Penguin Specials by various authors

SHORT SHARP AND BEAUTIFULLY SWEET: Penguin Specials

 

 

You’ve just finished that mammoth five-hundred-page book, or if you are reading Stephen King that one-thousand-page door-stop and you’re not sure whether you can face meeting new characters and building a relationship.  You need a break.  It’s a big commitment starting a book and investing that time and trust with another author.

But you love to read, right?  If you’re like me, you enjoy just laying there at night for half an hour flitting off to another world before you close your eyes to sleep.  Or you want something for that commute to work or the lunch break or to have something so you know where your reading next.

Well for those eReader lovers, Penguin Books Australia has exactly what you need.  They’ve come up with an innovative series entitled “Penguin Specials” and have delved into their formidable treasure trove of essays and stories to provide a growing selection of shorts from “today's best and most exciting writers” at an affordable price and only available in digital format.  All the titles are compatible with a range of handheld reading devices. 

Discover or reacquaint yourself with fabulous Australian authors such as Elizabeth Jolley, Dorothy Hewett, Peter Goldsworth, Robert Drewe and Helen Garner, to name a few. You will never have the time to read books from every author but what a wonderful opportunity to sample the work of some our greatest literary minds.

Do check them out and for the price of coffee feed your reader and your mind.  I’ve already indulged myself with a few titles and here are some of my favourites.

Click here to view more PENGUIN SPECIALS

 

THE BODYSURFERS by Robert Drewe

PRICE:   $2.99

 

This is an evocative piece, beautifully written by prize winning author Robert Drewe, famous for his highly awarded memoir, "The Shark Net".  Here he has captured the very flavour of Australia.

Haunted by the brutal murder of a local couple, David heads to his weekend shack with his new lover, Lydia, and his children from his recently crumbled marriage. Together they find escape, if only briefly, in the ocean and the bush.

The Bodysurfers, the title story of Robert Drewe's classic first collection, is a vivid evocation of love, passion, terror and the beauty of the beach.

  

Click here for more information on "The Bodysurfers"

 

BEAUTY’S SISTER by James Bradley

PRICE:   $3.99

I loved this alternate tale to Rapunzel. It’s dark and imaginative and simply written; a bedtime story for young adults and adults. I hope Mr. Bradley reworks a few more fairy tales.

Juniper, living deep in the forest with her parents, is stunned to discover that the beautiful girl living isolated in a nearby tower is her sister. When the two girls meet, what begins as a fascination and a friendship ultimately develops into something truly sinister.

A story of jealousy, passion and power, Beauty's Sister is a dark and gripping reimagining of one of our oldest tales, Rapunzel...

Click here for more information on "Beauty's Sister"

 

 

SIX WOMEN OF LETTERS curated by Michaela McGuire and Marieke Hardy

PRICE:   $3.99

I cannot tell you how much I loved reading these letters.  Whilst I think we are all growing a little weary of the newspaper’s love affairs with a “letter to my sixteen-year-old self”. (Everywhere I turn somebody remotely famous is writing a letter to themselves.) 

However, these letters are of a different nature. They are thoughtful, beautifully conceived and written with heart. I particularly loved Ita Buttrose’s musings on the life she may have had.  Haven’t we all thought if I’d just walked that road instead of this...?  Here one of our most successful icons muses with great insight.

In homage to that most civilised of activities, letter writing, Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire created the literary afternoons of Women of Letters. Some of Australia's finest dames of stage, screen and page have delivered missives on a series of themes.

Published here for the first time are Deborah Conway writing about the ups and downs of being a dog owner in A Letter to the Best Decision I Ever Made; Ita Buttrose imagining an alternative life as an opera singer in A Letter to the Life I Could Have Lived; Tracee Hutchison writing A Complaint Letter to complaint letters; Pip Lincolne describing a magical childhood afternoon in A Letter to the Moment I Knew it Was Time to Go Home; A Love Letter from Kate Miller-Heidke aged twenty-nine to Kate Miller-Heidke aged twelve; and Helen Garner looking back on a teacher both terrifying and inspiring in A Letter to the Person I Misjudged

 

Click here for more information on "Six Women of Letters"

 

THE KISS by Peter Goldsworthy 
PRICE:   $2.99

           This story has a twist that bites.  Thank goodness I was reading it on my Kobo because my other hand was free to cover my mouth in horror.  How things can go so terribly wrong so easily. This is the quintessential Australian short story told by a master who knows how to grab you by the throat and squeeze until it hurts.

A short shot of brilliant storytelling – one of the most celebrated modern Australian short stories is now available to read by itself, wherever you are.

 Drunk, restless and excited, Kenny and Tom decide to continue their night with a swim in the local water tank. At first exuberant and elated, the teenagers' adventure takes a terrifying turn when they realise they are trapped in the tank with no way out.

 Dark and gripping, Peter Goldsworthy's The Kiss is a classic Australian short story from one of our masters of the form.

 

Click here for more information on "The Kiss"

 

 

THE DARKLING SISTERS by Dorothy Hewett

PRICE:   $2.99

Okay, I’m partial to a ghost story and there are ghosts here but handled in such beautiful literary prose I felt like an eavesdropper on a 1920’s Australian family.  Immensely evocative and entertaining, it was a doorway I enjoyed entering and I was sorry when I had to leave.

A classic short story from one Australia's most celebrated writers.  A big old Victorian terrace in Jersey Road, Woollahra, is thought to be haunted by the two Darkling sisters from the 1920s. When a young family moves in, dark images of these sisters, and of relationships closer to home, hang over them.

 Beautifully crafted and keenly observed, this story from Dorothy Hewett's acclaimed collection A Baker's Dozen is a stunning evocation of family, memories and neighbourhood.

Click here for more information on "The Darkling Sisters"

PENGUIN SPECIALS:       http://www.penguin.com.au/penguinspecials

PENGUIN EBOOKS:        

http://www.penguin.com.au/ebooks

 

           

          If you have read any of these Penguin Shorts or have some more that you have enjoyed from Penguin Shorts that you would like to recommend, please do leave us a comment.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowlings ★ ★ ★★

 

A LITTLE MAGIC AND A LOT OF NASTY

 

It’s as far from Harry Potter as a muggle is from a wizard.  The first book from Harry’s creator J.K. Rowlings certainly contains not a scrap of magic and not a wand in sight.  In fact, within the first two chapters the C-bomb and other choice curse words are dropped enough times that you are left in no doubt that the next five hundred pages are not for the prudish and definitely not for children. 

‘It’s a big book about a small town’, says the publicity blurb and the small town is Pagford where a much loved resident Barry Fairweather has died unexpectedly leaving behind a mourning wife and family, and a town of people who either win or lose from his death.

 You see, Barry was on the Parish council and his death means there is now a ‘Casual Vacancy’ on that council.  There is much at stake. The ‘big’ city of Yarvil has built a slum suburb, the Fields, on the boundaries of the peaceful, quaint Pagford.  Barry was fighting on the council to have the unlovable Fields become part of Pagford which would be a disaster in the minds of many residents.

As several townsfolk vie for his seat, we realise Pagford is a town divided by discrimination, prejudice and just plain nasty gossip.  The teenage characters are no better with drug-taking, casual sex, bullying, cyber-vandalism and even skin-cutting constant past-times.

But is it good? That is the question on everyone’s lips.  This is a literary book written by an author who is undoubtedly the master of characterisation.  The characters, awful as they are, stand up from the pages like holograms sucking you into Rowling's world.  It is a soap-opera of the literary degree and if you enjoy eavesdropping and finding characters that are more life-like than we care to know, then this book is for you.  If you are looking for escapism and a fantasy world where good wins over evil then ‘The Casual Vacancy’ will disappoint. This is a book by an assured author who wrote not for her fans but herself and who loves even the ugliest of her characters. And I found much magic in that.

Review Copy supplied by Hachette Australia.  For more information please visit http://www.hachette.com.au

 

Release Dates:

 

Australia and New Zealand: October 2012

U.K.:  October 2012

USA Release:  October 2012

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 

 

J.K Rowling is the author of the bestselling Harry Potter series of seven books, published between 1997 and 2007, which have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, are distributed in more than 200 territories, translated into 73 languages and have been turned into eight blockbuster films. She has also written two small volumes, which appear as the titles of Harry's schoolbooks within the novels. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages were published by Bloomsbury Children's Books in March 2001 in aid of Comic Relief.

In December 2008, The Tales of Beedle the Bard was published in aid of the Children's High Level Group and quickly became the fastest selling book of the year. As well as an OBE for services to children's literature, J.K Rowling is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees including the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, France's Legion d'Honneur and the Hans Christian Andersen Award and she has been a Commencement Speaker at Harvard University USA. She supports a wide number of charitable causes through her charitable trust Volant and is the founder of Lumos, a charity working to transform the lives of disadvantaged children.

 

Penguin Australia offers FREE short story

           

 

            Destiny Romance, Penguin Australia’s digital romance imprint is offering romance lovers a free digital short story by popular romance author Anne Gracie this month. Anyone who registers at destinyromance.com, will have the opportunity to read The Laird’s Vow, a charming historical romance by this three time shortlisted RITA award author.

 

               Launched in August in Australia, Destiny Romance is quickly gathering momentum. The imprint which publishes eBooks across the romance genres of contemporary, historical, suspense, paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi and erotica, has a strong emphasis on discovering new Australian voices in the world of romantic writing.

 

            The Destiny Romance website also allows readers internationally to purchase eBooks from the site, so they can enjoy their Destiny Romance eBooks anywhere – from the coffee shops of New York, to the tube stations of London and the beaches of Queensland.

 

             The Penguin team behind Destiny Romance, Sarah Fairhall and Carol George, said “We are proud to be delivering Australian stories in a genre we both love, in a format that reflects changing tastes and times, and to a worldwide audience.”

 

           Destiny Romance releases two new eBook titles every month.

Current titles available include:

Wish by Kelly Hunter
Harbinger by Peta Crake
Small Town Storm by Elise K Ackers
The Convenient Bride by Jennifer St George
CityGlitter by Carla Caruso
Double Exposure by Charmaine Ross
Rules are for Breaking by Imelda Evans
Princess Avenger by Bernadette Rowley


So, who is up for some romance to fill their e-Reader?

 

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom ★ ★ ★★

TIME WELL SPENT

 

Years ago I wept as I read Mitch Abom’s ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’.  So when I saw he had a new book on the horizon I thought now was a good time to reacquaint myself with his unusual style and take on the world.

In ‘The Time-Keeper’, he writes an engrossing parable on the meaning and value of time. Imagine if you didn’t have a word for time?  There wouldn’t be a tomorrow. There would be no plans for next weekend.  We would live in the moment.  It’s a difficult thing to imagine in this technological world we now inhabit, where every second, thanks to smart phones and iPads is usually filled with some kind of plan. 

Our world before the concept of time is the place into which Abom first introduces us to his lead character. Dor, an early inventor, one day happens upon the measurement of time, building the first sun-dial and devising other concepts for tracking time.  When Dor’s beloved wife Alli falls ill he confronts and challenges God to save her.  In response God banishes him to a mystical cave where he is transformed into Father Time, and then forced to endure the constant pleading from the inhabitants of earth forever. They beg for more time, less time, time to speed up, and time to slow down; the time he invented now rules the world.

As his soul withers from the constant voices and the monotony of isolation, he is granted the chance to escape his prison by saving two seemingly unconnected people using a magical hourglass.  Sarah Lemon is counting down time as she anticipates her first date.  Victor Delamonte, one of the world’s richest men, finds his wealth can’t save him from a terminal disease, until he devises a scheme to cheat death.   How can Dor save these two people when he cannot even save himself?

This very question kept me reading way past my bedtime.  Abom writes in a unique and simplistic style but his lessons are deep and thought provoking.  Whilst reading you will be reminded of at least one truth: time passes quickly when you hold in your hands a fabulous book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MITCH ALBOM is an internationally renowned and best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician. His books have collectively sold over 33 million copies worldwide; have been published in forty-one territories and in forty-two languages around the world.

All three of Albom’s best sellers have been turned into successful TV movies. Oprah Winfrey produced the film version of Tuesdays With Morrie in December 1999, starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. The film garnered four Emmy awards, including best TV film, director, actor and supporting actor. The critically acclaimed Five People You Meet in Heaven aired on ABC in winter, 2004. Directed by Lloyd Kramer, the film was the most watched TV movie of the year, with 19 million viewers. Oprah Winfrey Presents Mitch Albom’s For One More Day aired on ABC in December 2007 and earned Ellen Burstyn a Screen Actors Guild nomination. Most recently. Hallmark Hall of Fame produced the film adaptation of Have a Little Faith, which aired on ABC in November 2011. It starred Laurence Fishburne, Bradley Whitford, Martin Landau, and Anika Noni Rose.

In 2010, Albom was named the recipient of the Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

He lives with his wife, Janine, in Detroit, MI.

 

To learn more about Mitch Albom visit http://mitchalbom.com/books

 

Timeless Innocents by Janis Susan May ★ ★ ★ ½

 A Guilt Free eBook Pleasure

 

Carina Press is a digital-first imprint from Harlequin.  This means they can bring authors and a broader range of stories to readers with more speed and versatility than their parent publisher by publishing first to e-book.

For my first sample of this e-book publisher I chose ‘Timeless Innocents’ by Janis Susan May.  It’s a novella tale of around 26,000 words with a cover that resembles the ugly Chucky doll of the suite of films. 

It’s a creepy little tale of lawyer Brianna Forte who, as executor of the Clerkwells’ (her Aunty and Uncle) estate, must catalogue and liquidate their assets.  Their possessions include hundreds of strangely life-like figurines called ‘Timeless Innocents’.  Immediately, she is drawn into the mystery of the Clerkwells’ life as she discovers, despite the Clerkwells’ modest lifestyle, the dolls they avidly collected are worth a fortune. Add to this, a constant stream of pushy people attempting to purchase them from her and we are in Twilight Zone territory. 

Her investigations are further complicated by an ex-boyfriend who is unable to accept their breakup and whose anger is rapidly escalating, and we are drawn into an intense, claustrophobic evening within the Clerkwells’ house as Brianna begins to realise something is very wrong with the dolls.

I love short stories and novellas and horror lends itself particularly well to this form.  Well written shorts and novellas should be well-paced and an exciting read from the first page to the last with a manageable stage and cast of characters. Authors just don’t have the time to be self-indulgent.

Author Janis Susan May certainly knows the rules and I spent an enjoyable two nights with Brianna Forte and the ‘Timeless Innocents’ and I look forward to reading more from this author. 

Did I mention that I love my e-reader? And no, I don’t miss the smell and feel of heavy books.  So, I commend Carina Press for embracing the digital age and offering well priced gems like ‘Timeless Innocents’.  This book will set you back the price of a cup of coffee at $3.59.  And that is a timeless bargain. 


Visit  www.carinapress.com for purchasing details.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR

Formerly an actress and singer, a talent agent and Supervisor of Accessioning for a bio-genetic DNA testing lab, Janis has also been editor-in-chief of two multi-magazine publishing groups as well as many other things, including an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist.

Janis married for the first time when most of her contemporaries were becoming grandmothers. Her husband, also an Egyptophile, even proposed in a moonlit garden near the Pyramids of Giza. Janis and her husband live in Texas with an assortment of rescued furbabies.

Learn more about Janis Susan May… http://www.janissusanmay.com

 

 

The Uninvited by Liz Jensen ★ ★ ★★

A FRIGHTENING VISIT

A good story always has a protagonist riddled with faults, self-doubts and obstacles.  It makes for realistic reading and gives the character room for growth.  But it’s a crazy brave author who imbues their lead character with Asperger's Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder causing sufferers to struggle with correct social interaction, repetitive behavior and obsessive interests.

In ‘The Uninvited’, author Liz Jensen’s Asperger’s sufferer Hesketh Lock is a world authority on anthropology, employed by large organizations to analyze worker’s group behaviour.  His syndrome, which makes him unable to form true relationships with other human beings, gives him the unique ability to unemotionally analyse patterns in behaviour.

When seemingly loyal workers in organizations around the world suddenly wreak havoc through sabotage, followed quickly by suicide, Hesketh is sent to Taiwan to investigate the first occurrence.  He then finds himself travelling across the world as more and more workers damage their companies in various ways, from computer espionage to setting explosions, before dying.

Simultaneously, children around the world are suddenly and violently turning on their parents and grandparents, killing and maiming them.  It begins with a seven-year-old girl who puts a nail-gun to her grandmother's neck and fires.   As the story progresses Hesketh begins to wonder if his step-son, Freddy, the only person for which he feels any type of love, is also becoming part of the global epidemic of insanity.

This book is fascinating and a challenging read for the same reason.   Hesketh’s Asperger’s makes it a very confusing book in the first third due to his propensity to jump from one seemingly unrelated thought to the next.  However, when your mind becomes accustomed to his disjointed voice, you begin to appreciate his compelling view of human nature and the world. 

Jensen has written a character rarely encountered in fiction. Her eco-apocalyptic vision is also refreshingly new and a departure from the usual mutated virus, zombie or nuclear winter apocalypse.

Enter the world of ‘The Uninvited’ knowing it’s going to be a disjointed and slightly sluggish beginning.  However, once all the scattered threads are drawn together, you will find the pace will barely allow you to catch your breath until the shocking revelations at the end. It is quite an experience that may have you exiting your children’s bedrooms for just a few days without turning your back.

          My review copy of "The Uninvited" thanks to the loveable people at Bloomsbury Publishing Australia

To buy or learn more visit The Uninvited
EBook available here from Bloomsbury The Uninvited EBook $24.99

 

Release Dates: Australia and New Zealand: 1^st August, 2012U.K.:  5^th July 2012USA Release:  8^th January 2013

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

          Liz Jensen was born in Oxfordshire, the daughter of a Danish father and an Anglo-Moroccan mother. She spent two years as a journalist in the Far East before joining the BBC, first as a journalist, then as a TV and radio producer. She then moved to France where she worked as a sculptor and began her first novel, Egg Dancing, which was published in 1995. Back in London she wrote Ark Baby (1998) which was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award, The Paper Eater (2000), and War Crimes for the Home (2002) which was longlisted for the Orange Prize and is currently being adapted for the stage. Her latest novel, The Ninth Life of Louis Drax, is published by Bloomsbury in June 2004, and will feature on Radio 4's Book at Bedtime. Next year it will be brought to the screen by Miramax, in a movie written and directed by Anthony Minghella.

 

Dead Time by Anne Cassidy ★ ★ ★ ½

 

NO DEAD TIME HERE

“Dead Time” is the first of the “Murder Notebook Series” by Anne Cassidy.  Cassidy has penned over thirty books during her career and her latest series follows two teenagers, Rose Smith and Joshua Johnson.

Twelve-year-old Rose’s mother and fourteen-year-old Joshua’s father live together happily until one night their parents go out to dinner and never come back.  Nothing is heard of them again and the two are sent to live with different relatives.  

Five years later Rose and Joshua are due to meet up, having not seen each other since that fateful night.  As rose waits on a train station heading to their rendezvous she is harassed by a boy from her college who has constantly made her life a misery.  He finally walks away only to be stabbed and killed on the railway bridge in full view of Rose.  She sees the attack but it occurs too far away for her to identify the assailant. After being befriended by the murdered boy’s girlfriend, things become even more frightening when the girlfriend is also found dead in a nearby cemetery.

As Rose is dragged into the mystery of the murder investigation, she and Joshua also begin to believe they may have found clues to the disappearance of their parents.  Rose is as feisty and stubborn as Joshua is thoughtful and melancholy which makes for good conflict. 

As in all good YA books, Cassidy fills her story with teenage awkwardness and simmering emotions.  Even though some may be disappointed with the lack of answers on the overall mystery of the parent’s disappearance, the solving of the murder was satisfying.  Certainly there will be many waiting for the next book of the series as the two continue their hunt to solve the mystery of their parent’s disappearance.  Any young adult fan reading this will certainly not feel they have spent any dead time with this author.

"Dead Time" is available now for Australia $15.99; New Zealand $19.98
 

My review copy of "Dead Time" thanks to the gorgeous people at  Bloomsbury Publishing Australia

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anne Cassidy was born in London in 1952, and worked for some years as a teacher, before becoming a full-time writer. She specializes in crime stories and thrillers for teenagers, and has written a series of East End Murder books.

Consequently, she has often been described as 'Ruth Rendell for teenagers', and includes Rendell among her own favourite authors. Since the early 1990s, Cassidy has produced a prolific output of both young adult novels and books for younger children, and had a steady and moderate stream of success until the award-winning Looking for JJ (2004) dramatically increased her public profile and credence in the literary world.  Learn more about Anne Cassidy at her website http://www.annecassidy.com/