Reviewed by E. B. Heath I am not a fan of dystopian literature, but the title implied the genre: Trump’s Australia. I stared at the book’s cover: the outline of that head, with its yellow hair and orange face, and the map of Australia for a mouth. Non-fiction Noir. How might another Trump Presidency, a
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Mat Osman’s enthralling historical fantasy sweeps the reader into the London of 1601. Shay, a girl of 15, leaps across precarious rooftops in her role as a messenger… It is a unique way to communicate and this heralds the spirit of this novel. Shay lives with her failing father, a ferryman, in
The winners of the 2023 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards have been announced. Chosen from shortlists announced in May, the winners include: The Western Australian Writer’s Fellowship ($60,000) Tracy Ryan Premier’s Prize for Book of the Year ($15,000) The Red Witch: A biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard (Nathan Hobby, MUP) The Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer ($15,000) Banjawarn (Josh Kemp, UWAP)
Winner – The Australian / Vogel’s Awards for Young Writers Anna McGahan’s Immaculate is the 2023 winner of The Australian / Vogel’s Award for Young Writers that has launched the careers of over a hundred Australian authors, including Anna’s uncle, beloved Australian novelist Andrew McGahan. The award is one of Australia’s richest and most prestigious
Reviewed by Rod McLary Artificial Intelligence [or AI] seems to be everywhere these days. Its applications include web searches, understanding speech [as per Siri or Alexa], self-driving cars and creative tools such as ChatGPT. A concern for the future is whether, if a machine has a mind and subjective experience, it may also have sentience
Women’s Prize for Fiction US author Barbara Kingsolver has won the 2023 Women’s Prize for fiction, worth £30,000 (A$56,000), for her 10th novel, Demon Copperhead (Faber). Kingsolver is the first writer to have won the award twice, after previously winning in 2010 with her novel The Lacuna (Faber). Demon Copperhead is a reimagining of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, set in the Appalachian
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Gawler is a small town on the Adelaide plain, on the main road to the vineyards of the Barossa Valley. As the oldest country town in Australia, it was still very much a frontier settlement when Harry Coombe was born in 1859, his parents having met and married in the district
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Crime fiction is probably top of the list when popular appeal to readers is gauged. Producing a novel in this genre demands skill in plot, and of course, originality. The psychological thriller offers infinite possibilities because of the uniqueness of each individual. M.T. Edvardsson’s new novel, The Woman Inside, is a
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The Seven Sister Series, initiated by Lucinda Riley many years ago, will mean a lot more to readers brought up on the books than to those like myself, a newcomer entering at Book 8. However, one can rest assured that there is much to read from the eighth and final volume.
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke On reading the title of this book, King of Pride, I did not know whether the story to come would be about humans or animals. However, the cover also tells me that this book is the second in a King of Sin series and when I began reading about a conversation
Reviewed by Ian Lipke To align one’s name with an author who is highly regarded in the field of fiction is praise indeed. In the case of James Comey, the comparison is with John Grisham, the man widely regarded as having invented the legal thriller. Comey takes his readers deep inside the hate-filled and treacherous
Reviewed by Rod McLary This book is the most recent in the series Writers on Writers in which leading Australian writers reflect on another Australian writer who has inspired and fascinated them. In this one, Sarah Krasnostein reflects on Peter Carey and more specifically his True History of the Kelly Gang published in 2000. Peter
Reviewed by Gerard Healy Gideon Haigh could theoretically open the batting for Australian cricket writers and the bowling for the English cohort, he’s that good. He’s also a very versatile writer full stop. In this collection of writings about the cricket tests between Australia and England starting in 1882, he covers an eclectic range of
Reviewed by Ian Lipke This book is very much a tongue in cheek account by a Fijian-Indian-Australian who refers to herself as culturally confused. In fact she has one of the sharpest minds to be found in the world of fiction. She demonstrates this in her new book A Disappearance in Fiji where readers are
The Aurealis Awards were established in 1995 by Chimaera Publications, the publishers of Aurealis magazine, to recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers. The Aurealis Awards are intended to complement the Annual Australian National Science Fiction Convention’s Ditmar Awards and the Australian Children’s Book Council Awards and the various other state-based and national literary awards. Among the winning categories