real life. The stories are about real people, real ships, real shipping companies and real situations. It is meant to be an amusing set of sea stories, offering a small glimpse into the constant hardships for seamen on the old tramp steamers as they ploughed the oceans of the world for so many years.

'Henry, now in his nineties told many of his stories to his son whilst he was a youngster. This work is putting some of these stories of the life at sea into permanent memory. Henry was at sea for 5 years a total of 1,827 days so what is contained herein is just a small insight, but a completely different view from the many other books that romanticise the life at sea.' (Publication summary)

'A contract killing on a remote coastal track. 

'A deadly boat explosion occurs in nearby waters soon afterwards.

'Are the two connected?

'Meanwhile, Angelina makes an audacious escape with the assistance of her underworld connections and continues her ruthless agenda. 

'To follow is a chain of events that, when unravelled, shocks Nic Drakos to the core and links him inextricably to Elena Perez, imprisoned by Angelina on the other side of the world. But can he believe a word she says, or is this another one of Angelina's ploys to lure him out of hiding and into a trap? 

'As Nic uncovers the truth, it becomes a race against time to save Elena's life. But will he be too late?' (Publication summary)

'True to her word, Angelina Lorenzo sets out to exact her revenge on those next on her list. But police are closing in, and she is running out of places to hide.

'Killing has been easy up until the failed attempt on her sister's life. This time, there will be no mistakes. She hires an assassin, who unwittingly finds himself caught in Angelina's treacherous web.

'Can he bring himself to do the unthinkable 

'just to keep Angelina in his life?'(Publication summary)

'Echidna in a Suitcase is a memoir of a woman's journey of initial hardships and her rugged road to resurrection after being placed into Catholic institutional life as an infant. Through it all she continued to look up through moth eaten blankets to see the stars. Allowing her malleable mind to dream, her spirit remained unbreakable. She had inherited a tangled ancestral twine, a twine that leads her to the man she has been searching for all her life. A remarkable journey of self-discovery and great fortune.' (Publication summary)

'Dumper is faced with changing times. Moved aside for newer and younger boats Dumper is given one last challenge and one last opportunity. With a new crew and wild surf, can Dumper bring his best one for the last time?' (Publication summary)

'Cait Renshaw and Cameron Fitzgerald meet in the wrong place - her office, and the wrong time - he's about to leave on deployment.

'She triggers every pain he has ever felt from his turbulent childhood to his deployments in Afghanistan. He brings to her life an unstable stability.'

'Drawn apart and then brought back together. Everything about them is at either end of a spectrum. As their lives follow an unpredictable pattern of interlacing and then disentangling, Cait brings a child into their uncertain lives. Neither Cait nor Cameron can anticipate the next bombshell that will be dropped.

'Doubt can be found in every corner of this story and raises the question, ?Can you ever truly know someone?' (Publication summary)

'The old Chinese curse - may you live in interesting times - certainly applies to the space traveller Zan Kovac. The Aclasers, Earth's ruling elite, faced with revolts had genetically engineered a warrior species, the Krarls, to terrorise their enemies. But the Krarls, having turned on their creators, are driven almost to extinction, only to return in force.

'In this, the second in the Beyond the Silence trilogy, Zan with friends is caught up in the fighting and taken prisoner by the resurgent Krarls. They become slaves, hull-plating spaceships on an orbiting construction platform in the vicinity of Jupiter. Amy Pelazzo joins the group and with her expert help they set about hijacking the spaceship they're working on, the Hindel 59. During the takeover other Human slaves manage to get aboard.

'The struggle for survival continues as the Hindel moves across the vastness of space. Nine hundred people are rescued from a failing colony, but of those who were aboard the spaceship when it left the construction platform, only two survive.
This is a story of loyalty and love, sacrifice and survival. Will Zan as captain of the spaceship be able to reach the safety of planet Cellestia? Will the ship's supercomputer help or hinder, and what of the strange alien presence that watches unseen from the shadows?' (Publication summary)

'Queen Charlotte, the Queen of Falconia and her husband King Philip have just had triplets. It should be a time of celebration, but old enemies have reappeared and two of the babies are magically interfered with. Thirteen years later the enemies are back, and the two children fall into a coma from which no normal cure is known. Thus begins a quest of unlikely allies journeying across half the world to find the Chalice of the Dawn; the only object in the world that can save them, together with a very strange potion.

'This is an exciting tale full of strange creatures, dark magic, armies of dwarfs and men, battles on land and adventure at sea. Will the unlikely allies be able to find the Chalice and return with it to Falconia and save the children? And if so, will the potion work?' (Publication summary)

'"During this battle, Mick rescued four Tasmanian soldiers whose horses had been shot out from under them. He lifted them onto Bill's back with him while Bill trudged back through the soft desert sand."

'A story of military service and courage - a brave man and his big, fearless horse.' (Publication summary)

'The Great Fire of London in 1666 was devastating for a young woman called Anonasai, and her brother, Constantine. They mysteriously become immortal, and from this time on, she is known as the wandering assassin, and Hunting Bird. Her mask is her signature for her missions, making it difficult for authorities throughout many centuries to capture her. Anonasai becomes the most wanted person in the world. She is ordered by the Makino clan, of which her brother is the leader, to assassinate a figurehead in the fifty-first century as war rages between two countries. Throughout this mission, Anonasai connects with family, allies, spies, British agents, and her Japanese lover along the way. Will they help her? Or will they complicate her mission? Will this be her dead-end?' (Publication summary)

'Joe Burnett was living the dream; retired young from the corporate world and volunteering with his local fire brigade.

'It didn't last.

'First the black summer fires sweep through, then strangers start shooting at him, then he meets the mysterious Jessica. He's barely had time to walk his dog before his safe, ordered world disappears, and he crashes head-on into a merciless international criminal organisation and the corruption it propagates.' (Publication summary)

'Can a person living in the present dare to go back through time to another era?

'Laura has lost her husband; facts come to light that their marriage was not all it seemed.

'Grieving and at a loose end, she befriends an elderly professor - a decision that sends her life in a whole different direction.

'Life becomes exhilarating, frightening, even shocking.

'Could she live like this? Or is it best to go back to a simple, normal life - safe and secure, but without excitement.' (Publication summary)