Cirrus@Austlit

'Thomas Mackee wants oblivion. Wants to forget parents who leave and friends he used to care about and a string of one-night stands, and favourite uncles being blown to smithereens on their way to work on the other side of the world.

'But when his flatmates turn him out of the house, Tom moves in with his single, pregnant aunt, Georgie. And starts working at the Union pub with his former friends. And winds up living with his grieving father again. And remembers how he abandoned Tara Finke two years ago, after his uncle's death.

'And in a year when everything's broken, Tom realises that his family and friends need him to help put the pieces back together as much as he needs them.'

Source: Melina Marchetta's website, http://www.melinamarchetta.com.au/
Sighted: 09/11/2009

'Discover the mystery of the island of Teranesia, where peculiar biological evolution has created a world both beautiful and deadly. On the small uninhabited island of Teranesia, Prabir and his younger sister Madhusree live with their biologist parents, who are there to study the strange signs of evolutionary mutation in the island's butterfly population. But their peaceful time on Teranesia is cut short when a civil war breaks out in Indonesia, forcing Prabir and his family to flee. Twenty years pass, and Madhusree is now studying biology. She wishes to follow in the path of her parents, hoping to pick up where their research had been halted. Prabir, still feeling a great responsibility over his sister, highly advises her not to go back to Teranesia. But the mutations that happened during their time on the island overpower Madhusree's curiosity, and she goes against her brother's wishes. Struck with overwhelming feelings of responsibility, Prabir finds it as his duty to follow his sister, and travels back to Teranesia for the first time in twenty years. Not knowing what to expect, Prabir discovers the island to be more enchanting, and dangerous, than he could have ever imagined' (Publication summary)

'Jem, the true prince of Ejland, sets out on the second stage of his quest, seeking the mystic crystals of the gods. On the run, Jem heads for the city of Agondon where he hopes his new guardian will guide him to the green Crystal of Viana. But Jem must decide if his guardian is good or evil'.

Source: bookseller's website.

'It's late in the 21st century and bioengineering is now so common that people are able to modify their minds in any way they wish. It is an era which has been shaped by information systems so vast that security, in any form, is easily breached. Now, you can be whatever you want to be, and do whatever you want to do. On Earth anyway. One night, thirty three years ago, the stars went out. 'The Bubble' - a perfect sphere centred on the sun - appeared in the sky, isolating the solar system from the rest of the universe. For thirty-three years, humanity has lived with the religious cults and terrorism which spawned in the wake of the darkness. We are now alone. Humanity has been cut off: quarantined.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

In a land in turmoil, at a time when history meets destiny, an exile and an orphan become caught in a prophecy greater than the imaginings of its creator, a prophecy older than time itself... Robert Douglas, Earl of Dunlorn, returns to Lusara after three years of self-imposed exile to find his beloved country enmeshed in the tyranny of the Guilde. The once peaceful and prosperous land has been crushed by the usurper Selar, but while the vanquished people cry out for a saviour, events are unfolding that will determine the fate not just of Lusara, but of the whole world.

Now Robert Douglas, possessed of powers of sorcery greater than any before him, must struggle against his conscience, for though he has sworn never to oppose the usurper King, he can no longer watch his homeland being destroyed by the ruthless Guilde and an uncaring monarch. Then he discovers the orphan Jenn- a different kind of sorcerer, whose powers may be as great as his own. But while Robert and Jenn struggle to understand the magic they command, there is another sorcerer opposing them, one who would destroy all to twist fate to his own dark purposes... Kate Jacoby

Distress is 'set in 2055 when the centre of Sydney is virtually deserted, as most work and entertainment is conducted at home via broadband optical fibre networks. Egan's main character, science journalist Andrew Worth, is sent to 'Stateless', a bioengineered Pacific coral island to interview a South African Nobel Prize winner who is intending to reveal a major breakthrough in human comprehension techniques. Various competing interests, however, descend on the island and Worth becomes an unwitting agent of change. Biotechnology implants, quantum physics, voluntary autism and mutant cholera are just some of the ingredients mixed into the mystery of who wishes to kill the Nobel Laureate, and for what purpose' (Colin Steele, SF Commentary No 77, p.54).