Book Loving Kiwis discussion

Here I'll list newly published or soon to be published books about New Zealand, for New Zealanders, by New Zealanders. That way when we're looking for new books to read that fit this description we have a list@! Love lists ☺☺

Feel free to add any of them to your TBRs and add comments.

You might also know of new books I don't find out about, so feel free to add them here too.

Highlights for 21 & 29 June 2015 weeks.
NB Where a record for the book does not exist on Goodreads, I've just added the information I have and not created a GR record for the book at this stage.

The Good Life on Te Muna Road by Deborah Coddington
An engaging, affectionate reflection on life in a small rural community, finding love
and making wine. The first time Deborah Coddington lived in Martinborough was in
the height of the hippie era, when the old mansion Waiura attracted poets, protesters,
novelists, photographers, artists and activists. It was a counter-culture scene of some
privilege and distinction. However the music stopped when, crushed by debts, she and
her partner were forced to leave town.
Nearly forty years on, with a successful career as a journalist, a stint as a restaurateur
and a term in parliament behind her, Deborah returned to Martinborough not quite sure
of the welcome she would receive. In this wry, amusing and heart-warming memoir
she writes of finding a community full of outstanding and entertaining individuals that
demonstrates the can-do, all-in-this-together spirit of provincial New Zealand.
Now a good deal wiser and very much in love with her new husband, Colin Carruthers
QC, Deborah lays some ghosts to rest, writes movingly about the death of her mother,
details the vicissitudes of being a wine grower and shares the joy of life with her beloved
animals.

Passport to Hell by Robyn Hyde
In its psychological acuity and emotional depth, Passport to Hell is one of the finest
war books we have. Robin Hyde was one of New Zealand’s true literary trailblazers,
and in this book she redefined the parameters of novel and memoir.
Published to mark the centenary of WWI, this reset edition of a quintessential New
Zealand war story includes Hyde’s final authorized text from 1937 and an introduction
and notes by D. I. B. Smith.

A Place to Go On From: The Collected Poems of Iain Lonie by David Howard
Dunedin poet Iain Lonie (1932–1988), a Cambridge scholar who enjoyed an
international reputation as a medical historian, died before his poetry was fully
appreciated. He published five slim volumes but his style was not the one that
dominated New Zealand poetry at the time. And yet, argues Damian Love in an
essay in this volume, ‘To read him now is, for most of us, practically to discover a new
resource.’
This collection, assembled from sources public and private, is the result of poet David
Howard’s determination to rescue a memorable body of work from oblivion. As well as
the poems from Lonie’s published volumes, it includes over a hundred unpublished
works, two essays and an extensive commentary.
While his keen interest in mortality was focused by the premature death of his wife
Judith (aged 46), Lonie’s poetry is also an attempt to recover the loved in us all. As he
eavesdrops on desire and grief he reports back, often wittily, leaving the most poised
body of elegiac poetry New Zealand has. For younger poets, Iain Lonie’s poetry has
become ‘a place to go on from’.

Before Hobson by Tony Simpson.
ISBN 9780473312848 ( 2015. 284 pages. Blythwood Press )
A timely publication which uses previously unpublished sources from the United
States to explore what lies behind the Treaty of Waitangi by plunging us into the
international world of the early nineteenth century: the British governments of the day,
the trading and whaling economy of the South Pacific, prevalent contemporary world
views, evangelical missionary activity and influence, and the links to the financial
communities in London and Sydney. No-one, including the missionaries, comes away
unscathed. In this fascinating journey we come to some surprising conclusions about
the Treaty of Waitangi itself.
Tony Simpson has been one of New Zealand’s best known historians since the
publication of his award-winning Sugarbag Years in 1974.

Kupapa : The Bitter Legacy of Maori Alliances with the Crown by Ron Crosby
ISBN: 9780143573111 ( 2015. 464 pages. Penguin )
NOT YET PUBLISHED - DUE LATE AUGUST 2015
Captivating, comprehensive and illuminating, Kupapa: The Bitter Legacy of Maori Alliances with the Crown addresses those realities and the complex Treaty-related reasons for them, as well as the repeated cynical use of Maori by the Crown for its own purposes.
In the vein of Belich, Binney and Salmond, author Ron Crosby, a lawyer and recent member of the Waitangi Tribunal, provides an unstinting examination that - for the first time ever - focuses on a critical component of what for Maori might be deemed New Zealand’s very own civil wars.
An important work that gives voice to an unspoken chapter of New Zealand history.

Remembering Gallipoli : Interviews with New Zealand Gallipoli Veterans by Christopher Pugsley & Charles Ferralls
ISBN: 9780864739919 (2015. 300 pages. Victoria University Press)
“I was so young and I couldn’t join up quick enough”. Private Walter (Wattie) Pukuae Barclay. “I came back. All the others died over there. They were all killed, and I don’t know why I wasn’t”. Trooper John (Polly) Edward Parrant, Wellington Mounted Rifles. Remembering Gallipoli tells the story of Gallipoli in the words of the soldiers who fought there, taken from interviews towards the end of their lives. Immediate, vivid and engrossing, it is an important record of a pivotal moment in New Zealands history.

Going Up is Easy by Lydia Bradey
In 1988, Lydia Bradey became the first woman to climb Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen. She made the ascent alone - her team members having abandoned her on the mountain - and to date she is the only New Zealander to have made an oxygen-free ascent. Her climb was a truly remarkable achievement but also an
internationally controversial one.
Going Up is Easy details for the first time the events surrounding Bradey’s historic feat, as well as her many hair-raising expeditions through Alaska, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, India, China, Europe, and New Zealand. In the spirit of John Krakauer’s Into Thin Air or Joe Simpson’s Touching the Void, Going
Up is Easy celebrates a life lived on the edge. Through her stories, we encounter a woman propelled by curiosity and passion to become one of the greatest female high altitude adventurers of recent times.
Co-written with acclaimed novelist Laurence Fearnley, a long-time friend of Bradey, and stunningly illustrated throughout, Going Up is Easy is a life story by turns dramatic, tender, funny, frank and inspiring.

For the younger readers
Henry's Stars by David Elliot
Award-winning author Ashburton born David Elliot brings us a delightful new picture book about Henry, a very particular sort of pig. One warm evening Henry sits on the step of his sty, gazing up at the stars. Some shine especially brightly and, before his eyes, they form a picture. “I’ve found the Great Pig in the Sky!” squeals Henry. He races off at once to show all the other animals. But to Henry’s surprise, they don’t view his exciting new constellation in quite the same way. Can Henry trust his own eyes or is he just seeing stars?
This charming new tale about Henry and his friends is all about the shiftiness of perception. Henry’s Stars is a companion volume to Henry’s Map, which was named one of the US School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2013.

The Blue Book and Other Stories by Rangimarie Sophie Jolley & Robyn Kahukiwa
ISBN: 9780994114525 (2015. 24 pages. Mauri Tu Ltd)
A collection of six short stories with a range of topics including reading, a cheeky tui, a sea creature, Hinemoana, a butterfly, and gold at the end of the rainbow. Beautifully illustrated by Robyn Kahukiwa.

Great addition EG. Have added the Lydia Bradey.

2nd the Robyn Hyde. Marvellous. Will look for the poet. He sounds my style!

Directory of World Cinema: Australia and New Zealand 2 by Ben Goldsmith
Building on and bringing up to date the material presented in the first installment of
Directory of World Cinema: Australia and New Zealand, this volume continues the
exploration of the cinema produced in Australia and New Zealand since the beginning
of the twentieth century. Among the additions to this volume are in-depth treatments of
the locations that feature prominently in the countries’ cinema.
Essays by leading critics and film scholars consider the significance of the outback
and the beach in films, which are evoked as a liminal space in Long Weekend and
a symbol of death in Heaven’s Burning, among other films. Other contributions turn
the spotlight on previously unexplored genres and key filmmakers, including Jane
Campion, Rolf de Heer, Charles Chauvel, and Gillian Armstrong.
Accompanying the critical essays in this volume are more than one hundred and fifty
new film reviews, complemented by film stills and significantly expanded references
for further study.
From The Piano to Crocodile Dundee, Directory of World Cinema : Australia and
New Zealand 2 completes this comprehensive treatment of a consistently fascinating
national cinema.

Triumph on the Western Front: Diary of a Despatch Rider 1915-1919 by Oswald Harcourt Davis
This is the First World War Diary of 148768 Corporal O H Davis MM R.E. (Compiled by
his great nephew - Philip Holdway-Davis).
Being a published poet and novelist (12 books in all - his first book of poems was
published when he was just 18 years old), motorcyclist and adventurer, Oswald takes
us on a unique and in-depth journey through his war years. After spending a fascinating
year with him on the Home Front we join him on 18 July 1916 at the Royal Engineers
Signals Depot in Abbeville, Somme, France. He is dished out a Trusty Triumph H
motorcycle and told to support the ANZACs as their pigeon wallah.
After a few months at the Somme, he is then posted to the Ypres Salient where he is
again attached to the ANZACs taking carrier pigeons up the line. We hear about the
battle of Messines during which he is awarded the Military Medal. Ever facing the danger
of being bumped and knocked he rose to duty’s call and made sure the pigeons got
through.
Oswald admits he was scared and on the brink of cowardice yet he was brave enough
for decoration. Oswald wanted to capture the language of the soldiers in the trenches
and preserve an in-depth eye-witness account of what was said and what actually
happened. He both confirms and challenges the existing historical record.
This work is much more than a war diary. These are the happiest days of Oswald’s life.
He thrives on the job. It is an adrenalin fuelled, petrol-headed fast and furious life. In his
army role he is someone, but as a civilian he is nobody.

Ghosts of Anzac by Onesimus William Howe
Old soldiers never tell their war stories? This one did: “General Johnstone tried to
compliment us on our ‘work’ but was cut up too much when he heard of our losses. He
was visibly affected. We marched to Mametz Wood and there Col. Plugge also tried
to address us but he could not control his feelings either. We went into the trenches
with 804 men. Came out with 201. Our casualties for the two stints were 603. Plugge
was far too cut up to say a word about it. We camped in the woods for the night...”
Onesimus William Howe served in the Auckland Infantry Regiment. His unit was the
first to hit the beach at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli. In fact, Howe’s experiences at Gallipoli
are quoted by historian Chris Pugsley in his book Gallipoli : The New Zealand Story.
But it is what happened next that defined WWI for the ANZACs, when they came face
to face with heavily armed Germans at the Somme.
In this important new work, taken directly from his battlefield diary, see the events of
1916 as if you are there: “That left me in charge of the gun. Percy and I are the only
ones left on this gun now...” Compelling, honest, surprising, uncensored.

Wildboy by Brando Yelavich
Fast going off the rails and hanging out with the wrong crowd, Brando Yelavich, a
plucky 20-year-old from Auckland’s North Shore, decided he needed to change his life.
He needed a mission. He was going to walk around New Zealand. Brando reached
Cape Reinga on 23 August 2014 after a gruelling journey of almost 8000 kilometres,
traversed completely on foot over more than 600 days - the first time it had been done.
It was an outlandish odyssey of physical and mental fortitude. He slept under the stars
and lived off the land. He almost drowned on several occasions and experienced
near-hypothermia. He gained 20 kilograms. But the transformation run much deeper.
As much for fans of Bear Grylls or Cheryl Strayed’s Wild as it is for those of the off-thegrid
outdoors Kiwi experience, Wildboy is a ripping adventure story with an inspiring
life change at its heart.

Dancing with Shadows by Anna Glass
“This is my journey through grief and depression after losing our 17 year old daughter
to suicide. I would like anyone else in the same position to know that you are not
alone, that we all grieve differently and that it’s okay to do things your way”.

Starlight Peninsula by Charlotte Grimshaw
The latest enthralling novel from the author of The Night Book and Soon.
Eloise Hay lives on the Starlight Peninsula. Every weekday she travels into the city to
work at Q TV Studio, assisting with the production of a current affairs show. One night
she receives a phone call that will change her life forever. Thrown into the turmoil of
a sudden marriage break-up, Eloise begins to perceive that a layer of the world has
been hidden from her.
Seeking answers, she revisits a traumatic episode from her past, and in doing
so encounters an odd-eyed policewoman, a charismatic obstetrician, a German
psychotherapist, and a flamboyant internet pirate wanted by the United States
government. Each of these characters will reveal something about the life of Eloise
Hay, answering questions that she hasn’t, until now, had the courage to ask. Tracing the lines that run through our society, from the interior life of one lonely young woman to the top tier of power in the country, Charlotte Grimshaw’s powerful novel demonstrates how little separates us and how close we really are: rich and poor, famous and hidden, virtuous and criminal.

The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl
On the island of Samoa, in a house perched on a cliff beneath a smouldering volcano,
a dying Robert Louis Stevenson labours over a new novel. It is rumoured that this
may be the author of Treasure Island’s greatest masterpiece. On the other side of the
world this news fires the imaginations of the bookaneers, literary pirates who steal
the latest manuscripts by famous writers to smuggle them to a hungry public. But a
changing world means the bookaneers will soon become extinct. Two adversaries set
out for the south Pacific: Pen Davenport, a tortured criminal genius haunted by his past and Belial, his nemesis. Both dream of fortune and immortality with this last and most incredible heist. The Last Bookaneer thrillingly depicts the lost world of these doomed outlaws, a tropical island with a violent destiny, a brewing colonial war and a reclusive genius
directing events from high in his mountain compound.

Evie's War by Anna Mackenzie
They offered up the innocence of a generation . . . Evie is 18, straight out of school and excited by the prospect of a tour of Europe. Instead, she finds herself immersed in war; first in the Home Counties - where the young New Zealander is confronted not only
by society’s restrictions and her family’s expectations, but by the burgeoning women’s rights movement - then as a VAD nurse tending injured soldiers in a local hospital. After personal tragedy changes the course of her life, Evie impulsively travels to Belgium, experiencing first-hand the shambolic horrors in a Casualty Clearing Station
just 10 km behind the Front Lines. War, at first distant, becomes increasingly personal. When her health gives out, Evie returns to England and a new battle: that of meshing her hard won independence and experience with the still Edwardian attitudes of her
family. A heartbreaking and brilliantly poignant novel.

The Life of Jackson Street by Warwick Johnston
At the turn of the 20th century Petone was regarded as Wellington’s largest suburb and its main street, Jackson Street, as the commercial heart of the Hutt Valley. Investigates the beginnings of Jackson Street and looks at its development and commercial success. Jackson Street has had its ups and downs but has continued to maintain its unique qualities and heritage potential throughout its existence.

Kereru Station: Two Sisters' Legacy by Mary Shanahan
Gwen Malden and Ruth Nelson were eccentric, artistic women but, like their grandfather, they were also savvy. In 1857, the 20-year-old James Nelson Williams
had borrowed the wherewithal to established Kereru as one of Hawke’s Bay’s earliest sheep runs. Both generations adopted a similar approach to the farm, employing able managers to shape profit-making enterprises. Quirky and creative, sisters Ruth
Nelson and Gwen Malden purchased the rundown Kereru Station in the aftermath of World War II. Reviving the sprawling sheep station’s fortunes, these visionary women channelled its profits into their favoured causes. Ruth, with her lifelong friend Edna
Burbury, founded and supported Hawke’s Bay’s Rudolf Steiner school while Gwen, a gifted painter, buoyed up the arts and charities dear to her heart.
Enriching this history are the stories told by those who have lived and worked on the historic station, battling wind, drought, pests and floods while never failing to be seduced by the spectacular beauty of its landscape.
Packed with wonderful photographs from award-winning photographer Grant
Sheehan.

Poetry

Fish Stories by Mary Creswell
Mary Cresswell is at her imaginative best in this new collection, built from her
experiments with the ghazal, a traditional form, which she first met via the work of
Agha Shahid Ali and Mimi Khalvati.
The poems in Fish Stories are presented as an intellectual challenge to students of
the ghazal and glosa forms, encouraging them to develop their own craft. At the same
time, Cresswell’s poetry is widely accessible and appealing: using rhyme and varying
poetic structures, inspired by a range of topics, but especially by nature and ecology,
she combines humour with serious comment to engage and connect with her reader.

This Must Be the Place by Annabel Hawkins
The places in Annabel Hawkins’ poems are close at hand or within sight of the horizon, at the border between study and first jobs and whatever comes next, in a city that for now for better or worse is home. She ticks off the places she finds herself: Thorndon Pool, Salamanca Road in Kelburn, the back roads of Otaki, Fiji. And from time to time longs to be elsewhere. But Annabel comes to realise that theres a time for going and a time for staying put, and home can also be a feeling.

The Lives of Colonial Objects by Annabel Cooper, Lachy Paterson & Angela Wanhalla
(2015. 368 pages. Otago University Press)
ISBN: 9781927322024
The Lives of Colonial Objects is a sumptuously illustrated and highly readable book about things, and the stories that unfold when we start to investigate them. In this collection of 50 essays the authors, including historians, archivists, curators and Maori scholars, have each chosen an object from New Zealand’s colonial past, and their
examinations open up our history in astonishingly varied ways. Some are treasured family possessions such as a kahu kiwi, a music album or a
grandmother’s travel diary, and their stories have come down through families. Some, like the tauihu of a Maori waka, a Samoan kilikiti bat or a flying boat, are housed in museums. Others - a cannon, a cottage and a country road inhabit public spaces but
they too turnout to have unexpected histories. Things invite us into the past through their tangible, tactile and immediate presence: in this collection they serve as 50 paths into New Zealand’s colonial history.
While each chapter is the story of a particular object, The Lives of Colonial Objects as a whole informs and enriches the colonial history of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Johnny Enzed : The New Zealand Soldier in the First World 1914-1918 Glyn Harper
The New Zealand soldiers who left these shores to fight in the First World War represented one of the greatest collective endeavours in the nation’s history. Over 100,000 men and women would embark for overseas service and almost 60,000 of them became casualties. For a small nation like New Zealand this was a tragedy on an unimagined scale. Using their personal testimony, this book reveals what these
men experienced - the truth of their lives in battle, at rest, at their best and their worst. Through a comprehensive and sympathetic scrutiny of New Zealand soldiers’ correspondence, diaries and memoirs, a compelling picture of the New Zealand soldier’s war from general to private is revealed. This is not a campaign history of dry facts and detail. Rather, it examines minutely the everyday experience of trench life in all its shapes and forms. Diverse topics such as barbed wire, the use of the bayonet, gas attacks,
rats, horses, food, communal singing, infectious diseases and much more feature in this riveting account of the New Zealand soldier in the First World War. It is the story of ordinary men thrust into the most extraordinary circumstances imaginable.
(2015. 720 pages. Exisle)
ISBN: 9781775592020
NYP - due early August.

Migration, Ethnicity, and Madness New Zealand, 1860-1910 by Angela McCarthy
Migration, Ethnicity, Madness : New Zealand, 1860-1910 provides a social, cultural, and political history of migration, ethnicity, and madness in New Zealand between 1860 and 1910. Its key aim is to analyse the ways that patients, families, asylum
officials, and immigration authorities engaged with the ethnic backgrounds and migration histories and pathways of asylum patients and why. Exploring such issues enables us to appreciate the difficulties that some migrants experienced in their relocation abroad, hardships that are often elided in studies of migration that focus on successful migrant settlement.
Drawing upon lunatic asylum records (including patient casebooks and committal forms), immigration files, Surgeon Superintendents’ reports, Asylum Inspectors’ reports, medical journals and legislation, the book highlights the importance of
examining antecedent experiences, the migration process itself, and settlement in the new land as factors that contributed to admission to an asylum.
The study also raises broader themes beyond the asylum of discrimination, exclusion, segregation, and marginalisation, issues that are as evident in society today as in the past.
Angela McCarthy is Professor of Scottish and Irish History at the University of Otago where she teaches migration history, Scottish history, and Irish history.
(2015. 234 pages. Otago University Press)
ISBN: 9781927322000

The People's University: A Centennial History of the Canterbury Workers' Educational Association 1915–2015 by Ian Dougherty
From its earliest days in a cold, rented room in a former Christchurch warehouse, the Canterbury Workers Educational Association has been a pioneering provider of adult education, enriching, and sometimes even transforming, the lives of thousands
of men and women. Through its box and travelling library schemes, inspired by the charismatic James Shelley, it took adult education to nearly every nook and cranny of the Canterbury and Westland provinces from the 1920s. Its wider horizons programme
revolutionised adult education for retired people from the 1970s. In The People’s University, widely published historian Ian Dougherty tells the fascinating and important story of this resilient association over its first 100 years and of the
enthusiastic and committed involvement of students, tutors, volunteers and staff.
(2015. 256 pages. Canterbury University Press)
ISBN: 9781927145593

Chasing the White Whale : Forgotten Stories from New Zealand’s Bay of Islands Historic Past Lindsay Alexander
Dramatic tales of ships and shipwrecks, cannons, murders and flagpoles, of whaleships and the whalemen who sailed them. Chasing the White Whale resurrects
long-forgotten stories from the turbulent history of the Bay of Islands, telling many for the first time. Author Lindsay Alexander is a long term resident of the Bay of Islands and author of two reference works on Whaleships in northern New Zealand waters.
(2015. 325 pages. Kororareka Press)
ISBN: 9780473314460

Poetry
Some of Us Eat the Seeds by Morgan Bach
Morgan Bach weaves a line between waking life and the unstable dreamworld beneath, disorienting and reorienting us from moment to moment. In poems of
childhood, family, travel and relationships, she responds to the ache and sometimes horror of life in a voice that is restless and witty, bold and sharp-edged.
(2015. 95 pages. Victoria University Press)
ISBN: 9780864739872

Whizzing All Over the Place : A Foreign Correspondent’s Memoir by David Barber
David Barber, one of New Zealands most travelled journalists, reported from more than 50 countries during five decades as a foreign correspondent. Highlights of David’s career included seeing a French nuclear test in the Pacific atmosphere during the
worlds only government-sponsored ban-the-bomb protest, covering the Vietnam War, dodging bombers in London and Ireland, a weekend with a Maharajah in India and unwittingly working for the CIA. He spent a magical mid-summer night with a Lapland reindeer farmer, stayed in the most bugged hotel in Eastern Europe and was targeted by a dissident who sought his help to flee the Soviet Union. While freelancing for some of the world’s top newspapers, David reported on 12 New Zealand prime ministers, including the wittiest- and the one who tried to end his career.
As busy as ever in retirement, he mourns the diminishing interest of newspapers in global affairs, and the consequent demise of old-style foreign correspondents. These crisply written highlights and amusing anecdotes from David’s 50-plus years at the typewriter in England, New Zealand and in many Asian settings are a memorable passing parade of our times, seen through sharp eyes and an inquiring mind.
(2015. 305 pages. Steele Roberts)
ISBN: 9781927242858


The Antipodeans by Greg McGee
Beginning with the return to Venice of an old man determined to confront his past, The Antipodeans spans three generations of a New Zealand family and their interaction with three families of Northern Italy. From Venice to the South Island of New Zealand, from the assassination of a Gestapo commander in WWII to contemporary real estate shenanigans in Auckland, from political assassination in the darkest days of the Red Brigade to the vaulting
cosmology of particle physics, The Antipodeans is a novel of epic proportions where families from the opposite ends of the earth discover an intergenerational legacy of love, blood and betrayal.
(2015. 352 pages. Upstart Publishing)
ISBN: 9781927262030

TEEN READS

Being Magdalene by Fleur Beale
(due late August)

Evie's War by Anna Mackenzie
(due August)

The Bakehouse by Joy Cowley
(due August)

AHHHH. Went to Paper Plus in Wanaka and enjoyed the feel and look of many on this list. So tempted to buy. Walked around shop with Going Up is Easy in hand. Sigh. Kindle is only way to travel.

The Pale North by Hamish Clayton

The Invisible Mile by [author:David

The Party Line by Sue Orr

The Good Doctor by Lance O'Sullivan

S.K.Fischer wrote: "AHHHH. Went to Paper Plus in Wanaka and enjoyed the feel and look of many on this list. So tempted to buy. Walked around shop with Going Up is Easy in hand. Sigh. Kindle is only way..."

On my non NZ list this week is plus reprint of AND

How to make a meal of it eh? Are you joining the frenzy S.K.?

Once taught To Kill a Mockingbird as set text for 15 yr olds in Africa. Love that book. Waiting for Go Set a Watchman in paper back.

Eyes Of Fire: The Last Voyage Of The Rainbow Warrior by David Robie

The Emotional Challenges of Immigration: Strategies and Stories of Those Who Stayed by Ellie Baker

The Black Pacific: Anti-Colonial Struggles and Oceanic Connections by Robbie Shilliam

Fiction

No Relation by Thomas Pors Koed
Thomas Pors Koed’s collection of short stories, No Relation, is a surprisingly un-Kiwi book by a writer who has spent close to the last fifty years residing in Nelson. Koed’s stories wrestle with the constructs of character, identity, what is real and what must be
intuited from information not provided. Coupled with elegant precise prose, an obsession with word and image, these short pieces comprise a unique addition to Kiwi lit.
( 2015. 185 pages. Titus Books )
ISBN: 9781877441493 Paperback
NYP - due for release 21 September 2015

The Battle of Messines Road by J.K. & W.J. Moloney
The Battle of Messines Road is the story of Zac, a troubled 10-year-old boy, who is forced to read to an elderly war veteran. A man at the end of his life, trying to make sense of war, for a boy at the start of his. The story of how these unlikely friends
find solace and together fight what they see as the unfairness of it all. A fight that culminates in a series of battles; one on Messines Road and one on Anzac Day. Told both through the eyes of 10-year-old Zac, living in 1968 Wellington and a 21-year-old World War I soldier, The Battle of Messines Road is a coming-of-age story, a World War I diary and a novel about friendship and families. It is a book of how two wars, 50 years apart, changed New Zealand and its people. With the centenary of WWI now in progress The Battle of Messines Road is a chance to get a fresh perspective on a period of New Zealand’s history which is presently in the spotlight. The combination of historical document, carefully researched history and fiction gives readers a unique insight into WWI and the nature of war alongside an exciting story line. The two intertwined narratives will hold a wide-range of reader interest and the perspective of 10-year-old Zac will capture the attention of the young adult market while still appealing to more mature readers.

Glory by Rachel Billington
English author, but of interest ?

The Pale North by Hamish Clayton

A Crooked Rib by Judy Corbalis
(Judy Corbalis was born and grew up in New Zealand but now lives in London.)

Poetry
Shaggy Magpie SongsShaggy Magpie Songs by Murray Edmond

Kiwi Dogs & Their People David Darcy

Man of Iron: The Extraordinary Story of New Zealand WWI Hero Lieutenant-Colonel William Malone Jock Vennell

Road from Rosehall Mike Munro

For Teens

King Rich by Joe Bennett

Paul Cleave's outstanding psychological thriller Trust No One, which has been getting rave reviews in the United States, will be published in New Zealand by Upstart Press on 17 Sept.

This is truly world-class writing, from a Kiwi living in NZ and set in NZ. If you're a crime, mystery, or thriller fan, it's a must-buy, for my mind.

Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient and Modern by Ian C. Campbell
First published in 1992, Island Kingdom is the only comprehensive treatment of its subject and is widely acknowledged as being the authoritative history of Tonga. This third edition is updated and revised in accordance with recent research, and new chapters bring the story up to the end of 2014.

First Lady: From Boyhood to Womanhood: The Incredible Story of New Zealand's Sex-Change Pioneer Liz Roberts by Alison Mau
An honest, insightful, sometimes brutal but often hilarious account of Elizabeth Roberts, the first New Zealander to undergo full sex-change surgery. Her dramatic story tells of the often torturous transition from the boy Garry, to the woman Elizabeth,
but the book is not just about the transsexual experience. It documents the life of a creative, talented and warm-hearted person who had the courage to simply be herself, against all odds. An inspiring tale of determination, dedication and resilience.

Remembering Christchurch by Alison Parr
Remembering Christchurch captures the human heritage that survives the devastation of the Canterbury earthquakes. In evocative interviews, older citizens share their precious memories, bringing Christchurch back to life - from familiar streets, shops and churches to pubs, tearooms and dance halls; from movie theatres and pie carts in the Square to milkshakes at the Dainty Inn on High Street. There are tales of cherished homes in red-zoned suburbs
such as Dallington, and of earlier trips through the tunnel to the port of Lyttelton. Woven through these stories, a social history of Christchurch emerges, exposing shifting attitudes to class, race, religion, sex and the place of women. Vivid and revealing, these rich memories create a lasting legacy for a much-loved city.

Fiction
Archangel's Enigma: A Guild Hunter Novel by Nalini Singh
Naasir is the most feral of the powerful group of vampires and angels known as the Seven, his loyalty pledged to the Archangel Raphael. When rumours surface of a plot to murder the former Archangel of Persia, now lost in the Sleep of the Ancients, Naasir is dispatched to find him. For only he possesses
the tracking skills required - those more common to predatory animals than to man. Enlisted to accompany Naasir, Andromeda, a young angelic scholar with dangerous secrets, is fascinated by his nature - at once playful and brilliant, sensual and brutal. As they race to find the Sleeping archangel before it’s too late, Naasir will force her to question all she knows and tempt her to walk into the magnificent, feral darkness of his world. But first they must survive an enemy vicious enough to shatter the greatest taboo of the angelic race and plunge the world into a screaming nightmare.

For Younger Readers
The Ghosts of TaraweraSue Copsey
On holiday near Rotorua, Joe and Eddie are fascinated by the area’s bubbling mud pools and boiling geysers. Local volcanologist Rocky tells them about the Pink and White Terraces that existed on the lake where they’re staying, and how they were destroyed in the cataclysmic 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera. But Joe’s fascination turns to unease when strange sightings on the lake and dark rumblings from the Earth hint that the volcano is reawakening. Can he persuade Rocky, who puts his faith only in science, to sound a warning? The past reaches out to touch the present in this spooky adventure story from the author of The Ghosts of Young Nick’s Head.

Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperback and Kindle editions this weekend. More details are on my website: http://antonymillen.com/the-chain/

and on Goodreads:

Antony wrote: "Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperback and Kindle editions this weekend. More details are on my website: http://anto..."

Congratulations Antony. Even though it isn't my first go to genre, it looks like it might be a good story and worth a try. I'm impressed with the number of retailers you're looking to have it available through too. Get it into Wheelers and you've probably got a really good chance of libraries buying it as well.

I've added The Chain to our Author Member thread so you will be included in the draws for group reads.

Lesley

Ella's Gran wrote: "Antony wrote: "Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperback and Kindle editions this weekend. More details are on my websi..."

Thanks Lesley. Yes, I have my other books with those retailers and distribute my books to libraries via All Books NZ and Wheelers. Thank you for adding to the thread.

Antony wrote: "Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperback and Kindle editions this weekend. More details are on my website: http://anto..."

George Orwell meets The Hardy Boys? Now that's a hell of a good tagline. Very intriguing premise Antony. Congrats on publication. Have you spoken to Cat Connor in Lower Hutt? (she runs a new specialist NZ books store)

Craig wrote: "Antony wrote: "Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperback and Kindle editions this weekend. More details are on my websi..."

Ha! Thanks Craig. Yes, my first two books are in Cat's store and I'll get copies of 'The Chain' to her as well.

Antony wrote: "Craig wrote: "Antony wrote: "Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperback and Kindle editions this weekend. More details a..."

Craig wrote: "Antony wrote: "Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperback and Kindle editions this weekend. More details are on my websi..."

I know I shouldn't ask this since it might be detrimental to my credit card, but what is the name of this bookstore please?

Ella's Gran wrote: "Antony wrote: "Craig wrote: "Antony wrote: "Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperback and Kindle editions this weekend...."

Writers Plot, Readers Read - https://writersplotreadersread.wordpr...

Antony wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "Antony wrote: "Craig wrote: "Antony wrote: "Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperback and Kindle ed..."

It's in Upper Hutt - you can order books from them on their website too.

Antony wrote: "Antony wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "Antony wrote: "Craig wrote: "Antony wrote: "Hi Ella's Gran (and others). This looks like a good place to tell people about my new book - just launched in paperbac..."

Oh no, that's even worse! What's the name and address?

:) As above - Writers Plot, Readers Read - https://writersplotreadersread.wordpr... - 893 Fergusson Drive

Antony wrote: ":) As above - Writers Plot, Readers Read - https://writersplotreadersread.wordpr... - 893 Fergusson Drive"

oops, missed that previous post - must have been a touch of subconscious blindness as must the fact I've not seen it when I drive past there everyday to and from work! Ah well, between this and the used bookstore I should be able to reverse my downsizing. :)

Ella's Gran wrote: "Antony wrote: ":) As above - Writers Plot, Readers Read - https://writersplotreadersread.wordpr... - 893 Fergusson Drive"

oops, missed that previous post - must have been a touch of s..."

Be sure and tell them I say Hi from Taumarunui!

Isaac wrote: "Recently just written and illustrated my second children's picture book The Greenwood Ghosts👻(April 12, 2020). Might be hard to get in NZ because of COVID-19 at the moment.

Book De..."

Congratulations on the new book Isaac

Thanks

So after 12 years of reviewing other people's books for magazines, newspapers, and online (and chatting onstage at book festivals about them), I've actually written my own first book. Gulp.

Non-fiction, and about books and storytelling.

Southern Cross Crime was released globally in ebook and audiobook on 23 April. The paperback was at the printers when lockdown kicked in, so that's now been pushed back to late Sept in UK and early Oct in Australia and New Zealand.

It's all a bit surreal, given all that's going on - the book's out there in the world, but seems sort of intangible with book launches, several author events, and other things all cancelled.

I hope anyone in this group who enjoys crime and thriller fiction may give it a look - I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have. Nga mihi from a Kiwi in south London.

Craig wrote: "So after 12 years of reviewing other people's books for magazines, newspapers, and online (and chatting onstage at book festivals about them), I've actually written my own first book. Gulp."

Congratulations :)

Yes, good luck with your book, Craig!

Fake Baby by Amy McDaid

Congratulations!

Hi there

My latest picture book is Sharing with Wolf (Scholastic NZ), - released June 1st, its a darkly funny tale that asks the age old question - can a lamb share a house with a wolf.

And my short story collection for 7-12 year olds from last year, Time Machine and Other Stories (Ahoy! - The Cuba Press) is a finalist in this year's New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults which is hugely exciting.

It has been strange launching the picture book online and doing events via zoom for the short story collection but heartening to see folk are still reading as much as ever (if not more).

cheers
Melinda

Melinda wrote: "Hi there

My latest picture book is Sharing with Wolf (Scholastic NZ), - released June 1st, its a darkly funny tale that asks the age old question - can a lam..."

Congratulations :)

Thank you! :-)

Good morning everyone,

My third standalone thriller launched on 31 July 2020 -

With an ensemble cast of five characters, The Forger and the Thief is set in 1966 amidst the devastating flood of the Arno River.

Available across all digital platforms, the paperbacks come out at the end of this month, together with large print editions.

https://books2read.com/Forgerandthief

FIVE STRANGERS IN FLORENCE, EACH WITH A DANGEROUS SECRET. AND AN APOCALYPTIC FLOOD THREATENING TO REVEAL EVERYTHING.

A on the run, a student searching for stolen art, a cleaner who has lined more than his pockets, a policeman whose career is almost over, and a guest who should never have received a wedding invite. Five strangers, entangled in the forger’s wicked web.

In a race against time, and desperate to save themselves and all they hold dear, will their secrets prove more treacherous than the ominous floodwaters swallowing the historic city?

Dive into a world of lies and deceit, where nothing is as it seems on the surface…

Congratulations :-)

Isaac wrote: "Congratulations :-)"

Thanks so much x

Isaac wrote: "The Living Museum (August 16, 2020)

It’s almost night at the museum and Penelope Wilde is tasked with locking up for the night. However, she w..."

Sounds amazing! Adding it to my TBR list x

Thanks :-)