Cirrus@Austlit

'Five Ordinary Men is a collection of five stories, each focusing on a different man, though the reader may think the book title is a misnomer and question whether some or all of the men are 'ordinary' at all. One man inexplicably commits a terrible crime, and relates aspects of his life trying to explain his actions both to himself and others. Another's memories of his close friend are reawakened when shown six varied photographs of their shared lives. Another wrestles with guilt and the disenchantment of his partner for not having intervened to help a stranger being attacked. Another's extraordinary shyness, or something more, affects his relationship with a shy woman. And another is impacted by self-doubt and loss of self-esteem from a student's complaint that he assaulted her. Taken together, these varied stories present a wide range of insights into the human condition.'  (Publication summary)

'This short novel is both a love story, and a story about life and death, age and youth, and innocence and experience. Peter Allthorpe, at the age of sixty-seven, is confronted with the likelihood of his imminent death from terminal cancer. As he copes with this reality and its medical treatment, and his own place in 'the scheme of things', he searches for what he calls 'a lucid life' and a 'quiet completeness', one he ultimately finds through his loving family.' (Publication summary)

'Ed Grainger returns home from his History Club meeting to find his house swarming with police. His wife Lucy has been murdered. The police identify a number of suspects. Was it Lucy's recently jilted lover, her work colleague robbed of promotion, her lawyer with whom she had a brief affair, Ed's 'unhinged' and jealous stalker and her equally as jealous and bellicose husband, or the young malefactor wanting an inheritance pay-out. Or is it someone else? All is finally revealed. The story is told with an economy of prose and an insight into the human condition.' (Publication summary)

'As the title suggests, this collection of short stories focuses on a variety of unusual but not atypical emotional and life-style reactions people experience as a result of guilt, compassion, indiscretion, abuse, jealousy, fantasy, loss, sense of mission, and impending death. It provides insight into the strange nature of what it means to be human.'  (Publication summary)

'Recollecting school escapades, ridding a house of lust, a practical joke misfiring, dealing with a boy’s swearing, a talking dog, a woman’s take on the Odysseus legend, dogged self-centredness, a suspect solution to the world’s problems, bizarre seductions, an afterlife wish granted, a jinxed lover pursuing his beloved… These are some of the themes of the seventeen humorous short stories in Pursuit involving a variety of comic expressions: situational, satirical, burlesque and even the ridiculous. While the impact of humour in the stories is largely attributable to incongruity, or some departure from the ‘normal’, the stories have more than just entertainment value. They make telling and sometimes poignant observations about the nature of the human condition.'  (Publication summary)

'Slices, a title taken from Zola’s description of good drama as ‘a slice of life’, contains sixteen stories that explore a range of often capricious and sometimes predictable responses to the challenges life presents. The stories explore the nature of memory and imagination, friendship and love, decline and loss, searching and fulfilment, and even the ridiculous. Collectively, they offer insight into the human condition, and pose challenging questions for the reader.'  (Publication summary)

'Rapport is a book of poems with immediate emotional impact. Exploring the dynamics of interpersonal relationships, the poems focus on many of life’s universal concerns: love, memory, identity, ageing, regret, loss, dying and death. Some of the poems are quietly contemplative, and others are charged with emotion, but collectively they offer wisdom and insight that will challenge the reader.

'Laurie Brady is a Sydney poet who was educated at Sydney and Macquarie universities and spent most of his working life in teacher education. He recently retired as professor of education at the University of Technology, Sydney. This is his sixth book of poetry.

"As its title suggests, the poems collected in Rapport offer sympathetic insights into other lives while also meditating on ‘all the longings/of a frail and shared humanity’, to quote from ‘Analysis’. While there is some emphasis on the later stages of life, with their accompaniments of ageing, illness and death, Brady’s work affirms the enduring power of empathy, love and friendship." – Professor Elizabeth Webby AM FAHA' (Publication summary)

'Rummy is a book of poems with immediate emotional impact. Focusing on the gamut of interpersonal relationships and their nuances, the poems span many of life's universal concerns: friendship, love, ageing, memory, separation, loss, dying and death. Some of the poems are quietly contemplative, and others are charged with emotion, but collectively they offer wisdom and insight that will challenge the reader. ' (Publisher's blurb)