Ever wondered how to truly unlock the secrets of masterful storytelling?Literary Forensics offers a groundbreaking approach to reading like a writer, helping you dissect the intricate craft behind compelling narratives. Gary Alan McBride, drawing from seven years of leading Writers Who Read, fills a critical void by compiling innovative reading techniques you can use to uncover the literary brilliance found in today's novels.This essential reference guide ...

"I write this chronicle as if I were a man standing graveside, reflecting on a life that expended a last fitful breath before growing still and silent. But the grave is that of a civilization that once spanned a planet and reached for the heavens. And there is no rest here, no peaceful silence. The grave by which I stand is empty, for the dead have climbed out of it and tread across a world that should tremble at their weight."My name is Jake, and here is where I leave my stories of...

First published in 1994, The Complete Guide to Finding the Birds of Australia was the first ever book of its type in Australia – a complete guide to locating every resident bird species in Australia, plus supplementary information on where to find rarities, migratory species and logistical information. This fully revised second edition expands on the best-selling appeal of the first, describing the best-known sites for all of Australia’s endemic birds, plus vagrants and regular migrants such ...

The best photographic field guide to Australia's birdsAustralia is home to a spectacular diversity of birdlife, from parrots and penguins to emus and vibrant passerines. Birds of Australia covers all 714 species of resident birds and regularly occurring migrants and features more than 1,100 stunning color photographs, including many photos of subspecies and plumage variations never before seen in a field guide. Detailed facing-page species accounts describ...

From the eastern rainforests to the central deserts, Australia is home to some 900 species of birds. Finding Australian Birds covers over 400 birdwatching sites conveniently grouped into the best birding areas, from one end of the country to the other. This includes areas such as Kakadu in the Top End and Uluru in the Red Centre of the Northern Territory, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, an amazing diversity of forests along the eastern Australian seaboard, including some of ...

Laura Fraser grows up in Sydney, motherless, with a cold, professional father and an artistic bent. Ravi Mendis lives on the other side of the globe -- exploring the seductive new world of the Internet, his father dead, his mother struggling to get by.Their stories alternate throughout Michelle de Kretser's ravishing novel, culminating in unlikely fates for them both, destinies influenced by travel -- voluntary in her case, enforced in his.With money from an inheritance, Laura sets...

"This book is fast-paced and lively, reminiscent of a Tom Clancy thriller." - The US Review of BooksIn this edge-of-your-seat thriller, author Dave Edlund brings readers face to face with the promise of energy independence... and its true cost.As one by one the world's leading alternative energy researchers are assassinated, Peter Savage and his friend Jim Nicolaou race against the clock to preserve the secret that promises to change the landscape of...

Look for The Land of Sweet Forever, a posthumous collection of newly discovered short stories and previously published essays and magazine pieces by Harper Lee, coming October 21, 2025.Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American ReadHarper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South—and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred...

What makes a good story or a screenplay great?The vast majority of writers begin the storytelling process with only a partial understanding where to begin. Some labor their entire lives without ever learning that successful stories are as dependent upon good engineering as they are artistry. But the truth is, unless you are master of the form, function and criteria of successful storytelling, sitting down and pounding out a first draft without planning is an ineffe...

From the bestselling author of the Emperor's Edge series...When Delia chose to major in archaeology, she imagined herself as the female Indiana Jones of the Southwest. She didn’t imagine herself crawling through abandoned mine shafts, scrounging for rusty pickaxes and gold pans to sell on auction sites, but Indiana Jones didn’t have to make student loan payments.Scouring the mountains of Arizona with Simon, her best friend and computer geek extraor...

Theme Is What Your Story Is Really AboutTheme—the mysterious cousin of plot and character. Too often viewed as abstract rather than actionable, theme is frequently misunderstood and left to chance. Some writers even insist theme should not be purposefully implemented. This is unfortunate, because in many ways theme is story. Theme is the heart, the meaning, the point. Nothing that important should be overlooked.Powerful themes are never in...

A guide for parents to help children of all ages process the onslaught of unfiltered information in the digital age.Education is not solely about acquiring information and skills across subject areas, but also about understanding how and why we believe what we do. At a time when online media has created a virtual firehose of information and opinions, parents and teachers worry how students will interpret what they read and see. Amid the noise, it has become increas...