Cirrus@Austlit

'Ah, the teenage years. Angst, zits, too tight jeans and sweat. So much sweat. Suffocation from deodorant, bruises from bullies and the sense that one day you're going to be someone who changes the world. Until you end up homeless in a red station wagon, sleeping by your mother's side atop boxes of your belongs. Yes, nothing quite like those fledgling years into adulthood.' (Publication summary)

'"There is no hiding my heart anymore. As confused as my head is trying to understand it, the heart bleeds ink upon these pages like some medieval doctor draining an illness. Yet it is no illness to feel. While the mind may have evolved, the heart is as primal as ever. No wild beast should be expected to heel." -Chris Foster

'Chris Foster shares the raw emotions we try to hide in his most personal collection of poetry yet.

'From the moment the world slows and the purpose of your heart becomes clear, to the devastation of watching dreams become an altered reality with someone else cast in your place, Diary of a Heartbreak describes in visceral detail the cabaret of emotion involved in relationships. Cycles of love and loss spiral sometimes upwards, sometimes downward. This book contains unabridged access to genuine entries from the poet's personal diary, to crafted lyrics, songs, quiet anxiety, bombastic confidence, poems long and short. Each chapter is themed to match the stages of a relationship, so you can find what you need when you need it most.

'The thrill of the chase, the romantic whirlwind, chemistry surging with electricity, the divorce between dream and reality, the broken heart trying to heal, trying to find balance when gravity has disappeared, noticing here comes the sun once more and then catching the eye of someone you like.... the cycle completes and repeats.' (Publication summary)

'If you're not an addict in Shard, you're a corpse.

'Shard was once the greatest city in the land, the new and improved Las Vegas. Now it's a cruel coffin. Crystal meth falls like snow, shambling hordes of Cravers stagger through the streets and Bulls throw their steroid enhanced physiques around like wrecking balls. Slinking in the shadows are the Hybrids, genetically spliced halfpeople. In charge of it all are the Masked, drug cartels who have replaced local government.

'Bastion and his family are survivalists. They scavenge what they can and try to avoid the attention of the ruling drug lords. As far as he knew they had succeeded... until the day his daughter is born and the two of them are kidnapped.

'Turns out someone was watching after all.

'Dumped in a science facility Bastion struggles to adapt. All he ever wanted was to escape Shard. Now, he has. He should be happy. Except all of his dreams are of his wife. All he sees are white walls, clockwork routines and a servant without a tongue. Everything is kept from him, his existence quarantined. One day he breaks out of his room. He looks for an escape. What he finds is another inhabitant of the facility. A creature called Zero, who reminds him of the one truth of Shard.

'Everything comes at a cost.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Contained within the pages of this book are stories of love, war, nature and individualism. Includes the award winning poem 'Seasons' as well as other favourites such as 'Old Man Rests', 'Valentine, Remember' and 'Mist'. 

'As the wind blows the last leaf falls...

'International award winning poet Chris Foster brings his heart, soul and truth to the page in this touching collection of poetry. Bound in hardcover for the first time, stories bloom into life with all new watercolours. An architect of words, Foster looks deep inside the soul and portrays raw emotion with clarity.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'An immersing journey through the transition years from childhood into the wilderness of adulthood. Within he transcends through time to bring afresh the emotions of uncertainty, love, excitement and friendship with vivid detail. From the chaotic spin cycle of first love to the foreign feelings of growing up, Foster manages to invite the reader inside the stories and witness the funny side of life.'

Source : publisher's blurb