This anthology contains many song lyrics, poems and short pieces of prose focusing on the author's reflections on life, on love, and on his career as a teacher. In this anthology there are also ones about his love of old cars.His song parodies on politics are in separate volumes of another series "Barracking from The Sidelines – The Songs" and not in this anthology.Nor are the hundreds of songs about football and sport, many of which were sung by The Coodabeen Champions. Th...

In the eastern part of Paraguay, a small consortium has employed wildcat miners to drill test holes in the South American rainforest clad high plateau. A series of events including the sudden disappearance of some of the miners sees a troubleshooter brought in to investigate. Adam Lister fresh from doing a similar job in Rwanda is dragged away from the pleasant surroundings of his holiday in Fiji to solve the issue. What he found astounded him, and many of them would be lucky to come out a...

What happens when our physical form reaches its use-by-date? Is there a purpose to our existence? Do our memories live on after our body dies? Is there a heaven and can all creatures on all planets enter?As a Spheroid, I live on, but just as a tiny translucent object destined to continue searching the universe forever for answers to its mysteries and to life itself. Immortality sucks, but then so do black holes. What are they? Where do they lead? What lies in wait for the unwary dr...

Dominated by a federal government, in a three-tier system of government, Australian politics is based on a constitution written in the 1890's that is extremely difficult to change via referendums. It is a Westminster system of government that has two separate chambers that are dominated by two major parties whose ideologies differ and both the sides are very combative to the extent that agreement on issues except politician wage increase, are hard won battles. If one side thinks of an idea...

Dominated by a federal government, in a three-tier system of government, Australian politics is based on a constitution written in the 1890's that is extremely difficult to change via referendums. It is a Westminster system of government that has two separate chambers that are dominated by two major parties whose ideologies differ and both the sides are very combative to the extent that agreement on issues except politician wage increase, are hard won battles. If one side thinks of an idea...

Sergeant Downs, or Sarge as he preferred, was minding his own business in the Cairns police station in Far North Queensland, Australia, when a stranger entered his life. Blessed with a photographic memory and a doggedness of purpose, Sarge was finally able to place the person and answer why warning bells were sounding in the deep recesses of his mind. To quell that nagging annoying noise he embarked on a journey that would take him half way across Australia to the outback town of Coober Pe...

Over the past number of years I have been writing parodies of songs to take the mickey out of how seriously Australians take their home grown sport of Australian rules football. Well known songs from the 50's, sixties, 70's and even the 80's have been the vehicle for my humorous take on what is akin to religion in Australia. I have also poked fun at some other sports in the process. Some over the years have been selected to play on radio as part of a Saturday sporting program. From the son...

Mary Evans was born in 1920 in Melbourne, Australia. Her father had come home from World War 1 suffering from shell shock and the loss of his leg. When she was only seven, her father finally died. She, her mother and younger brother, David who had an intellectual disability, were cast out onto the streets.By sheer chance Mary spots a pickpocket at the Queen Victoria Market and gives chase. The pickpocket is arrested. The owner of the stolen wallet is so grateful that he offers Mary'...

The Rhinogres are a mercenary army of creatures that are the cross between rhinoceroses and ogres. Hobgoblins are also members of the army. They live in mediaeval times and are based in the Caucasus Mountains in Eastern Europe. The Rhinogres in the army are not the brightest bunch and only two have any real intelligence and they are the leader and the second in command. Even the sorcerers who were supposed to be gifted were lacking in grey matter. They are accompanied by powerful beasts su...

The year is 1937 and just after the first semester/Christmas break, a fight between two boarding final year law students in Balliol College, Oxford University has come to the attention of the master, and the head of law faculty at the college. It was reported by the porter and all the known qualities of one student seems to run counter the evidence of the other. One student remains uncommunicative. It is at a time when Britain is reeling from the sudden abdication of King Edward the VIII a...

Everybody dies. That's the cold hard reality of life. Not everyone gets forewarning and time to think about it, and what, if anything, comes next. After undergoing treatment for brain cancer, a patient finds that accepting his inevitable mortality is very difficult. His brain is whirling out of control and he has difficulty controlling his anxiety after treatment fails and palliative care is all that there is left. He has moments of clarity though where he seeks larger truths. Without the ...

Three men from totally different backgrounds find themselves in a strange alliance outside a hospital in the northern suburbs of Gaza City. It is the year following the massacre and hostage taking of over one thousand Israelis by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7th 2023 and the retaliatory invasion by Israel which saw over forty-four thousand Palestinian deaths, most of whom were women and children, and also much of Gaza reduced to rubble. Each of the men have their own reasons for ...