Cirrus@Austlit

'From Lonely Planet, the world's leading travel guide publisher, Better Than Fiction 2, the follow-up to 2012's Better Than Fiction, is a second serving of true travel stories told by some of the world's best fiction writers including Dave Eggers, Jane Smiley and Karen Joy Fowler.

'Varied in place, plot and voice, these are stirring and evocative pieces that all share one common characteristic-they manifest a passion for the precious gift of travel, from its unexpected but inevitably enriching lessons about other peoples and places, to the truths, sometimes uncomfortable but always enlarging, it reveals about ourselves.

'By turns comic, dramatic, and moving - from Francine Prose's confrontation of the mysteries of India to DBC Pierre's search for Hemingway's muse in Italy - these 30 short tales reveal the joys, perils, and surprises of travel, and that truth can often be stranger (and better) than fiction.

'Whether on a plane en route to your own travel adventure, or at home settling in for a vicarious experience of world adventures, embark on this literary journey around the world and explore your passion for travel now!' (Publication summary)

'Greedy Lords, Dubious heroes, wicked relations and innocents in peril today s world sounds like a grim fairytale. Travelling along the infamous Axis of Evil led to "Tony Wheeler s Bad Lands"– now he s going deeper into the world s darkest corners to explore a rogue s gallery of troubled nations. Every country has its problems, but some problems seem so vexed, so intractable, so absurd, you can only shake your head. Tony Wheeler trains his well-travelled eyes on some of these places and attempts to understand how things got so messed up. Along the way he gets stoned (with the thrown variety) in Palestine, scores a speeding ticket in Zimbabwe, gets arrested for photographing a bar in the Congo, and visits Osama bin Laden s Abbottabad in Pakistan. Join Tony and find out if there s a happily-ever-after in these takes from the dark side.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Since the ancient Greeks, actors have been society's storytellers. And ever since Hollywood first left the backlot, these storytellers have been traveling to far-flung corners of the world to tell those tales. We decided to ask some of the most widely traveled people in the film industry to sit down and tell us their own stories - personal, inspiring, funny, embarrasing and human experiences from their time on the road.

'Lights, Camera ... Travel! includes 33 stories from screen stars including Alec Baldwin, Brooke Shields, Rolf de Heer, Paul Cox, Neil LaBute, Richard E Grant, Sandra Bernhard and Bruce Beresford.' (From the publisher's website.)

'From Nothing to Zero presents edited extracts from letters written by asylum seekers held in Australia's detention centers. These letters provide a rare glimpse into the world of refugees who have fled war and persecution in their own countries. Several of the contributing detainees have been held for more than three years, often with no end to their incarceration in sight.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Edited by Australian science fiction author Damien Broderick, Not the Only Planet is a reprint collection which draws from three countries and as many decades to look at how travel is tied to our image of the world around us.