Cirrus@Austlit

'Aspiring singer-songwriter Eva has one last chance to enter Triple J Unearthed High and break into the music industry.

'But after three failed attempts, she needs some help.

'Cue the band: perfectionist Eva, charismatic Cooper, easy-going Ant and moody Ruby. Plus fly-on-the-wall Mim, who's filming them for her school Media project.

'Five people who have nothing in common but music. One emotionally and creatively charged weekend.

'Can they record the most important song of their lives?' (Publication summary)

'A.J. Betts had the idea for Hive eight years before she commenced writing it and 13 years before it was released. In between, she published three books, won an Emmy Award and did a PhD in the topic of wonder. A.J. said the idea for Hive came to her while she was on the Graham Farmer Freeway in Perth: ‘The traffic was really slow and I noticed the drip in the tunnel and I thought, that’s weird … In what situation would a drip be a problem or a danger?’

'By contrast, Holden Sheppard wrote the first draft of Invisible Boys in two months and within six months had completed and polished a third draft ready for submission into the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award, which he won. Holden said his novel was a tribute to his home town, Geraldton, and he was careful not to write it like a tourist ad, but rather to portray it as he saw it, focusing on its urban landscape rather than its typical portrayal of stunning nature.

'The road to publication might have varied, but both authors agree the success of their books has created a conundrum. How do you juggle day jobs and book promotion while nurturing ideas and writing?

'Holden says, as a debut writer, he feels he can’t say no to anything because he’s afraid that he may never get the same opportunities again, but A.J., with five book tours under her belt, says at some point writers have to get back to what the point is – writing. She says, ‘Writing or presenting and doing interviews all takes from the same basket of energy and it really is one or the other … There are seasons where you are either in promotion or in writing.’' (Production summary)

'There was no going back; there was no choice, anymore. I'd chosen out and this was it: hot-cold, dry-wet, bright-dark and lonely.

'Hayley has gone rogue.

'She's left everything she's ever known - her friends, her bees, her whole world - all because her curiosity was too big to fit within the walls of the underwater home she was forced to flee.

'But what is this new world she's come to? Has Hayley finally found where she can belong?

'Or will she have to keep running?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'This thesis consists of an original novel, Rogue, and an exegesis titled Wonderlust: the value of wonder for readers, writers, and The Vault.

'Rogue is the second novel of the series titled The Vault, which is a speculative fiction duology for young adults (thirteen and above) with the possibility for crossover into adult readership. Rogue picks up the story of fifteen-year-old Hayley who, after choosing to leave her previous home of an underwater seed vault, finds herself washed onto the cliffs of Maria Island, off the coast of Tasmania. As Hayley ventures further into the terrestrial ‘real world’ of 2120, she must call on her wits, intelligence, and creativity to survive. Rogue is a story of new beginnings, discovery, belonging, relationships, choice, and responsibility.

'Wonderlust: the value of wonder for readers, writers, and The Vault, is an examination of wonder which investigates the role of wonder in literature and how it can be evoked without relying on overused tropes of science fiction. The exegesis first explores the experience of wonder and its importance to us individually and collectively, along with its relationship to philosophy, psychology, nature, and science. Secondly, it investigates wonder in literature, particularly in speculative fiction: its composition, appeal, reception and potential, on and beyond the page. It specifically examines how narrative elements have been successfully manipulated to facilitate wonder in creating an original two-book series of speculative fiction for young adults titled The Vault. Thirdly, it discusses the role of wonder for the writer, both as initial impulse for creativity and as an experience during the writing process. In this, reference is made to the writing of Rogue: a novel inspired and shaped by wonder.

'Ultimately, the thesis argues the value of wonder in fiction — particularly contemporary young adult fiction — and positions Rogue in this context as a work which reminds readers of the astonishments of this puzzling world, and their important place within it.'

Source: Author's abstract.

'All I can tell you is what I remember, in the words that I have.

Hayley tends to her bees and follows the rules in the only world she has ever known.

Until she witnesses the impossible: a drip from the ceiling.

A drip? It doesn't make sense.

Yet she hears it, catches it. Tastes it.

Curiosity is a hook.

What starts as a drip leads to a lie, a death, a boy, a beast, and too many awful questions.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

'The last person Zac expects in the room next door is a girl like Mia, angry and feisty with questionable taste in music. In the real world he wouldn't--couldn't--be friends with her.

'But in hospital different rules apply, and what begins as a knock on the wall leads to a note--then a friendship neither of them sees coming.

'You need courage to be in hospital; different courage to be back in the real world. 
In one of these worlds Zac needs Mia. And in the other Mia needs Zac.

'Or maybe they both need each other, always.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Oliver's world has shrunk. It's all about Year 12 finals. It's about that magic 80% average he needs to get into uni, get his dream job and get cashed up. If only he can find a quiet place to study - away from the chaos and mess of living with two small kids and his Mum's booming muffin business.

A study break in a small coastal town seems just the ticket. But Sunny Haven Recreation and Leisure Centre is like some weird parallel universe. He arrives cashless, bookless, phoneless and fuming in the back of his Dad's clapped out Cortina only to find his new study space is home to an array of elderly citizens. They've each got their own opinions on Oliver's life plans and he doesn't wanna hear it! But gradually, with their help Oliver's universe expands. -- From the publisher's website.