Review of Australian Fiction, Volume 3, Issue 4

Review of Australian Fiction, Volume 3, Issue 4

Melina Marchetta

Literature & Fiction / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Crime

Melina Marchetta, author of the popular fantasy series, The Lumatere Chronicles, has written this stand-alone short-story which takes place in the Lumatere world. It can be read independently of the series.Lady Celie of the Lumateran Flatlands is visiting the Belegonian spring castle on the isle of Ferragost. Cut off from the rest of Belegonia by poor weather, she is confined to the island with four others, including the mysterious castellan of the castle. When the body of one of the guests is discovered on the rocks outside the east tower, Celie is not only considered a suspect, but finds herself embroiled in events that are entwined with her own kingdom's cursed history, as well as the future of the entire land of Skuldenore.
Read online
  • 54
The Love Killers

The Love Killers

Jackie Collins

Literature & Fiction / Romance

Mob boss Enzio Bassalino doesn't like anyone cutting into his profits. So when beautiful crusader Margaret Brown persuades too many hookers to leave the ranks, she's blown away.Three extraordinary women vow to bring down Bassalino—by destroying his three sons. Innocent-seeming, fragile Beth will go after Frank in New York; kinky underground film star Rio will seduce Angelo in London; slick, gorgeous jet-setter Lara will ensnare Nick in Los Angeles.But it's a dangerous game, heating up to a spellbinding blend of dazzling intrigue and murderous suspense, of raw eroticism, and sudden, forbidden passion, as three sensational women use the only weapon Bassalino's sons can't resist...
Read online
  • 54
Hotbed

Hotbed

Bill James

Literature & Fiction / Mystery Thriller / Young Adult

Who gets hurt when the bad guys cross paths?For years drug baron Ralph Ember has run his crooked enterprises peacefully enough alongside those of his rival, Mansel Shale. Their empires have been tolerated by Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles as a way of keeping violence off the streets. But are things changing? Karl Marx's bleak theory that all capitalists—including drug tycoons—lust for monopoly seems to be coming true. Do Ember and Shale long for sole control of the trade and the profits? Ember fears that Shale now wants to kill him and take over his firm. Shale, on the other hand, is about to get remarried and—believing in keeping his (so-called) friends close and his enemies closer—has asked Ember to be his best man. Will Ember be appallingly exposed as he stands with Shale at the altar? Or will Shale? Ember wonders whether he should act first to protect himself; one of his people has already been gunned down and the killer has not yet been...
Read online
  • 54
Cycle of the Werewolf

Cycle of the Werewolf

Stephen King

Horror / Mystery / Literature & Fiction

Rediscover the classic masterpiece by New York Times bestselling author Stephen King, illustrated by legendary comic book artist Bernie Wrightson.Terror began in January—by the light of the full moon... The first scream came from the snowbound railwayman who felt the werewolf's fangs ripping at his throat. The next month there was a scream of ecstatic agony from the woman attacked in her cozy bedroom. Now scenes of unbelievable horror unfold each time the full moon shines on the isolated Maine town of Tarker's Mills. No one knows who will be attacked next. But one thing is sure—when the full moon rises, a paralyzing fear sweeps through the town. For snarls that sound like human words can be heard whining through the wind. And all around are the footprints of a monster whose hunger cannot be sated....
Read online
  • 54


The Same Sea

The Same Sea

Amos Oz

Literature & Fiction / Nonfiction

The Same Sea is Amos Oz's most adventurous and inventive novel, the book by which he would like to be remembered. The cast of characters ranges from a prodigal son to a widowed father who has taken in his son's enticing young girlfriend, who in turn sleeps with her boyfriend's close friend. The author himself receives phone calls from his characters, criticizing the way he portrays them in his novel. In this human profusion there is chaos and order, love and eroticism, loyalty and betrayal, and ultimately an extraordinary energy."I wrote this book with everything I have. Language, music, structure—everything that I have. . . . This is the closest book I've written. Close to me, close to what I always wanted. . . . I went as far as I could."—Amos Oz
Read online
  • 54
The Broken God Machine

The Broken God Machine

Christopher Buecheler

Science Fiction & Fantasy / Literature & Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

The metal thing has kept a grim vigil within its blasted circle of bone for more than ten thousand years, and those who cross the boundaries of that ring can expect only death. Standing as God to a cracked and broken people, it waits for the one who holds within him the key that can unlock the miracles of the land beyond. Pehr lives with his family in their village by the sea, far removed from the metal thing and its worshipers. He is sixteen, fit and strong, nearly ready to take the Hunter’s Test and become a man. All he has ever known exists on this small strip of land, trapped between the churning sea on one side and the deadly jungle on the other. When the vile creatures known as Lagos descend upon his village, Pehr’s world is shattered, his family destroyed, and his life thrown into chaos. What begins as a simple attempt to rescue his cousin becomes instead a journey that will change him forever. Somewhere, past the jungle and through the mountains, a girl with purple eyes stands upon the vast plains of her land. She is searching for him, and when at last they meet, the choices they make will bring the entire human race salvation … or destruction. High above them both, the metal thing awaits.About the AuthorChristopher Buecheler is a professional web designer / developer, a published author, an award-winning amateur mixologist, a brewer of beer, a player of the guitar and drums, and an NBA enthusiast. He lives a semi-nomadic existence with his wonderful French wife, Charlotte and their two cats, Carbomb and Baron Salvatore H. Lynx II. Currently they reside in Providence, Rhode Island. You can visit him at http://cwbuecheler.com/ 
Read online
  • 54
Inland

Inland

Gerald Murnane

Literature & Fiction

With Giramondo’s publication of Barley Patch and A History of Books, Gerald Murnane has attracted renewed interest as a brilliant writer and Nobel Prize contender. First published 25 years ago, Inland is one of Murnane’s most complex and rewarding works, a study of guilt, longing and regret rich in metaphysical insights. From his native district in the Melbourne suburb of Pascoe Vale, Murnane’s narrator imagines another world, in Szolnok county Hungary, and within that world another, in Ideal South Dakota, each haunted by the betrayal of a young girl, each driven by the possibility of restitution. Murnane’s mastery over language and his pressing towards the edges of what fiction can accomplish make this book a landmark in Australian literature.Gerald Murnane was born in Melbourne in 1939. He has published eight previous works of fiction, Tamarisk Row (reprinted by Giramondo in 2008), A Lifetime on Clouds, The Plains, Landscape with Landscape, Inland, Velvet Waters, Emerald Blue...
Read online
  • 54
The Speed Chronicles

The Speed Chronicles

Joseph Mattson

Literature & Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction

Following the international success of the Noir Series, this volumes marks the launch of a new drug-based sister series.Speed: the most demonized—and misunderstood—drug in the land. Deprived of the ingrained romantic mysticism of the opiate or the cosmopolitan chic of cocaine or the mundane tolerance of marijuana, there is no sympathy for this devil. Yet speed—crystal meth, amphetamines, Dexedrine, Benzedrine, Adderall; crank, spizz, chickenscratch, oblivious marching powder, the go-fast—is the most American of drugs: twice the productivity at half the cost, and equal opportunity for all. It feels so good and hurts so bad. From its dueling roots of pharmaceutical miracle cure and Californian biker-gang scourge to contemporary Ivy League campuses and high school chem labs, punk rock clubs to the military-industrial complex, suburban households to tin-can ghettos, it crosses all ethnicities, genders, and geographies—from immigrants and...
Read online
  • 54
183