Which kind of bookseller are you?

Garth Nix's latest - 'The left-handed booksellers of London' Left-handed booksellers are the fighting warrior side, while right-handed booksellers are the other side of the coin - the intellectual ones.

Reminiscent of his 'Keys to the Kingdom' series, but this is aimed at a  more adult audience. 

Set in a slightly alternate London in 1983 (you can tell from the social history remarks) Susan comes to London looking for the father she never met. In the first page she meets the unusual Merlin, a young left-handed bookseller (an extended family armed with magical abilities, charged with policing the tenuous boundary between the mythic & legendary Old World and the modern world as we know it) and along with his sister Vivien-a right-handed bookseller, they endeavour to find out why mythical creatures and the criminal underworld are attempting to capture Susan, (and why fantasy authors have a lot to answer for).

A page-turner setting a hectic pace (with not enough time for a decent meal), and armed with lightning-fast sword fights and swarms of predatory birds. Hope it is the first in a series.

 

All at sea

'On the Java Ridge' by Jock Serong

Was reading this prior to and during the build-up to the American election, so decided the machinations of this fictional Prime Minister is not so unbelievable after all. 

The ‘Java Ridge’ referred to in the title is the name of a surf charter boat. During the story it is skippered by tour leader Isi Natoli and her Indonesian crew. They are taking a group of Australian surf enthusiasts in search of the perfect wave, and are sheltering inside the reef encircling the remote Indonesian island Dana when a storm delivers the ‘Takalar’ and her load of asylum seekers onto their reef.

At the same time in Canberra, it is the eve of a federal election. Cassius Calvert (Minister for Border Integrity) has outsourced border security to a private company - Core Resolve, to employ a new hard-line stance regarding maritime interception and assistance to people-smuggling boats crossing into Australian territorial waters.

The story is alternately told from the viewpoint of Isi, Cassius and Roya (a young Afghani refugee aboard the ‘Takalar’, fleeing the Taliban with her heavily pregnant mother). The minor characters the doctor, the Takalar’s captain, even Cassius’ P.A. are well rounded and fleshed out.

In typical Serong-style the ending leaves you wrung out, the language and the descriptions are vivid, the plot takes you to unexpected places and scenarios.

Buckle up

I still remember this cover from when I read it so many years ago - High Citadel - the first Desmond Bagley I read and gradually I got to read the rest of the 16 thrillers he wrote. 
So when I saw 'High citadel' as an eAudio, I thought time to give the story a second glance.
The plot is classic adventure thriller, from the era of Alistair MacLean and Geoffrey Jenkins (who I should probably tap into again too),arch-typical action plot complete with a gritty, tormented hero and his love interest, a gang of foreign villains and a crew of supporting cast member passengers - the dastardly co-pilot, the kindly elderly couple, the drunken brash businessman, the history professor, the old man with a heart problem...you get the idea. 
Outnumbered and outgunned, alcohol-soaked worn-out ex-fighter pilot Tim O'Hara must save himself and the lives of his passengers when his aircraft crashes on the side of an Andes mountain range in a fictional South American dictator state. He has to deal with an assorted, eclectic group of characters to survive in the freezing thin air at altitude while attempting to outwit and outplay a squad of communist sympathetic soldiers who have gone to a lot of trouble to attempt to kidnap one of those passengers.

Is it predictable? In places but then there are also the twists that keep you page turning or listening.
Desmond wrote 'High citadel' in 1965, so it's now more than 50 years old, so you need to put aside some of that sixties staging and political thinking. Desmond Bagley loved military history and war games, which is obviously where some of the scenes for the story were conceived.
It and 'Snow tiger' are the most memorable to me. I must have read it in the 80s and now years later I could remember most of the plot.
Well worth the 11.5 hours listening time.

Wrecked!

“Preservation” is based on the true story of the wreck of the Sydney Cove, but Jock Serong uses it as the basis of a novel that imagines what might have happened during the survivors’ trek back to civilisation.

In 1797 the Sydney Cove was wrecked off the coast of Preservation Island in Bass Strait. All the crew made landfall on one of the Bass Strait islands, and 17 of their number then set off to reach Sydney and alert the colony of the wreck and its marooned sailors.

The seventeen were wrecked again, this time off the Gippsland coast, and so began their trek up the east coast through the unknown bush to Sydney. Of the seventeen men, only three were discovered, barely alive, some three months later, by a fishing boat just south of Sydney. What was the fate of the other fourteen – this is the basis of the book.

Preservation Island (from Google Maps)

In Serong’s version, it falls to Governor Hunter’s aide Lieutenant Joshua Grayling to investigate the story. He comes to realise that those fourteen deaths were contrived by one calculating mind and, as the full horror of the men’s journey emerges, he begins to wonder whether the ruthless killer poses a danger to his own family.

And it is this ruthless killer (one reviewer stated that “A more odious villain, could hardly be imagined”) who grips you as you read/listen to the story. I termed him a ‘diabolical psychopath’ (even checked on the correct meaning to be sure I was adequately describing him – appalling atrocious, cruel, damnable, disastrous, dreadful, fiendish, hellish, outrageous, shocking, vicious, vile – yep all of the above), yet juxtaposed against this is, that he has some of the most eloquent prose passages in the book.

Preservation Island, below Cape Barren Island and above Clarke Island

Grayling finds the survivors' accounts of the ordeal evasive, and as each character describes sections of the footslog, we are led along the journey with them.

The group is made up of the Sydney Cove’s supercargo a Scot William Clark the indulgent son of a merchant shipping family hoping to make it rich with a cargo of rum destined for the already rum-soaked colony.

Mr Figge, the opportunist, who purports to be a representative of an Indian tea merchant, who’s real underlying motive we never really discover.

Srinivas, the 14 year old Bengali lascar, now Clark's manservant, a position his father previously held.

Srinivas’ father is now the leader of the Bengali crewmen, and one of the missing fourteen Bengalis.

Apart from other minor characters – Hamilton the ship’s captain, Governor Hunter, and the alcoholic doctor Ewing, the other major player is Charlotte – wife of Lt Grayling. Obviously in love, she listens to his accounts of the survivor interrogations. Less hidebound and trusting, she asks pertinent questions and offers insightful observations.

The journey - from Preservation to Sydney

The real William Clark wrote an incomplete journal, extracts of which were published in “The Asiatic Mirror” newspaper, this provided Jock Serong with the foundation of “Preservation”. He developed the scenario that the journal didn’t record the full facts, or the motivation behind them. What were the survivors hiding, and why were they unwilling to fill in the gaps?

And like any good horror thriller story the postscript (rooted in fact) continues that sense of menace and foreboding, even after you have closed the book.

I listened to the audio version and have to admire narrator Conrad Coleby for his accents, you could always tell which protagonist he was, and for the feeling of suspense he provoked.

Enclosing Australia

‘Fences of Australia’ by Jack Bradshaw.

Fences in the rural landscape are prosaic affairs. From stone to post and rail, from the utilitarian to the sculptural, a well-built fence is a thing of beauty and a monument to workmanship. These practical but symbolic structures are part of the story of Australia.

A reconstructed post-&-rail fence of separate panels rather than overlapping rails

Starting with 7,000-year-old Aboriginal fish traps and ending with a look into the future in a chapter on virtual fencing, Jack Bradshaw (who was inspired by the rabbit-proof fence) traces the history of Australia's fences in words and pictures.

A section of the rabbit-proof fence

The materials, design and method of construction reveal a great deal about the surrounding landscape, the type of farming enterprise and even the economic conditions of the time.

Dry-stone limestone fences at Kappawanta Station's shearing shed, on the Eyre Peninsula - still in use

A 90 year old split rail/paling fence around an orchard at Deeside near Manjimup, W.A.

Sheep yards built by the Pergandes family in the 1920s using layers of rock from a nearby outcrop, near Bencubbin, W.A.

Must emulate Jack – travel around the countryside taking photos of fences.

One of the more bizarre fence materials, around a W.A. wheatbelt homestead

Sydney history in stone

What are the chances 2 different books on a linked but largely unknown obscure topic both arrived within days of each other?

‘From quarantine to Q Station : honouring the past, securing the future’ by Dannielle Viera, Jennifer Cornwell, Simon McArthur, Dr Peter Hobbins, Dr Annie Clarke, and Dr Ursula Frederick.

Once home to generations of Aboriginal people attracted by the abundance of seafood, the deep coves, fresh breezes, clean water supply and remoteness from the fledgling colony of Sydney made North Head at the entrance to Sydney Harbour an ideal place for the creation of a quarantine area.

Before the development of modern medicine, infectious diseases posed a major public health threat. The only known means of protecting communities from outbreaks was to isolate sufferers and those with whom they had been in contact. 

Q Station with Sydney behind

For immigrants in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries who had already endured the long voyage to Australia, quarantine could be a frightening and traumatic experience. Separated from healthy family members, those in quarantine had no way of knowing whether they would see their loved ones again. Some children left the Quarantine Station as orphans, and some women as widows, alone in a strange country with no means of support. 

The accommodation at Q Station

‘From Quarantine to Q Station’ tells the fascinating story of the evolution of this site, from its early days as the colonial Quarantine Station through its transformation to the peaceful accommodation and conference facility now known as Q Station. 
 

The wharf and arrival area of the station with the rebuilt hospital on top of the hill

Richly illustrated with more than 200 colour, sepia and black & white photographs, many dating from the late-1800s, this captivating, well-researched book takes readers on an evocative journey through time. Newspaper articles, archaeological research and anecdotes from detainees bring the past to life, while modern preservation and restoration efforts are described in fascinating detail.

The main street in the mini settlement of the quarantine station

‘Stories from the sandstone : quarantine inscriptions from Australia's immigrant past’ by Peter Hobbins, Ursula K Frederick, and Anne Clarke. 

Sailing to Australia from Lincolnshire aboard the the ship the "Canton" in 1835, 16-year-old John Dawson watched in alarm as three of his sisters developed smallpox. Although all survived this dreaded disease, their faces bore tell-tale scars for the rest of their lives. Yet John left an even more enduring memento of his family's perilous voyage in the soft sandstone of North Head.

Carving a lengthy message proclaiming that the Dawsons had landed here to perform a month's quarantine, John began a tradition that continued until Sydney's Quarantine Station finally closed in 1984.

During its 150 years of operation, nearly 16,000 people were held in isolation on this headland. Interned for days, weeks or even months, many followed John's example, leaving an extraordinary gallery of more than 1600 carved and painted sandstone inscriptions.

Combining intensive archaeological investigation and historical research, this book illuminates Australia's past through the portal of these intriguing and often evocative inscriptions, as well as North Head's numerous headstones. 

Drawing upon historical records, diaries and other writings, the book highlights the dramatic personal and social effects of diseases that once terrified the community. This book conveys the compelling personal stories of lives lived not just in despair, but also in hope for the future. 

The time has come

Got a spare hour or two?
The first five George R.R. Martin books of the "A song of ice and fire" (what many people recognise as "Game of thrones") has been released by Oakhill/Ulverscroft on audio CD - all 202 - two hundred and two - hours of narration.

Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King's Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert's name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse--unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season. Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vain glorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen's brothers Jaime and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister--the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms. Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki--whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys.

An entire monumental cycle of books: 1. "A game of thrones", 2. "A clash of kings", 3. "A storm of swords" (3.1 "Steel & snow" and 3.2 "Blood & gold), 4. "A feast of crows" and 5. "A dance with dragons" (5.1 "Dreams & dust" and 5.2 "After the feast") epic high fantasy with a multitude of characters.

Abandoned photography

"Abandoned : the most beautiful forgotten places from around the world "
by Mathew Growcoot, a photographic book of the dark yet hauntingly special places.

The places time forgot. From the magical empty theatres of Detroit to the lost playgrounds of Chernobyl, there are places across the globe that were once a hub of activity, but are now abandoned and in decay. With nature creeping in and reclaiming these spots, we are left with eerie crumbling ruins and breathtaking views that offer us a window into the past and capture our imagination.

"Abandoned" showcases the very best photographs from around the world documenting this phenomenon. More immersive than a museum, abandoned photography has given the world an exciting way to look at times gone by and the places we have long neglected. The images captured provoke questions about earlier times, mans' futility, and the relentless power of nature.
The book was compiled and curated by photographer and former urban explorer, Mathew Growcoot from Birmingham in England. Below are just some of his images of industry, landscapes and the built environment post usefulness.

 Part of the incline at the abandoned Dinorwic Quarry, which lies between Llanberis and Dinorwig, near Bangor in Wales, UK. It was once the largest slate quarry in the world.

Nature reclaiming a derelict building

 An old locomotive in the Istvantelek Rail Workshop, Budapest, Hungary

To view more of Mathew's photographs borrow "Abandoned".

Above and beyond

Nick Rains latest book "Aerial Australia" is beautiful, and reminds us that depending on the angle there is beauty in just about everything.
In this case the angle is from an aeroplane, but the proliferation of drones is likely going  to make the rarity of aerial photography more commonplace.

There's nothing like the thrill of looking out the window of an aircraft and seeing the world from above, and in "Aerial Australia", Nick's photographs reveal Australia as it's rarely seen, revealing a whole new side of its beauty. It offers sweeping views of Australia's cities; dramatic glimpses of its Outback sand dunes and epic waterfalls; a new perspective on Australia's coral reefs and coastal fringes, and a new way of looking at Australia's countryside. These hundreds of stunning photographs turn industrial scenes and winding rivers into abstract art. 

Nick Rains has been a professional photographer for over 30 years, starting off in the UK with sports and commercial work before moving to Australia in 1990. Since then he has specialised in travel and landscape work, crisscrossing the country on assignments for publishers. His work involves packing up his 4WD and heading off into the wilderness for weeks at a time, driving tens of thousands of kilometres and camping out under the stars in a never-ending quest for the perfect light.  

Here are just a few of the images in the book-
 

The solar reflectors at White Cliffs, N.S.W.

The everyday reflected in White Cliffs, then the everyday transformed with a red car on a road crossing the shallow Wallaga Lake near Bermagui.

The unexpected - headstones in Melbourne General Cemetery

This beautiful keepsake casts Australia's beauty in a whole new light. 
And talking about drone photography, I was recently impressed with Jaimen Hudson, check out his website for more stunning photos, especially those around Esperance.

Here is the link to Nick's website, and other books by Nick Rains.

Chief Executive Officer

It all started in 2010 with the publication of "Starring the Boss Baby as himself" (“Boss Baby”): The boss. He's here. (And FYI—he's a total baby.)

Marla Frazee’s hilarious picture book where for the Boss Baby for first-time parents become his instant minions. He is used to getting his way--drinks made to order 24/7, his private jet plane, and meetings around the clock, and if things weren't done to his immediate satisfaction...HE HAD A FIT!! But when his demands aren't getting proper responses, he has to go to new lengths to achieve the attention he deserves.

Then earlier this year came the DreamWorks "Boss Baby" animated feature film loosely based on the book, and starring Alec Baldwin.  

And now we have “Introducing the bossier baby as herself!” (some editions with the variant title “The Bossier Baby”): There’s a new boss in town... and she’s younger, shorter, and bossier than the Boss Baby ever was!

Boss Baby used to be in charge of his family, but that was before he got an even bossier baby sister. So how will he handle this hostile business take-over?

A wonderful mix of parenting frustrations and corporate bargaining.

A great book for parents, for babies, for brothers, for sisters, for children, for siblings, for executives, for minions...hey it's for everyone.

A hut ever so humble

If I were to author a book, maybe it would be in the vein of - ‘High Country huts & homesteads : a celebration of Australia’s mountain shelters’ by Craig Lewis and Cathy Savage.

From the authors of one of Australia's favourite bush camping and 4WD guides comes a striking review of the High Country's most aesthetic and historic huts. Lavishly illustrated with beautiful full-colour photographs, ‘High Country huts & homesteads’ is a nostalgic collection of abandoned mountain homesteads, shearers’ huts, traveller’s shelters and many other lonely structures. The text portrays a short history of each hut along with many fascinating accompanying stories and importantly a GPS location.

Ranging from simple log cabins, wooden slab cattlemen’s huts, eclectic miner’s dwellings to homesteads on vast alpine grazing runs, this book presents a selection of rustic buildings with their associated structures, which have become part of our High Country heritage and a legacy of times gone by.

According to Craig and Cathy there are well over 300 huts remaining in the High Country. Each at the mercy of the elements, so it is great that they have chosen 63 of what they consider classic examples of the craft to present in this coffee-table style book.

Wallaces Hut

They refer Wallaces Hut, perched near Victoria’s highest peak Mt Bogong, a crude hut which has withstood over 120 snow covered winters, and dodged bushfires to become the oldest hut on the high plains.

It contrasts with Four Mile Hut in the Kosciuszko National Park erected from scavenged materials from a nearby gold mine.

Du Cane Hut below Castle Crag

While DuCane Hut on the Overland Track and Cope Hut on the Bogong High Plains were constructed to meet the needs of walkers and skiers.

Cope Hut

The Coolamine Homestead Complex was developed in stages from the 1880s to the end of the 1890s, for the managers and their families of the vast pastoral holdings. Its last resident only leaving in 1958.

Coolamine Homestead buildings

So should more bushfires devastate the High Country, there is now a better photographic record of the huts dotted through its landscape.
Like to visit any of the huts mentioned in the book, you may want to check out Craig & Cathy's camping and 4WD guides. 

You have been warned

Andy Lee’s bespoke “Do Not Open This Book” was penned for his nephew.

Comedian Andy Lee of Hamish & Andy fame, became a children's book author after publishing 'Do Not Open This Book' as a present for his nephew George's first birthday.

Andy told The Project that originally he "wanted to surprise my sister. I've got a nephew, George, who's about to turn one. I thought writing a book for him as his birthday present would be a nice thing to do."

"I wrote it up, I gave it to my best mate who's a kid's books publisher and I said 'Can you just make one copy for me?'. He rang me back a few weeks later and said 'I asked the other publishers and they'd like to print this'. I said 'Nah mate, give us the one copy'."

But Lee finally gave him the okay, provided that they held back until Andy had surprised Alex and George on his birthday.

"We did manage to surprise my sister. It was little George's birthday and we managed to set up a bookstore with the book in it and as I was taking my sister out to lunch I managed to show her the surprise."

Andy rigged up a bookstore with cameras to capture Alex's heartfelt reaction before Hamish swooped in to interview little George.

Funnily enough, his friends' children have actually been scared by 'Do Not Open This Book'. "Do not buy this book anyone," warned Andy (well you could buy it after you've borrowed it from your library).

"It is about this little character who's trying to convince the reader not to turn the pages. He uses all sorts of tricks, reverse psychology, all these things, but watching a couple of kids read it, I've taken it around to a few of my mates houses, and some of them are too petrified to get to the end."

Adults and parents though love it, a great combination between Andy and illustrator Heath McKenzie - borrow it!.

Before Harry

Not that it needs any advertising, but J.K. Rowling's "Fantastic beasts and where to find them : the original screenplay" has been released.

 
The plot:
In New York, Newt Scamander, a young activist wizard from England, is on a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Inside his expanding leather suitcase hides a wide array of diverse, magical creatures that exist among us, ranging from tiny, twig-like ones, to majestic and humongous ones. 
Set in the 1920s (years before Harry's birth), times are troubled since the already fragile equilibrium of secrecy between the unseen world of wizards and the ordinary or "No-Maj" (American for Muggle) people that the MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) struggles to maintain, is at risk. 
Meanwhile, the voices against wizardry keep growing with daily protests led by anti-magic crusader - Mary Lou Barebone and fuelled by the increasing disasters ascribed to the terrorising dark wizard - Gellert Grindelwald.
 At the same time, by a twist of fate, Newt's precious suitcase will be switched with the identical one of an aspiring No-Maj baker, Jacob Kowalski, while demoted Auror, Tina Goldstein, arrests Newt for being an unregistered wizard.
To make matters worse, with the suitcase in the wrong hands, several creatures manage to escape to unknown directions. Before long, this situation will catch Senior Auror Percival Graves' attention who will target both Tina and Newt amid panic caused by an invisible, devastating and utterly unpredictable menace that still wreaks havoc in New York's 5th Avenue. Is there a hidden agenda behind Graves' intentions and ultimately, what will happen to the remaining magical creatures still loose in the streets? 
How can you fit that storyline into just 290 pages of script and illustrations?
Find out by borrowing either the real physical book, or the ebook. 

Laugh Out Loud

Don't be too scared to laugh out loud when listening to 'Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians' a young adult novel from Brandon Sanderson.

The plot of the book revolves around the title character and a small group of freedom fighters operating against the cult of evil librarians that secretly rule the world.

The character of the title and the series - Alcatraz Smedry - is a young teen who is always breaking things. After receiving a bag of sand for his thirteenth birthday, he is involved in a strange set of events which begins with a group of librarians stealing his bag of sand, which turns out to have rather unusual properties.

The book starts with Alcatraz setting fire to his foster parents' kitchen. It is revealed that he has been in countless foster homes, always ending up with Alcatraz "destroying" things precious to the people taking care of him. Ms. Fletcher, Alcatraz's personal caseworker, arrives and scolds him for destroying his foster parent's kitchen.

The next day an old man arrives at the house and claims to be his grandfather. Grandfatrher Smedry informs Alcatraz, who struggles with his accident-prone nature, that it is in fact a 'Talent' - he has a special, powerful talent for breaking things. These talents are attributes that we might not normally see as an advantage, such as always arriving late, and tripping and falling in very dramatic ways.
Now suddenly young Alcatraz is fleeing from evil Librarians, releasing dinosaurs to create a diversion in the Fiction section, and learning that clumsiness can be a powerful talent. 
From his new family, he learns the true history - that there is a secret society called the Librarians, whose purpose is to conquer the remaining Free Kingdomers and rule the world. Only a group of strangely-talented allies stand against them.

Almost the entire story takes place at the downtown library, where things aren't always what they seem. And nothing is off-limits, author Brandon Sanderson makes fun of everything. He also does a great job shedding new light on the world we live in, by comparing it to a more advanced society where light bulbs are inferior to open flames (since lights can't set things on fire) and stairs are more advanced than elevators (because you get a work-out climbing them).

Who would have thought that the guy who brought us the gritty 'Reckoners' series could also produce such a riotous story of irreverent humour, and great library-centric jokes and word-plays. Sanderson's first novel for a young adult market recalls the best of 'Artemis Fowl' and 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'.

Our downloadable eAudio copy is narrated by Ramon De Ocampo, and runs for 6 hours 53 minutes.