Cirrus@Austlit

'A young boy in Glasgow. A young man at theological college. An aging painter. Sean Burnett is all of these, viewed through his own eyes and those of the people closest to him. 'Are our lives a single thread,' he asks, 'flowing smoothly from one instant to the next? Or are they composed of a series of discrete temporal packages? Digital lives, rather than analog lives.' This painting, 'The Woman by the Urn', will be his last great project. Will family tragedy intervene to prevent its completion? Will Sean live long enough to finish the painting. Can a painting ever really be finished? Can a life ever really be completed?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The unexplained disappearance of a cat; a misunderstanding involving the daughter of his foster parents; an encounter with a succubus-like figure under a bridge in Alice Springs; an incident with a coconut; a tragic fire; and the unwitting participation in a robbery. These are just a few of the events which shape the life of Christian de Palma. And then there is the burning question: How do sausage rolls come to the rescue of Jodi? This is the tragi-comic tale of a man whose inner world sets him at odds with the world around him.' (Publication summary)

'Lost in Mangroves is the sixth anthology of writing put together by Tropical Writers, and this one is a little different. What you will find here is creative non-fiction which tries to capture a sense of place and, sometimes, time. The place? Tropical North Queensland. (OK, we did let one of our Northern Territorian friends contribute too.) The time? From the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Most importantly, what is captured here is a sense of the people who have occupied this place over the years and centuries. You will enjoy reading this diverse collection, by a range of very different writers. Even more, be ready to pack your bags, because you will want to come and visit us here, in Far North Queensland.' (Publication summary)

A collection of short stories from the Tropical Writers Group, based in Cairns.

The book's back cover blurb reads:

Hack your way through the mangroves of this anthology and confront the labyrinth of contorted roots about the ghosts of childhood, stray dogs on Thursday Island, a dramatic eclipse of the sun, a royal visit to Cairns, Australians confused by an Indian custom, and solitude on sun-drenched sands.