Patrick Frost's collection of short stories, A Sky Populated by Tongues, is constantly surprising. The settings seem familiar enough - until some twist throws you off balance. There's a strange visitor in the kitchen. Will he ever move? A sinister meal on the island bench in snow country. And if you don't do as your host advises on the open garden tour, what exactly are the consequences? When what you decide to wear to work to shake things up a bit doesn't have the impact you had ...

At the age of 13 Sidney Kidman ran away from home with only five shillings in his pocket. He went on to become a horse dealer, drover, cattle buyer and bush jockey and he also ran a coach business. Above all Kidman created a mighty cattle empire of more than a hundred stations, fighting droughts, bushfires, floods and plagues of vermin to do so. His enterprise and courage won him a huge fortune and made him a legend.

I Can Jump Puddles is Alan Marshall’s story of his childhood - a happy world in which, despite his crippling poliomyelitis, he plays, climbs, fights, swims, rides and laughs. His world was the Australian countryside early last century: rough-riders, bushmen, farmers and tellers of tall stories - a world held precious by the young Alan Marshall.