Published...Or Not

A holy confession and a string of ritual killings makes for impossible choices in A. W. Hammond's novel, The Penitent.Domestic violence and a rabid sovereign citizen create particular challenges for Detective Antigone Pollard in 'The Reckoning' by Vikki Petraitis.

Antoni Jach takes us to a party where memories, locations, sacred cows and perspectives collide as guests reminisce, talk, tell stories, disagree, remember and recall in 'A Midsummer Party'.Malta is a small island with a big history. The Knights of St John built underground passages which were used to take refuge through the bombing in WW11. It is where a great art work is in a cathedral and where a young girl and a pilot learn they share an interest in ‘The Art Lovers’ by Fiona McInstosh.

The world of corporate high finance is not dissimilar to the underworld of crime and corruption where murder and intrigue abound in Chris Hammer's novel, 'Full Circle'.How can Navy continue to be a top student, loyal friend and model daughter if she doesn’t pass this exam, but is this who she really wants to be?  Balli Kaur Jaswal has written an insightful and humorous coming of age story in ‘The Unpronounceables’

Halloween  is a festival of the dead but a possum watches from a garden as plastic props become pollution and lead to the death of real animals in a rhyming illustrated book by Maree Coote’s ‘Possum Tragic: a tale of pumpkins and plastic’. David Greagg takes us on a romp through the practices, language and mores of 15th Century England in his novel, 'Harry the Fifth'. There are anachronisms suggesting how little we have changed and anthropomorphic points of view which also add a touch of variety and spice.

The very notions of reality and perception are challenged in Valerie Ng's debut novel, ‘Driver Driver’, as Oscar embarks on a search for his friend.          Ruth a commercial litigation lawyer with a big case and thinks she is so lucky to have found such a great apartment in an art deco block but when people die and she becomes the suspect her job and her innocence are at stake in Joanna Jenkins social satire ‘Bad Neighbours’.

Love and wine can share a similar vocabulary – the pop of first meeting and then the sit, sip and savour in a good relationship, it’s about quality not quantity, but that’s not all you will learn in this clever romance comedy ‘A Study in Sparkling’ by Jodi McAlister.                'The Hurt' is an elegaic coming-of-age memoir by Catherine de Saint Phalle touching on the relationships and experiences that shape our lives.

'Our Dark Unravelling' is a young adult novel of gothic horror set inside a boarding school by Margot McGovern.Rose has to finish her literary thesis about desire.  She learns a lot about sexual desire and in the journey Rose learns what she wants and who she wants to be, while taking the reader on an erotic romp in ‘Becoming Venus’ by Esme Louise James

Kadir came to Australia with his camels and learns about power and possession, lies and lust. 100 years later Kris wanted a bigger world and filled it with drugs and sex and writing a novel. Christopher Raja has two 21 year olds working towards the future they desire in ‘Eye of the Needle’.A boy disappears in a country town and only some thirty-seven years later does the puzzle of what happened come to light but not before several people come under suspicion in Jason Summers' novel, ‘Red Lake’.

Robyn Dennison constructs an elaborate psychological backdrop of blame and incrimination amongst perpetrators, investigators and victims in her debut crime novel, ‘In Plain Sight’.Leslie is recently divorced. She lost her husband Dennis, but wins an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas. Her observations of the people and geography they live in, ignite her wonder as well as her life in Victoria Hannan’s novel ‘I Love the Whole World!’

A plane disappeared and for 40 years stories flourished about why. When wreckage is discovered researchers plan a day trip to a deserted island, but is it? They too are wrecked with a sinister presence, skillfully written by Riley James in ‘The Wreck’.Ralph Jackman speaks of the challenges he faced when teaching at Parkville Secondary College, which is run by the department of corrections, in his memoir, ‘Detention’.