by NRB | 3 Oct 2024 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
These two new crime thrillers from Australian writers Anna Downes and Lisa Kenway bring fresh takes to the genre. Writers groups are an increasingly popular way for new and established novelists to workshop and complete their manuscripts. It’s always been difficult...
by NRB | 1 Oct 2024 | Fiction |
Memories are not merely recounted in Antonia Pont’s novella. How would you like to share someone else’s memories? No, not to just listen to them or read them, but to experience them, to be where they were, do what they were doing, hear what they heard (voices, birds,...
by NRB | 26 Sep 2024 | Fiction, SFF |
Spies, magic, intrigue, and the human cost of an expanding empire all feature in Australian author Alina Bellchambers’ debut fantasy. Growing up on the run from mysterious criminals with her mother, Mira has always dreamed of having safety and stability; of being able...
by NRB | 24 Sep 2024 | Fiction, SFF |
Not just astronauts and science experiments: Larry Buttrose’s stories imagine what it would be like if we had to live on Mars. One of the most memorable opening lines in fiction is Ford Maddox Ford’s ‘This is the saddest story I have ever heard.’ The Good Soldier is...
by NRB | 19 Sep 2024 | Fiction |
Set in the ancient world, Ferdia Lennon’s debut novel features the plays of Euripides, prisoners of war, and an unlikely production of Medea. Syracuse 412 BC So Gelon says to me, ‘Let’s go down and feed the Athenians. The weather’s perfect for feeding Athenians.’ When...
by NRB | 17 Sep 2024 | Fiction |
Comedian Steph Tisdell’s first novel tackles serious issues in this story of growing up in a First Nations family. Set in Brisbane, The Skin I’m In opens with Layla, the youngest daughter of a First Nations mother and a white father, getting ready for her last year of...
by NRB | 12 Sep 2024 | Fiction |
Malcolm Knox’s new novel satirises the brutal madness of the Soviet Union, focussing on Stalin’s notorious head of secret police, Beria. In the business of producing fiction, the novelist can never keep up with authoritarian political leaders. Such leaders offer an...
by NRB | 10 Sep 2024 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
In Claire Sutherland’s debut crime novel, a body is found on an isolated track on the Wimmera Plains, where Mount Arapiles towers over all. Anybody who has ever spent any time in the Wimmera around Gariwerd (the Grampians) in Victoria will know how striking the...
by NRB | 5 Sep 2024 | Fiction |
László Krasznahorkai’s latest novel encompasses physics, the music of JS Bach, and an obsessive correspondence with the German chancellor. László Krasznahorkai enthusiasts won’t be surprised he’s written a 430-page novel comprising a single sentence....
by NRB | 3 Sep 2024 | Fiction |
Stephen Downes’ debut The Hands of Pianists was shortlisted for the PM’s Literary Awards. His second ranges across art, violence, folklore and mental illness. This is a strange book. Not just because the narrator is a violent criminal writing his thoughts for his...
by NRB | 29 Aug 2024 | Fiction |
Jodi Picoult’s latest novel reimagines Shakespeare and shows little has changed since the sixteenth century for women playwrights. ‘I believe we can help each other,’ Emilia said. ‘You wish for everyone to know your name; I wish for no one to know mine.’ So begins...
by NRB | 27 Aug 2024 | Fiction, SFF |
Sarah Beth Durst calls her new novel ‘cozy fantasy’ and delivers a tale of magic, persecution – and jam-making. Librarian Kiela flees the burning Great Library of Alyssium with Caz, her chatty, sentient spider-plant assistant, and as many priceless (and highly...
KATHERINE WILES No Autographs Please. Reviewed by Sally Nimon2 October 2024Katherine Wiles’ life as a professional opera singer seems glossed with [ … ]
