Cirrus@Austlit

'The date is 1854. The place is the Australian goldfields in the British colony of Victoria-the richest prize on earth. The story begins with a stockade. The flag of independence is unfurled. Men driven beyond endurance take arms against British redcoats. At their forefront are two hundred Colt-wielding Americans, the California Rangers, led by the charismatic and idealistic Captain James McGill.

'The stockade falls. The Rangers are scattered. But from the ashes will rise a new revolution-a revolution powered by the sun. And this one will not fail.

'In the 19th century, just how close did we come to a world run on solar power? The Five Star Republic is history with a twist, the story of a world that might easily have been-the future you’ll wish we’d had.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'In Kenneth Mackay s 1895 admonitory tale, Britain s attention and military forces are diverted by a Russian attack on India, and Australia is left defenseless. The Russians lead the invasion force, but for readers of the Victorian Age, the real horror is the use of Chinese troops. This sweeping speculative story foreshadows the rapid growth of nationalism in the 20th Century. It also takes remarkable risks with its subject matter and its audience, challenging both literary and moral conventions.'

Source: Publisher's blurb, Wesleyan University Press 2003 edition.

This anthology is a compilation of papers presented at the tenth international conference of the Mythopoeic Literature Association of Australia held at Newman College, Melbourne in July 1994. It focuses on the definitions of self and identity and how these themes are portrayed in works of science fiction, fantasy, children's and young adult literature. It also contains other material which has not been indexed.