Cirrus@Austlit

'Don't go out onto the lake. Wyann trees search the shallows to spear passing prey with their roots. Giant water-ants hunt anything that moves on the water-skin. Sala's village survives hidden behind a wall of poisonous ivy, because everyone agrees: don't go out onto the lake.

'But when her village refuses to listen to sense, and continues squeezing beautiful pond-bred 'keeiling' fish to death for their precious saliva oils, Sala has no choice. She will risk it all to prove herself one last time, else leave everything behind for the dark shaded swamps beneath the towering hillfarms of Palude.

'At least that's the plan before a strange comet crosses the night sky, throwing her and her pet pointer into a race through wyann-infested swampland to unearth long-hidden truths and stir rivalries into a terrifying conflict set to change the world of Palude forever. Sala must do whatever it takes to face the truth of who she is: to save her village, to save her family, to save herself.

'If only they had listened.'(Publication summary)

Features the work of twelve writers and poets and twelve portraitists.

'Fifteen-year-old Emerald O'Shea and her mother, Catherine, make a living wrangling their lion, Dhoruba, who's been hired to appear at a rock concert. But when an anti-music group, the Aletheia, send Jack to steal the rock star's guitar, Emerald's true calling is discovered. If she doesn't accept the unwanted gift she's been given, and leave her comfort zone, music and everything on which it depends will disappear. All life. All people. All existence. The entire universe as we know it...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'What would you do if a long-abandoned quarry near you started emitting a strange noise?

'When things go wrong, we all react differently. Some things and people we will always care about.

'Others, not so much.

'One island, one noise, twelve authors - what could possibly go wrong?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Fourteen-year-old Fingal O’Grady is convicted of theft and transported to Australia in the 1820s. Almost two centuries later, fourteen-year-old would-be beautician Abigail Harrington finds a mysterious spider amulet and their two worlds collide. When both children are kidnapped they realise they’re in possession of an object with enormous power. The Peacock Spider of Tien Shan leads them on an exciting and dangerous journey where nothing is what it seems.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'They know what’s going to happen to you… after you die.

'Scientists in Iceland think they’ve figured out one of our greatest mysteries – where the electrical energy in our brains goes after we die. According to the laws of physics, one form of energy must always become another form. So the electrical energy in our brains and nervous system can’t simply disappear…

'When ex-lawyer Becky Dales travels to Iceland to track down her missing brother, she doesn’t care about the groundbreaking discoveries, or the positive-thinking practiced by the Icelanders – she just wants her brother back. Having stumbled on something she thinks the Icelandic government wants covered up, Becky must piece together the answers fast… before she becomes a victim herself.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'No one knows 13-year-old Bethlyn is ‘BGwarrior’, champion of the online survival game ‘Tordon’… but they do think she’s a cheat.

'So when she meets her fellow gamers outside the abandoned house of Tordon’s creator, and they discover her identity, her number one nemesis Zane pushes her inside. Beth pulls him in with her just as the door slams shut, trapping them both.

'Encountering a multitude of strange new worlds, the two of them must push their gaming skills to the limit if they’re to ever return home…'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Fourteen-year-old Lan is a computer genius... and a prisoner. After poking around in exactly the wrong websites, Lan's interest in drones has landed him in the High Country Youth Correctional Facility. Not a good start. Lan is resigned to his fate until he discovers that the mysterious hacktivist who framed him is part of a plot to kill thousands of people, including his mum and dad. With the help of Monk and his ferret, Lan breaks out of jail, and races to prevent a disaster that could change the face of Australia forever...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Change is only ever a breath away. Its arrival may be as swift as a slamming door or as slow as the inevitable march of evolution. It can pass unseen while a situation slowly unfolds, or dramatically as everything we know is swept away. In “Trigger”, change comes to Captain Amro of the Serein Border Mular Outpost, a man so obsessed by love he misses something he may regret the rest of his life…'

Source: Author's website (http://zenashapter.com/bibliography/). (Sighted: 31/08/2016)