Cirrus@Austlit

'At last, thirty-one-year-old Sarah Dixon has landed her first casual academic contract. In her naivety, she imagines a university to be a place where she can teach and research in peace, surrounded by inspirational colleagues. Instead, she has joined a faculty in free fall, its staff fighting desperately to cling to their jobs while management is determined to slash costs and dispense with the non-performers.

'The Faculty is a darkly clever satire of the modern university workplace with all its dramas, intrigues and personalities.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It’s October 2048 and an Islamist political Party has swept to power in Britain’s general elections. Overnight the country is transformed by the introduction of the blasphemy laws. An Australian history teacher who lost his wife and daughter in a terror attack arrives in London to make contact with the leader of the Resistance. When he becomes involved with a homeless young woman, he discovers the possibility of a new life for both of them far from the dangers of the new London.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Edited academic books garner neither research metric nor institutional praise, compared to peer reviewed journal articles or monographs. For the editor, there seems no reason to undertake such volumes. But we still do them; we still edit or co-edit them. Louise Edwards claims there are many good reasons why academics persist in editing (and reading) this type of academic output, her prime one being that they ‘meet a series of distinct intellectual and community needs’ (Edwards 2012: 62). This paper brings together two academics who have both contributed to and edited or co-edited such volumes. The scope of the paper is their experiences in editing and co-editing, in order to open up a discussion about the worth of such volumes: why, despite the university’s reluctance to recognise them as either creative or research outputs, academics continue to regard editing as a meaningful scholarly pursuit; and importantly, as we clearly do value these undertakings, how can institutional attitudes to their merit be changed? The co-authors discuss their own personal ethos and experiences about editing and co-editing these texts. This paper stems from a panel at the 2017 AAWP conference, an open dialogue with the audience facilitated by a collegial interlocutor, Dr Carolyn Rickett, herself a co-editor of books.'  (Publication abstract)

'Peter Corris, the ‘Godfather of Australian crime fiction’, died in his sleep on 30 August 2018. His Godfather columns have been part of the Newtown Review of Books from the beginning, and we feel his loss keenly.' 

'The Akashic ‘Noir’ crime series began in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. The book earned so much attention and acclaim that it has now expanded to include over 90 titles in locales criss-crossing the globe. The incorporation of familiar, well-known cities with excellent writing and plotting is a winning combination that readers can’t resist. Those who have stepped into the ring to edit the collections run the gamut from little-known talents to big names like Joyce Carol Oates and Dennis Lehane.

'When Dimitri Telegonus is promoted to the Serious Unsolved Crime Unit to investigate the disappearance of a beautiful blonde escort, he thinks he’s finally made the big time. He’d always wanted to do detective work; thought it was his destiny.

'But things quickly start to unravel. His assigned partner is a disinterested dinosaur and when progress in the investigation is slow, the bosses threaten to pull the plug.

'Desperate to crack his first cold case, Dimitri tracks the prime suspect down – only to find there are forces at play a naïve young detective will never fully understand.' (Publication summary)

'Seventeen-year-old Jed White lives with his mum and dad behind the Ampol service station in the small coastal town of Plenty. His girlfriend Chrissy works in the local fish cannery. When a foreign trawler crashes on the rocks one night, Jed and Chrissy figure from the rolls of stained bedding below deck that the boat must have been carrying a lot of people. They soon discover dozens of refugees are sheltering at a nearby property.

'At first the townsfolk accept the new arrivals, but gradually Plenty becomes divided as more and more boat people are relocated there. Jed is torn between his feelings for Chrissy and his fascination for Ashley Page who lives with her father on the property and is helping the new arrivals move in and adapt. As external pressures build, Jed is forced to make a choice about where he belongs and what he believes.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Nothing unites or divides people as much as the tribal loyalty of AFL supporters. Combining passion for the game with a talent for words, seventeen writers explore the full range of supporters' emotions, from the fervour of a convert to the weariness of the long-term sufferer, the guilt of the turncoat to the joy of the flag-winner.

'These writers know what it's like to barrack and can always find a good story - and the game itself offers scenarios that are sometimes stranger than fiction. Jean Bedford's return to football might have been prompted by a life-size papier-mache model of Plugger; Sean Gorman remembers only too well when a field umpire unexpectedly took a neat chest mark; and Tony Wilson tried in vain to prolong his playing career with the Hawks by tutoring Shane Crawford in maths.

'From the Dockers to the Doggies, every club gets a guernsey - but beyond the team allegiances, this is a book for those who love footy. You'll find more than a little of yourself in the true appreciation these writers have for our national game.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Everyone at work wants to know why an associate professor of philosophy would stoop to having sexual relations with a man as spectacularly unsuccessful as myself. Well, I don′t like to blow my own trumpet, but I think that, deep down, Suzie views me as someone financially, morally and intellectually her inferior.

'Joe has had a great life, untroubled by career or monogamy. He′s convinced that whatever he′s doing, he′d still really rather be having sex - if only middle age hadn′t made it so hard to find a woman who will share his enthusiasm.

'When he meets Suzie Pye she seems just the ticket - she even says she only wants a sexual relationship. But nothing is ever that simple ... As Joe struggles to hold Suzie to her promise, he finds himself entangled in the complexities of her life, her teenage children, her job - and his feelings towards her. Not to mention the complications of his life: e-mail surveillance, a workplace panel of inquiry, and his own family.

'Breezy, hilarious and insightful, this new novel from John Dale examines the nature of lust, love, ambition and what it means to be a man. Set in Sydney, Istanbul and Gallipoli, it is the story of an ordinary guy living at the mercy of his desires.' (From the publisher's website.)

John Dale responds to Lisa Pryor's dismissal of creative courses, saying that she 'displays her ignorance of university writing programs'. Dale asserts that good writing courses 'expose students to a community of scholars working in the discipline of writing', pass on the knowledge of writer-teachers and open students' minds to 'show them the possibilities of writing styles and genres and the wonder of language'.