Cirrus@Austlit

'In the tradition of great Australian literature Volcano Street is a wonderfully vivid portrayal of small-town life and the uncertainties of childhood.

''What would Germaine do?'

'This is the mantra that Skip and Marlo Wells turn to as they navigate their way through the twists and turns that life brings. Such as the sectioning of their mother Karen Jane.

'Marlo puts her faith in her hero, Germaine Greer, and twelve-year-old Skip trusts her clever big sister to know the right thing to do. But when the sisters are forced to move to their Auntie Noreen and Uncle Doug's home in the backwater city of Crater Lakes even Marlo can't think of a solution.

'At age sixteen, Marlo is forced to quit school and work in the family hardware store. Skip manages to get on her auntie's bad side from the get-go and is an outcast at school as she vehemently declares the injustice of the Vietnam War - not what Noreen wants to hear with her precious son Barry off fighting.

'Against the backdrop of a broken home, the fight for equality and a far off war Volcano Street is a heartfelt tale of acceptance and belonging, and learning what family truly means. ' (Publication summary)

'On a rocky Scottish coast lies Castle Drumhallurick, ruinous home of a long-lost laird. But who is the reclusive millionaire who has taken over the castle? And what is it that links him to a fantastical alien world, circling the faraway star system of Antares? It is 1926, and a horrifying scientific experiment is about to unfold, altering forever the life of a boy called Bastian Test. For all his life, Bastian has been kept in seclusion, shut away from the world by his eccentric artist mother. Now, after her sudden death, Bastian learns that he has a guardian he has never heard of before, and a mysterious destiny that lies in wait for him on the rocky shores of Drumhallurick.'

Source: Publisher's Blurb

'Perihelion Night on the wooded moon Verd. A time of strange sightings, ghosts, and celebration before the morn, when Lord Esnic marries the beautiful Lady Ria. However, Ria has other ideas, and flees through the gravity wells which dot the moon to meet with her true love, Tonio. When the Doctor and Jo arrive on Verd, drawn down by the fluctuating gravity, they find themselves involved in the unpredictable events of Perihelion.

But what of the mysterious and terrifying Nightdreamers?

And of the Nightdreamer King?'

Source: Doctor Who Guide (http://www.drwhoguide.com/telos03.htm). Sighted: 5/8/2011

[The Doctor is the Third Doctor.]

A gothic-style novel set in England in the 1950s, Shadow Black involves a naive young girl, a crazy old woman, an avant-garde artist, and a newspaper magnate who keeps his wife, a former Hollywood star, a prisoner in his remote Elizabethan mansion.

'Long ago, the mysterious bearers of a golden, magical jewel retreated to the Lamasery of the Winds, high in the mountains. Then came the avalanche. Many think the lamasery has been destroyed. Others know the truth is stranger by far. Caught between dimensions, its powers persist and grow. But are they powers of good -- or welling, insidious evil? Returning at last to his rightful kingdom, Prince Jemany faces the final conflict in his desperate battle to reunite the sacred Crystals of Orok and defeat his evil rival, the anti-god Toth-Vexrah, whose campaign of conquest is now almost complete. In an icy, midwinter city, ravaged by terrorism, brutal murder and impending war, Jem struggles for clues to his last, most mysterious, and most powerful prize, the searing, sun-like crystal of the sky god Agonis'.

Source: publisher's blurb.

'In a time lost in legend, the Isles of Wenaya were united in worship of Javander, goddess of the seas. From her fantastical palace beneath the waves, Javander presided over a caste of priestesses, linked in a thrumming psychic web. Then the web was broken, Javander's people turned to false gods and the priestesses who once served her so well become the Sisterhood of the Blue Storm . . .

'Ten boys on the cusp of adulthood arrive on the empty tropical island of Xaro to undergo their Manhood Trial, an age-old ritual meant to build character as they leave their childhood behind. They thought they could survive alone. But that was before the killing began. That was before the Blue Storm.

'To this island of dark magic come Jem and his companions, pursuing their mystic quest for the long-lost crystals of the Orokon, desperate to find Javinder's blue jewel before Jem's evil rival, the anti-god Toth-Vexrah, gets there. Never has the quest been so perilous.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Jo Fletcher Books).

'Jem, the true prince of Ejland, sets out on the second stage of his quest, seeking the mystic crystals of the gods. On the run, Jem heads for the city of Agondon where he hopes his new guardian will guide him to the green Crystal of Viana. But Jem must decide if his guardian is good or evil'.

Source: bookseller's website.

'The first in a five-book sequence of fantasy novels, this book is a quest fantasy set in the mythical kingdoms of the El-Orok. The Orokon is a circle of five mystic crystals which embody the powers of the ancient gods. Only two people can find the cystals: the enchanter Toth-Vexrah and Jem'.

Source: bookseller's website.