In this impressive collection, Ryle Winn introduces eight real-life heroes, each with an extraordinary tale to tell. We meet a fencing contractor who proves you can't judge a book by its cover; two octogenarian sisters with a tragic family secret; a racing enthusiast and horse-breeder who gets the shock of his life; and a gutsy timberman who has sidestepped his date with the devil on more than one occasion.Ryle's unforgettable stories are moving and uplifting, and proof that the bes...

This inspiring collection features nine captivating stories about ordinary bush men and women who lead extraordinary lives.There's the island cattleman who swims his herd past toothy sharks and beady-eyed crocs; the pineapple grower who builds a stone church for his community; the timber worker who becomes a champion woodchopper; and a dairywoman who, at eighty-eight, is still rescuing birthing cows from the brink of death.Rhylle's effortless, larrikin style will have you lau...

Biff Mc Leod is unorthodox, laid-back and deceptively eagle-eyed. His humour is original. Take his quirky description of a bar fight- sounds like a short-sighted hippo trying to root a rhino in a glass factory.With Anika, his accomplished kick-boxing partner from Melbourne, they take on the drug scene, picking up clues in unlikely places from Brisbane to Cairns.There's Ugly Dougie, known for wrapping barbed wire around his victims and feeding them to the crabs. And...

Master storyteller Ryle Winn learnt his craft in the backblocks, experimented with it in the public bar and honed it in between musters and sale yards.In this third collection of true tales, animals rather than people take centre stage – with a tip of the hat to Henry Lawson's much-loved story 'The Loaded Dog'. Meet a ute full of wayward working dogs, a pesky bush turkey determined to outsmart its landlady, a rogue circus elephant staking a claim on the road and an orphan pig with a...

Have you heard the one about the codger who fed his greyhound his heart medicine to make it go faster at the track? What about the bloke who was growing six-foot ears of corn in his ute? Or the penny-pinching Scotsman whose last request is to be buried upright?Everyone knows someone who tells a good story. You find these blokes propping up the bar, or at the sale yards, or you run into them down the road. Ryle Winn knows more of these yarn-spinners than most - he's ...

'From the helicopter I could see the property's waterholes surrounded by paperback trees, its red-stone cliffs lit by the rising sun. And grass, endless seas of grass. Here was the vision splendid: Nat Buchanan's grass castle. Gurindji country. And my country, Australia.'This is big country, the outback, home to the largest cattle and sheep stations in the world. Yet few of us know what goes on behind the farm gate. What's life really like when next door is 500 kilometres away, and ...

Longlisted for the 2019 International DUBLIN Literary AwardLonglisted for the 2019 Walter Scott Historical Fiction PrizeIrene Bobs loves fast driving. Her husband is the best car salesman in rural south eastern Australia. Together with Willie, their lanky navigator, they embark upon the Redex Trial, a brutal race around the continent, over roads no car will ever quite survive.A Long Way from Home is Peter Carey's late style ...

'Many times I heard people say that you'll have no friends if you're a policeman. How wrong they were. If you were right with them, they were right with you.'PC Martyn Johnson is back on the beat with more hilarious and heart-warming stories from the golden age of policing.With his nose for trouble and a knack for mischief, there's no such thing as a quiet shift for the friendly Yorkshire bobby - from drunken dogs and runaway horse...

A murder leads detective Jack Caffery into England’s drug underground in this “brilliant, dense, scary” crime thriller in the Edgar Award–winning series (The Globe and Mail, Toronto).Nine feet under water, police diver Flea Marley closes her gloved fingers around a human hand. The fact that there’s no body attached is disturbing enough—until the discovery of the matching appendage a day later. Both hands have been freshly amputated, and th...

William McInnes' bestselling memoir, A Man's Got To Have A Hobby, takes us back to the long summer holidays of the 1960s and 70s, and the last of the baby-boomer childhoods. William writes with humour and affection about his family, and especially his mum and dad, who talked to the TV set and enjoyed life in their house near the bay.William McInnes is a talented writer and a natural storyteller. A tail-end baby boomer, he recalls summer holidays that seeme...

DI Charlie Priest is on holiday, or meant to be at least, when he gets a call from his colleagues at Heckley about the opening of a local shopping and conference centre. Amid the paparazzi flash bulbs, minor royalty and preening local officials, someone by-passed security and have succeeded in making the Heckley force look stupid. But all too soon, that seemingly trivial incident leads Charlie into a murder investigation.

One man. One bike. A whole lotta trouble. MEET SLIM. He bought his first motorcycle, a Bridgestone 175 cc, at age sixteen in 1968. Since then, he's been in and out of trouble (mainly in) and experienced the thrills and perils of riding on the highway. He's been a guest inside some of Australia's toughest jails where he learned a lifetime's worth of human behaviour and handy life skills, such as how not to do an armed hold-up. Never one to shy from a punch or retreat from a fight, Slim is a...