Cirrus@Austlit

'In the early 1950s Leonard Lawson was the writer/artist of one of Australia's most popular comic books - The Lone Avenger. In May 1954 he rocked Sydney when he sexually assaulted five young women, ranging in age from 15 to 22, in French's Forest, an act that he was sentenced to death for, which was commuted. Upon his release in 1961 he then raped and murdered another girl before taking an entire school hostage, where he killed another young girl. For his crimes, Lawson was sentenced to Never Be Released.

'This is the story of Leonard 'Lennie' Lawson. It lifts the lid on Lawson's life, and that of his ancestor, Mark Brooker, who was also sentenced to death but was transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1825. This book lifts the lid on what drove Lawson to be the Monster that he admitted that he was, and also reveals, for the first time, the full extent of Lawson's crimes.

'Using court trial transcripts, contemporary accounts and unpublished material, including correspondence from Lawson himself, Monster will both captivate and horrify the reader as Lawson's depravity and his true nature is revealed.

'Monster is the real story of Leonard Lawson. Rapist, murderer and comic book artist.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'For The Untold Story of the 1929-'31 Dracula Stage Tour "Down Under", Aussie writer Daniel Best unearths some fascinating little-known facts on the subject, and his painstaking endeavors to piece together as many as possible of the various scattered pieces of the puzzle that still remain in existence go far in helping the reader envision how these now-largely-forgotten stagings of Dracula in Australia might have been. Interspersed throughout with reproductions of original vintage newspaper advertisements and articles, plus many more seldom-seen images besides, Best's text is illustrated with as much visual material as could be found all these many decades-indeed, the better part of a century!-after the fact. Using the text as a guideline, combined with the precious few and therefore all-the-more priceless images depicting scenes from performances of it, readers should have little difficulty in visualizing the play in at least some limited form in their mind's eyes; at least enough to give them an inkling of an idea about how this production-largely since long-lost amidst the hazy mists of time-may have looked. In addition, this book contains information pertaining to numerous other stage productions of Dracula performed in Australia since Ashton Jarry first trod the boards there in 1929, resplendent in full vampiric regalia... albeit sans any fangs, but complete with pointy "Spock" ears! As a record of an only-sparsely-documented piece of theatrical history, Australian Gothic amounts to an indispensable read for both theatre and vampire enthusiasts-and more specifically, Dracula buffs-alike.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.