eBook Listing

Hodgkiss and the Treasures of Kanundda / Hodgkiss and the Two Ladies / Hodgkiss and the Deadly Ciphers

A young woman turns up at the Burkes' home to enlist Hodgkiss' aid in finding her missing grandmother. Donald becomes an unwilling assistant as they attempt to retrace the elderly woman's steps. During the course of their investigation Hodgkiss finds himself once again in conflict with the bullyboys of Kanundda council and uncovers a particularly nasty, opportunistic murder.

Arenia, now under the control of Xavier after Beth placedhim upon the throne, is not the only thing in the sights of it's new king but The Society want him to turn his attention north, to the threat of the hidden auchs.

Meanwhile, the young witch Camille decides to return with Aiyu, an auch and friend to Konungssonur to unite the witches and auchs as they prepare for a war they do not want.

Once peaceful now they must take up weapons in support of Hirith, their new, though reluctant, king.

The silence before the storm for the realm is thickening and the black and white banners of The Society are flying higher than ever.

Here is Arthur Upfield's first published novel from 1929: Austilene Thorpe is accused of murder but then disappears from gaol. Her fiance, Martin Sherwood, goes blind from shock. His famous adventuring brother Monty, learns that Austilene is in a refuge for murderers in the far north-west corner of New South Wales near Tibooburra, and together the Sherwoods set out to find her and bring her back to Melbourne.

 

The idea of using the Australian outback as the locale for the novel of reclusive criminals forecasts Upfield's later interest. The landscape and meterology are well developed. The intensity of the Australian outback, to be much more powerfully developed later (in the Bony novels), is nearly overwhelming here.

 

- Ray Browne, The Spirit of Australia

Team spirit is the vital element that can turn a well-trained crew into champions. The crews of the Henswytch Rowing Club know all about team spirit and how powerful it can be, but how far should they go? What lengths are they willing to go to for their fellow crewmen?

Former commando Tom Briggs is introduced to the fanatical spirit of the club and must decide whether to submit or rebel, while property developer Jim Sutton, with his 'green' ideas, sets himself on a crash course with the power of the Old Codgers.

Who will survive the clash?

A stand-alone novel from the author of the Jade Green series - 'Watching', 'Legacy' and 'The Fund'. The Jade Green series will continue in 'The Song of Mawu'.

Set in northern Australia's Victoria River region, this dramatic tale interweaves three eraas.
In 1839 British explorer John Lort Stokes makes an unexpected discovery when sinking water wells near the river.
In 1942 Nackeroo corporal, Douglas Ashmore is guarding the region against perceived Japanese invasion when a radio broadcast reveals his location. 'Ash' and Aboriginal guide Gabriel hunt for a suspected enemy collaborator.
In 1987 petroleum geologist Bradley Dixon puzzles over the loan of Stokes' journal from company boss Reginald Able. At the rig Brad encounters Aboriginal activist Gabriel Fitzmaurice, who suspects Able of corporate sleight-of-hand.
After a drilling accident Brad meets and is attracted to feisty nurse and committed environmentalist, Karen Frost, gradually becoming aware of deep secrets joining Ash, now a bush loner, to Karen's past. In a tension-filled atmosphere of crashing global financial markets and oppressive humidity heralding the north Australian Wet, the links between Stokes' diary entries, the rig program and the Victoria River wartime emergency are laid bare, setting an ultimate test for Brad and Karen's relationship.

"A ripping yarn of interlinked endeavour, intrigue, high drama and repentance spanning three epochs in remote and beguiling northern Australia." - Barry FitzGerald, Resources Columnist

The Kwinkan is a satirical parable surrounding a mysterious narrator who is part-politician, part Queensland property developer, and the forces at work in the Asia-Pacific region. It deals with international corporatism, political ambitions in an age of decaying colonialism, the clashes of competing mythologies, and the play of the dark, atavistic powers which manifest themselves in sexual disease and violence. These forces act on the characters, sometimes to unite strange bedfellows and at other times to sever connections either at a personal or national level.

 

PRAISE FOR MUDROOROO'S PREVIOUS NOVELS

'[Wildcat Screaming is] full of insight into the nature of man inside and outside of institutions and the sources of strength into which people dip in order to maintain hope and to survive.' - Roberta Sykes, Sydney Morning Herald

 

'Master of the Ghost Dreaming is a real page-turner. The prose is lyrical, yet simple, the images rich and ironic... an exciting, moving and engaging novel.' - Sophie Masson, Australian Book Review

When Eric Maidstone was found dead near Bore Ten, just west of the Dingo-proof Fence, the first thought of those who discovered his body was that he might have been attacked by the rogue camel known as The Lake Frome Monster. But camels don't carry guns... and Maidstone had a bullet-hole in his chest which put the Monster in the clear. So who killed young Maidstone? Bony, disguised as a worker on the Fence, intends to find out…

 

There are sand storms galore, there are mad camels, there is personal and professional deprivation, there are rabbits by the millions. In this typical Upfield country there is the boredom of loneliness, there is the sheer weight of the Australian outback; it is vintage Upfield... - from The Spirit of Australia by Ray Browne.

William Swallow was a wayward boy who became a wayward man. Transported as a convict, he became a diligent escaper, but his greatest exploit was when he and some of his fellows commandeered the Cypress in Recherche Bay Tasmania and sailed to Tahiti.

The adventures that follow are as amazing as they are exciting, packed with historical detail and event. Swallow and his companions, and those he inspired, lived in harsh times. Their stories shed entertaining light on a forgotten corner of history. - Sally Odgers, Author

Whitehall London was the environment where William Swallow was raised. At fourteen, he joined His Majesty's Navy in order to escape from the filth and degradation of his home.

Life at sea was hard; he experienced several floggings for insubordination, but he didn't have a moment of regret. He got to see the world and became an experienced mariner.

Swallow's first voyage to Canton, China, was in 1826 aboard the ship Prince of Wales, a 120-gun man of war. The ship's assignment was to escort several British merchant ships from the East India Company who intended to trade with the Chinese. It was on this voyage that his life turned for the worse - he was arrested for pilfering the officer's larder. On arrival back in London he was court-marshalled.

James Porter, also a very young seaman, had a similar life to William Swallow. His life also had a turn for the worse. He began his criminal career at the age of eleven. He went to sea and spent a large part of his young life in South America. He was arrested and sent to Sarah Island where he befriended William Swallow. He too embarked on a wondrous journey.

The time is an imaginary future, one and a half millennia after the collapse of our own civilisation.

Nicholas Raspero, the descendant of the Barons of Raspero and the possessor of wandlore secrets, has arrived in New Landern, the capital of Anglashia. Almost immediately he is drawn into the underworld when he defeats a group of thugs who attempt to rob him, thus making him an enemy of Jolly, the most powerful gangster in the city. Jolly therefore recruits Angela Ashton, the lovely actress, to act as bait for a trap he has set for Nicholas Raspero. Meanwhile, Nicholas has set his heart on Isabel Grangeshield of Grangeshield House - the wealthiest, most beautiful heiress in New Landern and the most obstinate.

For lovers of steampunk and fantasy, The Last Suitor will have you cheering for Nicholas Raspero, the wand-fighting hero, and wishing that you too could transport to the world of New Landern, where everyone who has a wand is not afraid to use it in a duel to maintain one's honour.

Temper trantrums, doomed relationships, failed businesses, Magellan's crew and house-hunting... This is, at first glance, a quite disparate collection of stories. The settings range from New York, Texas and San Francisco to Sydney, Lismore and Malaysia. The characters vary in age from three years old in 'Rights of Man' to nonagenarians in 'Shady Oaks.' And yet this varied assemblage of work is unified by core themes that speak to us all: the search for one's place in the world, failed attempts to connect with other people and lofty aspirations not acted upon.

'The Last Wilkie's and Other Stories is a quirky collection of short stories that are by turns funny, dark and troubling. Effortless to read, these stories are laced with a quick, sardonic wit that pokes fun at the life narratives we so earnestly attempt to create.' - BOOKS+PUBLISHING

'Jon Steiner's writing manages to articulate last night's forgotten dreams.' - MIKE TOPP, Sasquatch Stories

'Jon Steiner's brilliant and innovative short story collection veers from surreal to hilarious to disturbing to touching and back again. The Last Wilkie's and Other Stories is the kind of adventurous, unpredictable, unclassifiable short story collection that Australian short fiction needs more of.' - RYAN O'NEILL, The Weight of a Human Heart

JON STEINER is a writer and screenwriter who lives in Sydney. An American by birth, he migrated to Australia in 2000. His work has appeared in the UTS Writers' Anthology and two Spineless Wonders productions, Escape and Little Fictions.

The Levant: A Short History of the Middle East, by G.S. Willmott is one of those unclassifiable books that moves seamlessly between fact and fiction. From the stone age to modern times, the author follows the fortunes of the Middle East, giving a broad historical perspective as well as more intimate stories about characters, familiar and not familiar, from different eras. We follow Orr and his tribe as they go hunting for deer and find an elephant instead, Hugues de Payens, a young man soon to be a knight, Saul, the boy who would become a king, David with his sling, the Knights Templar, and, in more modern times, Vida, a Jewish woman who lost her family in the holocaust, but who lived on to become an associate of Benjamin Netanyahu. Storytelling about individual people renders broad history much more interesting, and the fortunes of these characters, real, imagined or a combination of both, makes the story feel real. Readers of G.S. Willmott's other books will know what to expect, and will probably be moved to do some extra research on their own. - Sally Odgers, Editor and Author

The Levant: A Short History of the Middle East, by G.S. Willmott is one of those unclassifiable books that moves seamlessly between fact and fiction. From the stone age to modern times, the author follows the fortunes of the Middle East, giving a broad historical perspective as well as more intimate stories about characters, familiar and not familiar, from different eras. We follow Orr and his tribe as they go hunting for deer and find an elephant instead, Hugues de Payens, a young man soon to be a knight, Saul, the boy who would become a king, David with his sling, the Knights Templar, and, in more modern times, Vida, a Jewish woman who lost her family in the holocaust, but who lived on to become an associate of Benjamin Netanyahu. Storytelling about individual people renders broad history much more interesting, and the fortunes of these characters, real, imagined or a combination of both, makes the story feel real. Readers of G.S. Willmott's other books will know what to expect, and will probably be moved to do some extra research on their own. - Sally Odgers, Editor and Author

The eighth book in the Grafton Everest series sees the hapless ex-President of the Republic of Australia, Dr Professor Grafton Everest, caught up in a web of international espionage and intrigue that he is hopelessly ill-equipped to handle.

Abandoned to his own inadequate devices when his wife Janet departs on a world tour, with his home invaded by his now broke daughter and son-in-law, Grafton accepts an assignment with the United Nations to investigate electoral fraud in Russia. The reason is not only to get out of the house; an old letter from his mother, addressed to someone in the Soviet Union fifty years ago, suggests that Grafton may not be the only child that he always thought he was.

Grafton’s mission to Moscow and his search for this mysterious sibling take him far from the Russian capital, deep into the icy wastes of Siberia and even deeper in a tangled conspiracy whose roots extend back to the Cold War and even as far back as the Russian Revolution.

Jamie watches the Queensland town beneath him from the sheltered branches of the mango tree. Through days of shimmering heat choked with red dust to days of rainstorms bringing mud to the mangroves, everything is as it should be - the sights and sounds and smells are as familiar to him as the everlasting childhood in which they appear. Then everything changes overnight when he falls in love. A tender, fumbling first love that flowed and ebbed just as suddenly. And in its wake came death, the sudden shocking death of someone he loved.

 

Ronald McKie "...is a true professional... a super word-handler... This is a novel which bears the mark of the craftsman who is master of the language." - from the report of judges of the Miles Franklin Award, 1974.

Sequel to The Three Sisters

The destiny of the Three Sisters is nigh - an ancient prophecy has come to pass.

The peace negotiated by the Tari has held firm for ten years, but a new demon master is rising.

When Yani the Raven is kidnapped, sorceress Marigoth and her companion Ezratah are drawn into a trap set by a brutal necromancer and his insane sister.

Meanwhile Elena Starchild's daughter Alyx, heir to the throne of the Mori, finds herself wounded and on the run in a forest full of dark magic; and in the company of a bitter enemy.

Can the insular Tari, dreaming in the secret land of Ermora, be awoken before the demon fire consumes them?

And can a Melded Child bring harmony before it is too late?