Bloody Brisbane

A compendium of Brisbane's most infamous and memorable homicides of the 20th Century. Twelve spine tingling tales that will take you to the scene of crimes such as death at the Grange and The Valley Inferno and introduce you to the perpetrators of The Vampire Lesbian Killers and The Hamilton Hammer Horror.

Jack Irish – gambler, lawyer, finder of missing people – is recovering from a foray into the criminal underworld when he agrees to look for the missing son of Des Connors, the last living link to Jack’s father. It’s an offer he soon regrets. As Jack begins his search, he discovers that prodigal sons sometimes go missing for a reason. Gary Connors was a man with something to hide, and his trail leads Jack to millionaire and political kingmaker Steven Levesque, a man harboring a deep and deadly secret. Black Tide, the second book in Peter Temple’s celebrated Jack Irish series, takes us back into a brilliantly evoked world of pubs, racetracks, and sports – not to mention intrigue, corruption, and violence.

The unpublished, unfinished and unmissable writings of the unforgettable Peter Temple

Paul Durcan's twenty-second collection finds Monsieur le Poète on the road in Paris, New York City, Chicago, Brisbane, and Achill Island, meditating upon the sanctuary of home and what it means to feel truly at home. Regarded by many as the great poet of contemporary Ireland, Durcan is on top form here as he contemplates the fall of the Celtic Tiger, while railing against bankers and 'bonus boys'. There are poems of love lost and won, and poems in memory of friends and relatives who have passed on, but there is also joy to be found in the birth of a grandson, and there is praise, too, for the modest heroism of truckers, air traffic controllers and nurses, those 'slim, sturdy, buxom nourishers' of fallen mankind. If for Sartre 'hell is other people', for Durcan 'heaven is other people, especially women'.

The story of a Liverpool cabin boy who jumped ship in Australia to become a stage hypnotist's stooge, journalist, film producer, airline executive and car wash hand, meeting characters as colourful as himself along the way. A true-life tale, told with humour and honesty.

Part coming of age story and part exploration of the maddening nature of dreams, Girls Like Funny Boys is a potent mix of sexual obsession, guilt and fame. 'Gina crouched, resting on her haunches to continue the conversation. Her legs were too far apart. There was a hole in her black tights just above the left knee. Johnny felt a hot urge to poke a finger in it. He wished she'd leave him alone. He wished she wasn't wearing tights. He stared at her lopsided mouth and the way her fat lower lip jutted out. It was so red it bordered on purple, the colour of strawberries on the turn.' Meet Johnny Goodwin. He's grown up in a quiet Brisbane suburb with loving parents, a faithful dog and an unrequited yearning for his teenage sweetheart, Angie Everson. Now in his last year at school, he's finally caught her eye by starring in a teacher-baiting pantomime. Dreams are already taking shape of a career in entertainment, perhaps with Angie by his side. And all he's got to do is pass his exams, get to uni and keep away from Gina Wood, that weird girl who once let him touch her… "Girls Like Funny Boys wasn't what I expected - and that's simply not fair as Dave Franklin's not meant to be writing to a formula. But I really didn't expect to find this as engaging, involving and emotional as I did. I loved Johnny, rode the waves of his life every step of the way. I laughed out loud at points and found myself sniffing back tears at others... Most of all I just loved this book." - Australian Crime Fiction Length: 115,000 words.

The Story of Australia provides a fresh, engaging and comprehensive introduction to Australia’s history and geography. An island continent with distinct physical features, Australia is home to the most enduring Indigenous cultures on the planet. In the late eighteenth century newcomers from distant worlds brought great change. Since that time, Australia has been shaped by many peoples with competing visions of what the future might hold. This new history of Australia integrates a rich body of scholarship from many disciplines, drawing upon maps, novels, poetry, art, music, diaries and letters, government and scientific reports, newspapers, architecture and the land itself, engaging with Australia in its historical, geographical, national and global contexts. It pays particular attention to women and Indigenous Australians, as well as exploring key themes including invasion/colonisation, land use, urbanisation, war, migration, suburbia and social movements for change. Elegantly written, readers will enjoy Australia’s story from its origins to the present as the nation seeks to resolve tensions between Indigenous dispossession, British tradition and multicultural diversity while finding its place in an Asian region and dealing with global challenges like climate change. It is an ideal text for students, academics and general readers with an interest in Australian history, geography, politics and culture.

AND YOU THOUGHT FUNERALS WERE DULL AFFAIRS - NOT THIS ONE SHE IS HEAVY - SHE'S MY MOTHER Motherhood really is till death us do part but will I kill her first or vice versa?