This is the story of Arnie Duffield, who arrived at Thursday Island, in Torres Strait, the Northern tip of Australia, aged ten, in 1936 - beginning a life-time of adventure. His father worked on the famous sailing luggers, diving boats that harvested pearl shells and pearls for over 100 years up to 1980. Arnie with his father and brother, with their own hands would build their own flotilla of luggers, to operate as a family company over eventful decades: seeing the Great Depression, war an...

Everyone needs a Murgatroyd in their life.In this collection of short stories and poetry featuring a character called Murgatroyd you find creative Murgatroyds, robotic Murgatroyds, clowning Murgatroyds, and caring Murgatroyds. Each one is a metaphor for something to ponder and to celebrate.Featuring contributions from Shawn L. Bird, Laurène Boutin, Finnian Burnett, Sherry Cassells, Renee Cronley, Susan Duffield-Lodge, Robyn Diner, Lindsey Harrington,Trevor Hodges, Zilla Jon...

Eye-opening and compelling, the overlooked world of freight shipping, revealed as the foundation of our civilization.On ship-tracking Web sites, the waters are black with dots. Each dot is a ship; each ship is laden with boxes; each box is laden with goods. In postindustrial economies, we no longer produce but buy, and so we must ship. Without shipping there would be no clothes, food, paper, or fuel. Without all those dots, the world would not work. Yet freight shi...

A new short story from Australia's queen of hard-hitting family drama.A short story for fans of Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve.Step into the fragile domestic world of Roar and discover the unforgettable voice of Nicole Trope, bestselling author of The Secrets in Silence, Three Hours Late and The Boy Under the Table.*The baby sleeps peacefully, filled with milk and contentment. The man on the bed breathes his way into the da...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.The sinking of the Titanic 100 years ago in 1912, and the subsequent deaths of over 1,500 passengers, sent shock waves around the world. Never before or since has a maritime disaster in a time of peace had such an impact.TITANIC: HISTORY IN AN HOUR is an entertaining and well researched account of the events leading up to the sinking of this ‘unsinkable’ ship, providing an fascinating commentary on the pressures of the W...

“Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction belongs on every Canadian reader’s bookshelf.” - Amazing StoriesThe World Fantasy Award finalist and two-time Aurora Award-winning series is back with an all-new volume!Step into worlds of wonder with the definitive showcase of the best Canadian fantasy and science fiction of the year.Discover the magic woven by more than three dozen of Canada’s most celebrated authors and rising st...

Australia is a land of extremes where searing heat and devastating floods can both take their toll. It is also a land of vast distances, leaving it vulnerable to calamaties at sea, by rail and in the air. AUSTRALIAS GREATEST DISASTERS charts the events that have caused not only tragic loss of human life, but also economic and environmental devastation. From Cyclone Tracy and the Ash Wednesday bushfires to the Granville train disaster and the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, these are the ...

2025 Aurora Award Winner for Best Anthology!“Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction belongs on every Canadian reader’s bookshelf.” - Amazing StoriesThe Aurora Award-winning series returns with a new volume!Venture into extraordinary realms of imagination with the essential collection of the year’s best Canadian fantasy and science fiction.Discover the magic woven by more than three dozen of Canada...

On 15 April 2012, 100 years will have passed since the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic hit an iceberg and foundered in the North Atlantic with the loss of 1,503 lives. Had the disaster not occurred, what is now the best-known ship in the world would have lost the title of the largest liner within just two years. She was certainly not the fastest passenger ship of the time and can be considered a technological throwback, yet Titanic captures the imagination like no other. This b...

How would first contact—on earth, in space, on another planet—transform our understandings of technology, philosophy, and what it means to be human? What kind of cognitive dissonance would society experience, if we discovered a previously unrecognized sentience on Earth?What would life be like if it originated in a frigid ocean beneath an impenetrable shell of ice? Or on a world whose haze obscures any view of the universe beyond? Or on an unfathomable scale in the...

Australia's master storyteller Graham Seal brings to life the enigmas and puzzles behind famous unsolved crimes, long-held secrets, buried loot and strange phenomena from the bush and the city.Australia has always been a land of mysteries. Some are ancient, some are historical, and many continue to perplex us today - and will probably continue to do so tomorrow.More often than most of us would like to think, things simply vanish, and people disappear withou...

In my humble opinion, Bert Kienzle did more than any other single man to make Australian victory possible.' Peter FitzSimons, author of KokodaIn 1942, when the Japanese had invaded Papua New Guinea and the Australian soldiers sent to hold them back thought victory was impossible, one man, Bert Kienzle, changed the course of history.This charismatic man, well known in Papua for having run gold mines and plantations there, w...