Cirrus@Austlit

'In LOOKING FOR A KINGDOM, Christine Mangala presents a galaxy of characters, Indian and Australian, in a masterpiece of wit and intelligence, romance and horror. Krishna Deva Raja, disillusioned with being a mere ‘Mr Maharajah’ in modern India, hits rock bottom when an Australian business-delegation visits him, seeking his help to manufacture condoms. An unexpected bequest to his niece of a vast property in Australia ignites his nostalgic dreams; so he sets sail with his niece and princely entourage, to re-found his defunct kingdom on the banks of the Clarence River, Northern New South Wales. In Sydney, they recruit Ziggy Martin, a war-worn photojournalist who is tormented by a psychic power known among aboriginals as the ‘strong-eye’. Ziggy, pursued by his ex-girlfriend, romances the Princess. With a galaxy of characters of every class and hue – white, brown, aboriginal and ethnic – their individual dreams tangled up with the fate of the princely state, the story moves towards the ‘Coronation’ held in a stately home in the Australian bush. All seems to go well until a dead body is found whilst the Maharajah’s ‘Pan-Princes Conference’ is in progress . . . Looking for a Kingdom is a racy tale of romance, adventure, idealism, murder and mystery where elegant India meets vibrant Australia, its people and landscape, and celebrates the richness of both.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Transcendental Pastimes 'brings a western film crew to Hemagiri, a dusty mining town perched on granite hills and surrounded by the jungle of the deep South of Tamil Nadu. They are a colourful bunch - the cramped English Director, Jonathan Bexley, fleeing a failed marriage; uptight Carol, his feminist assistant; Gino, a macho Italo-Australian; Terry, his Irish mate; and Brian, the sensitive, withdrawn New Age asthmatic - but they find themselves disturbed and challenged by their encounter with the dangerous, mystifying and bizarre beauty of South India.

'Bexley's crew have come to make a documentary on the renowned Guru Chinnaswami, who claims to remember his past lives and talks of God as the "Cosmic Magician". But as they journey with the Guru into a world of strange happenings and mystical revelations, they become more and more entangled in the lives and troubles of the Hemagiri people, their sufferings and their romances. It is a path that brings satisfaction to some but which eventually leads both the Guru and his Western guests to confront the sinister face of modern-day terrorism in the lead-up to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.' (Publisher's blurb)