All three books in Gillian Polack's 'Enchanted Australia' series of contemporary fantasy novels, now in one volume!The Time Of The Ghosts: Ghosts trail after us. They are our fears and the shape of our hates. Poltergeists and the spirits of drowned girls; malicious presences and portents; cat vampires and roaming bushrangers. These ghosts haunt Canberra, and it takes four women, one cup of tea at a time, to face them. But can they take down the darkness and keep th...

Humankind is in danger. The Year of the Fruitcake tells of the Earth-based life of a mostly-mindwiped alien anthropologist inhabiting a human perimenopausal body instead of her own more rational body with its capacity to change gender. This alien has definitely shaken a great intergalactic empire by sitting in cafés with her new best friends. Chocolate may or may not have played a part. Will humanity survive? Polack describes her novel as, "Bleak. It's political. It's angry. It's also sarc...

Professor Luke Mann is the leader of a team heading back to the Languedoc, year 1305. Their goal? To study the environment, refine delta T and, in Luke's words, "to change the universe". With him is Artemisia Wormwood: a Medieval historian who needs the money to save the life of her dying sister.But time travel is untested, and dangerous. Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert, a village in Languedoc, is a desert of souls. Monastery, pilgrimage path, and legend; that's all there is. Perfect for s...

Some keys open doors to strange worlds...Melissa has a happy marriage but her everyday life is a constant battle against pain. She discovers that her artwork can produce magic, prompting her to apply for an artist's retreat to a mysterious country house. Her old schoolfriends Bettina and Zelda are also at the same retreat. But neither the house nor their friendship is what they think. A mystical library, rapacious shadows, and keys to otherworldly rooms are the links to saving the ...

A collection of three time travel science fiction novels by Christopher Coates, Gillian Polack & Michael R. Stern, now available in one volume!Alternate Purpose: In a world devastated by a global pandemic, two scientists develop a radical plan to prevent the catastrophe by sending someone back in time to stop it from happening. But the only person capable of surviving the process is Devin Baker, a man with a troubled past and a dangerous mission ahead. As Devin tra...

Renowned artist Grania, famed as a painter of light, arrives in a sleek space ship from Lost Earth, ready to embrace New Ceres and its New Enlightenment in its entirety - its 18th century set up, its coffee houses, its gossipy salons, and its obsession with a low-level approach to tech . . . But is she really ready for its cutthroat society, its strange food issues or for Livia? Livia who toys with lives on a whim, and will stop at nothing to realize her dream society.When Grania m...

Mountains of the Mind – A Polack Retrospective contains never before published early work from Dr Polack, prizewinning published pieces and brand new short stories written especially for this book. It will surprise and delight fans of her previous novels and non fiction publications, and introduce new readers to the complexities and subtleties of Dr Polack's short stories. Traversing the mountains and valleys, and following the twists and turns in time and place you will return again and a...

Pink tutus, magic, sarcasm, amulets and bushfires: this is suburban fantasy in Australia.Life is never quite what it seems, even without the lost family heritage delivered to Judith and Belinda. Judith wants an ordinary life... mostly. If Belinda weren't Judith's sister, and if it wasn't for bushfires and bigots, Belinda's life would be perfectly ordinary. Judith will tell you so; you don't even have to ask.Belinda's friend Rhonda has a superpower. Each time she sees the fu...

The pleasure of your company is requested.Graceful feet tracing courtly steps.Eyes behind jeweled masks meeting across a room of twirling dancers.Gloved hands touching fleetingly—or gripping swords...Anything can happen at a ball.You are invited to enjoy these stories of fancy and fantasy from thirteen authors, framed in the splendor and elegance of a ballroom. Be it at a house party for diplomats and thieves, or Almacks in a side-universe in ...

To our modern minds, the Middle Ages seem to mix the well-known and familiar with wildly alien concepts and circumstances. The Middle Ages Unlocked provides an invaluable introduction to this complex and dynamic period in England. Exploring a wide range of topics from law, religion and education to landscape, art and magic, between the eleventh and early fourteenth centuries, the structures, institutions and circumstances that formed the basis for daily life and society are revealed. Drawi...

Fay invented a world of fantasy where she could dwell in happiness. Her friends in this perfect world were Belle and Persa, Enlai and Flor. She visited them on the edge of sleep, shaping their lives to suit herself."I dream better than other people. More efficiently and effectively," she explained to herself. Her dreams were a flicker away from reality.After Gilbert turns up in her refuge, undesigned, unheralded, and disturbing, Fay's dream world shatters. But are her dream...

Shortlisted for the William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or ReviewFiction plays a vital role in describing history and transmitting culture. How writers understand and use history can play an equally important role in how they navigate a novel. This book explores the nature of the author’s relationship with history and fiction – often using writers’ own words – as well as the role history plays in fiction.Focusing on genre fiction, this study considers k...