In his debut collection of poems Neil Boyack’s Self Help and Other Works digs deep into the trials of loyalty, the stink of lust, and the wounds of solitude. Boyack’s commitment to vulnerability is there for all to see and judge, as is his way. Heavily based in the operational and everyday he finds the hidden and the secret in the self deceptions and the anonymity of the dead fox, roads as long as sight, an argument on the beach, and in the ironies of a white Australia with a bla...

Embodying the beginnings of Melbourne Grunge circa early nineties the stories in See Through come from the seminal self published collections Black, and Snakeskin/Vanilla.  Filled to the brim with stressed, working class characters who are running out of time, money and mental health, these people exist in the social margins and survive in the wastelands of the urban sprawl.  Boyack’s characters are shards of smashed mirror on a bathroom floor, reflect...

On February 4th 2013 Neil Gaiman embarked on a fantastic art project in partnership with BlackBerry and millions of his fans. He tweeted twelve questions to the world, one for each month of the year. From the tens of thousands of responses he received, Neil picked his favourite answers and wrote twelve short stories inspired by them. Releasing these back to the world, Neil asked people to contribute art to illustrate the stories. To Find out more about A Calendar of Tales visit www.blackbe...

Do you remember the water buffalo at the end of our street?Or the deep-sea diver we found near the underpass?Do you know why dogs bark in the middle of the night?Shaun Tan, creator of The Arrival, The Lost Thing and The Red Tree, reveals the quiet mysteries of everyday life: homemade pets, dangerous weddings, stranded sea mammals, tiny exchange students and secret rooms filled with darkness and delight.

They say that tourist ships to Antarctica, even more than ordinary human conveyances, are loaded down with aching hearts. Deceived wives and widowers, men who've never been loved and don't know why, Russian crew forced to leave their children behind for years at a time … And then there are the married couples: how calm the old ones, how eager the new! – but isn't a couple the greatest mystery of all?Regions of Thick-Ribbed Ice is the tale of a journey to Antarctic...

Originally published by Selkirk Lapwing Press in 2007, Andy Hopkins' acclaimed poetry collection, Dark Horse Pictures, is a deep, dark labyrinth of language.

This new collection of short stories from T.C. Boyle finds him at his mercurial best. Inventive, wickedly funny, sometimes disturbing, these are stories about drop-outs, deadbeats and kooks. Take the man who shares his apartment with a wildcat won in a drunken bet; the drive-time shock jock hallucinating from sleep deprivation for a publicity stunt; the suburban woman who joins a pack of dogs, eating rabbits and baying at the moon. With a unique deftness of touch and a keen eye for the tel...

A fascinating prize-winning novel about a house with a fanciful little turret, built by a river. Unfolding within its rooms are lives of event and emotional upheaval. A lot happens. And the tumultuous events of the twentieth century also leave their mark, from war to economic collapse, the deaths of presidents and princesses to new waves of music, art, architecture and political ideas. Meanwhile, a few metres away in the river, another creature follows a d...

‘Things I Did for Money is a collection of exciting and imaginative stories from one of our most innovative writers. This is a book for readers hungry for a highly original voice.’ — Tony BirchA man’s fury at his neighbour is reversed by strange nightmares. A young woman with a grudge finds a discarded weapon. A hunt for sunken treasure brings two scuba divers to the brink of tragedy.Drawing us into worlds both surreal and familiar, Things I Di...

These are not, I should say at the outset, tales written for the benefit of good and well-behaved girls who always stick to the path when they go to Grandma's. Skipping along in their gingham frills - basket of scones, jam and clotted cream upon their arms - what need can these girls have for caution? Rather, these are tales for girls who have boots as stout as their hearts, and who are prepared to firmly lace them up (boots and hearts both) and step out into the wilds in search of wha...

A brand new story from the author of The Grand Hotel.Rural Victoria 1865, the heat comes in and all the signs of the next drought on its way. At times like these no one seems to mind putting on their best clothes and making the long journey to the cool, bluestone church on a Sunday morning. but it is not only humans seeking shelter and solace on this Sunday morning.

'Other folks get so well known,And nobody knows about my own,'Have you met my sister Jane? She's a great big crow! My Grandpa is an owler and Grandma knits jerseys for wasps! And my other Granny is an octopus...Meet Aunt Flo, Brother Bert and more extraordinary family members in Ted Hughes' irresistible Meet My Folks, his first book for children, illustrated beautifully by George Adamson.