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What does it take to make a man?

The short stories of Pierz Newton John move through the full range of masculine experience, with an openness, not afraid to show men at their most lonely, sexual, loving, sometimes vulnerable, sometimes abusive. Tender moments between father and son, first sexual experiences and what men feel and think about women.

* Cover endorsement from acclaimed Australian authors, Chris Womersley and Matthew Condon.

* Pierz Newton-John is a father and former psychotherapist. Published widely in literary journals. Winner of Alan Marshall Short Story Award.

* Cover and evocative sketches by talented artist, Paden Hunter.

Agent Capra Jane - cybercop attached to the Melbourne-City HQ of Southern Indian-Pacific Corp - trawls the mean streets of Cy-city and other cyberspace resorts.

In a climate-changed future, after the gene and borders wars of the 2060s, and in a world governed by the Alpha-Omega Accord and its Interplanetary Exchange, Capra Jane fights a never-ending battle against crime.

Things change in unexpected ways, however, when she is teamed up with the enigmatic and beautiful Zanzibar Black of HomeWorld Security, and Decker, a returned astronaut who's never been in cyberspace.

Book 2 in the Dion Chronicles

Reunited with the family she left behind as a child, Dion Holyhands finds her cherished homeland of Moira overrun by marauding Witch Hunters and dreaded Fire Angels. She soon realises that she must use her incredible powers to help save her land and its people from the grip of the Great Destroyer.

Thrust in a morass of court intrigue, political conspiracy and furious passion, Dion is forced to confront the deadly but seductive world of demons. Ultimately it is own her strength of will, and the pure heart and bravery of the man she loves, that will serve as her only weapons against the arch necromancer who would make her his queen.

Fire Angels won the 1998 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

The Dion Chronicles: Mage Heart, Fire Angels and Aramaya

Flame Tip is a slim collection of short fictions that explore different realities and perceptions arising from the Tasmanian Black Tuesday bushfires of 1967. The pieces in this collection are as diverse in subject matter (infidelity, love, suicide) as they are in length. Despite the horror of one day of infernal terror, these stories reveal nuances of character and place through resilience, empathy, honesty and humour.

February 2017 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Tasmanian Black Tuesday bush fires. Flame Tip will resonate with Australians, fire being elemental in our consciousness, and with Tasmanians in particular who may recognise themselves and their surroundings within the lines of fiction. There is also a universality to the pieces that should appeal to a wider audience.

David Walsh, the controversial and high-profile owner of MONA, has written the foreword.

A body washes up on the banks of the Maribyrnong River in flood. Caught in the act of taking his own life, and surrounded by the bloodstained clothes of his wife, Oleg Kransky is a shoe-in for number one suspect.

But he's not talking. To anyone.

Oleg's former psychologist, Decca Brand, tells the police that even when Oleg was talking he wasn't telling the truth - about himself or about his wife.

It's a complicated tale with more twists and turns than a box full of pretzels.

How much water will it take to flush out a murderer?

Flush is the third crime novel by Jane Clifton.

It's 1999. Indie musician Frank Capriano returns home to Perth for his mentor's funeral. His Duo Ex Machina bandmate and boyfriend, Milo, is with him. Together they must contend with a friend in financial crisis, unwelcoming family, old jealousies and a smuggling ring. A missing persons case soon turns to murder, and Frank and Milo are caught in the middle.

 

Originally published by Homosapien Press in 2004, Fly By Night and its companion novella, Sacrifice, were nominated for a Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Novel in 2004.

Outback Australia in the mid-1800s.

When rich, domineering squatter Angus McAlpin is murdered, the obvious suspect is the penniless artist, Herbert Lindsey - who wants to marry his daughter, Flora.

McAlpin may have proclaimed that Flora would marry Herbert 'only over his dead body' - and Herbert's bloodstained knife and handkerchief were found near the murder scene - but the artist denies any wrongdoing.

So begins a compelling murder mystery and trial, as the heiress seeks to prove her lover's innocence, and a country town takes sides.

Force may have killed Angus McAlpin, but fraud follows murder in a cunning plan to see Herbert Lindsey hanged - by any means necessary.

For someone else is determined to marry Flora, to obtain her property and her person; and he will stop at nothing.

Praise for Force and Fraud: 'Stunning historical mystery. Court scene worthy of Perry Mason' - Kerry Greenwood

ABOUT 2011, when I was working on the novel Blood and Dust, the first of my Vampires in the Sunburnt Country duology, I found my former police detective Phillip Reece musing about the fateful day that he stumbled into the shadow world of Maximilian von Schiller's vampire organisation: 'The moment he'd faced Mira in West End and said yes.' But what was that moment? I had half an idea that his role as a Special Branch detective in 1970s Brisbane had brought him into contact with Maximilian's right-hand weapon, Mira, and the details didn't matter so much. But as Reece developed as a character, the facts came to matter, if only so his reflections on his past had veracity and consistency. The reader didn't need to know the specifics but I did. And so I penned this 'origin' story of a major moment in Reece's life, and Mira's too, to some extent: a moment that would come to ensnare Kevin Matheson - mechanic, renegade, vampire.

(Author Note)

Forty Fathoms Deep is part of the story of the pearl seas of north-western Australia. In all but a few instances, I have used names well known in the pearl world of Broome, but have taken care not to hurt susceptibilities. I am conscious I have only gleaned in a field rich with romance. There is material for many books in the adventurous lives of the men who have built up the history and industry of Broome. It is to be hoped that someone more persuasive than I will induce them to sit down and write, or, failing that, sit and talk for the enlightenment and entertainment of fellow Australians.

I am greatly indebted to numerous friends in Broome who have helped me with material and who went to such pains to get for me authentic data.

Hail and farewell, with a warm heart, to Con and old Sebaro, and to all the divers and tenders and seamen who were so patient at explaining the many things I desired to see and know.

To all, a fair wind and a hungry market when the fleets put to sea!

ION L. IDRIESS.

Colin Fox is an enigma. Part Scottish, part Aboriginal, as a child he is caught up the Stolen Generation. What follows is a period of abuse and sorrow, but Fox's innate sense of decency and justice sees him not only survive but become a respected SAS warrior.

However fate deals Fox another bitter blow with the murder of his adopted family.

Bikie gangs, gun running, dog fighting, and a mind that is pure evil cross his path in his quest for justice.

Ultimately, Fox decides on the only law he can trust - his own.

Kein Fremder darf es wagen, das südaustralische Tal zu betreten, in dem die Nachkommen einer irischen Gangsterbande hausen. Nur Inspektor Napoleon Bonaparte ist kühn genug, sich unter falschem Namen in die Gemeinschaft zu schmuggeln. Was er herausfindet, beunruhigt Bony nicht allzusehr: Schwarzbrennerei, handfeste Prügeleien - doch plötzlich stößt er auf einen Mord ...

Arthur W. Upfield (1888-1964) wanderte mit neunzehn Jahren nach Australien aus. Seine Erfahrungen als Pelztierjäger, Schafzüchter und Goldsucher fanden Eingang in seine Romane. "Upfields Krimis gehören zum Besten, was die australische Literatur zu bieten hat."
Reclams Kriminalromanführer

Maggie Harris has left the quiet English village of her birth, with its apple orchards and all the people most dear to her, and travelled to Australia for the adventure of her life…

 

Despite all her planning, nothing can prepare her for when she arrives at McKinnley Sheep Station, in a blaze of dust and barking kelpies, and straight into the turbulent path of Jack McKinnley, the station owner’s handsome son and his dangerous girlfriend.

 

The chemistry between Maggie and Jack is undeniable from the start, but Maggie knows she must keep her feelings to herself for the well-being of all concerned.

 

But can she? Will true love find a way or will she be destined to watch as the man she loves is deceived?

 

The compelling sequel to Thursday’s Child, From Orchards to Outback continues Maggie’s inspiring journey as she discovers that friends are indeed the family we choose.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the British devastated the lands and the tribes of the Australian aborigines through the extensive mining of uranium and through secret nuclear tests. B. Wongar uses these shocking historical events as the starting point for this powerful novel about the destruction of a people and a culture.

According to myth, Gabo Djara, an immense green ant and the spiritual ancestor of local tribes, created the aboriginal land and the pattern of human life there. Then he retreated to the spirit world. But if the land were disturbed, he would "rise again, monstrous, to harass the intruders". And so he does, in this satiric and scathing allegory which pits culture against culture.

Gabo Djara returns, following the nuclear and mining devastations. He infiltrates the reigning circles of white man's society and creates havoc in politics and government, industry, and the church. Although he is pursued relentlessly, he is never captured. Finally, he succeeds in his quest for regeneration and the restoration of aboriginal ways.

'Gabo Djara' is the third book in B. Wongar's highly acclaimed 'nuclear trilogy'. 'Walg' and 'Karan', the first and second books, are also available, and the trilogy has since been extended with the addition of a prequel 'Manhunt', and two further books, 'Raki' and 'Didjeridu Charmer'.

Gangsters & Whores is a romp through some of the more colourful characters of Australian history.

G.S. Willmott tells their stories with his trademark mix of dramatisation and fact, embellishing them with the dialogue and vintage photos, facts, figures and a sly sense of humour. This is not Ned Kelly country - this is the stamping ground of notorious madam Tilly Devine, her violent husband Big Jim, her rival Kate Leigh and Squizzy Taylor. Around them racket the gangs of the 1920s and '30s, shooting, slashing, swearing, stealing and terrorising the locals. Feuds and vendettas, blood and sly grog - it's all here. Who got murdered in his bed during a bout of flu? Who went AWOL so often he was more out of the war than in it? Who stole a shop-load of clothing for his girlfriend? Don't know? Find out, in Gangsters & Whores.

From the turbulent times in Australia, the story moves to the US and then to Britain, piling more facts, figures and local colour onto the foundation.

More fun than a run through the gauntlet but similarly buffeting... Gangsters & Whores is an unforgettable visit to the days of yore (and a quick glimpse into the equally lively resent as the author brings us up to date.)

- Sally Odgers, Editor

Arthur W. Upfield gehört zu jenen Autoren, die von den Geschöpfen ihrer dichterischen Phantasie an Popularität weit übertroffen werden. Wer weiß schon, daß er der geistige Vater des berühmten Inspektors Napoleon Bonaparte, genannt Bony, ist? Bony hingegen erfreut sich bei zahlreichen Lesern in vielen Ländern ungewöhnlicher Beliebtheit. Und das auch zu Recht, ist er doch von all den großen Detektivhelden der Kriminalliteratur vielleicht der sympathischste und liebenswerteste, bestimmt aber ist er kein furchteinflößender Superman. Als Sohn einer eingeborenen Mutter und eines weißen Vaters vereint er in sich auf glückliche Weise die altüberlieferten Fähigkeiten der australischen Ureinwohner mit dem modernen Wissen der zivilisierten Welt. So nimmt es nicht wunder, daß er bei Fällen eingesetzt wird, an denen sich andere bereits die Zähne ausgebissen haben, und er darf mit berechtigtem Stolz behaupten, daß er noch nie versagt hat. Oft muß er inkognito auftreten, um ungestört seine Nachforschungen betreiben zu können, und im buchstäblichen Sinn schwere Arbeit leisten.
Der hier vorgelegte Roman zeigt ihn als Zaunarbeiter im wüstengleichen Innern Australiens, wo er es nicht nur mit einem Amok laufenden Kamel aufnehmen muß, bevor er dem Mörder die Hand auf die Schulter legen kann. Es erübrigt sich zu erwähnen, daß Bony auch diesmal seinen Ruf als letzte Waffe der Polizei mit Glanz verteidigt