About True Blue Tucker by Campbell Jefferys:

Two men go in search of the real Australia, and find it in a bar in Munich. But what will they do with it now they’ve found it?Australia. What comes to mind when you see or hear this word? Guys in khaki shorts jumping into crocodile infested waters. Long, white sand beaches. Shrimps on barbecues. Athletes and actors. “Really? Mel Gibson is Australian?” Surfer boys and pin-up girls. Cuddly koalas that aren’t really bears. Come on. There has to be more to Australia than that.There is. Much more. True Blue Tucker is the story of Darius and Humphrey, two friends who go looking for the real Australia, a journey that takes them to Australia’s north-west, Canada’s ski hills, London’s damp streets and Munich’s bars. Along the way, they learn about themselves, about their country and about what the world thinks of Australians. Ambitiously and misguidedly, they set about changing the stereotype, by opening an Aussie bar in Munich that tells the real history of Australia. It’s out with the inflatable crocodiles and in with information about stolen Aboriginal children; out with Paul Hogan and in with Pauline Hanson. And there’s convict stew on the menu, and not kangaroo burgers.No other work of fiction tackles the topic of Australian identity, history and society quite like True Blue Tucker. What does it mean to be Australian? Read this book to find out.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About The Label Maker by MacKenzie Stilton:

Surrounded by people, constantly connected and instantly gratified, yet lost, unsatisfied and alone. Like so many people around him, Joe Solitus is drifting through life, a phone in his hand and a laptop under his arm. A pharmaceuticals salesman in Montreal, he’s a normal guy in his late 20s living in the digital age. He works, dates, meets friends, swims, goes to yoga class, talks to his cat and surfs the internet. But a lot of what he does is time-wasting, a filling of a void. There is no search for higher meaning, to find his place in the world, or to come to terms with grief and loss. He’s caught up in what he’s doing and so is everyone else. There’s no time to question anything. With the help of some real-world friends, Joe manages to get outside his comfort zone, first at a tech-free resort, then by going on a digital diet, and finally by starting a movement that goes viral online: Simplicity. He wants to reduce his dependence on technology and get control of his life. But he’s not the only one who wants this. What starts as an underground movement quickly goes mainstream. The simplicity truisms, lifted from the statements Joe’s father used to make, become the gospel for a disenchanted generation desperate for guidance and definition. Joe’s quest to focus on what’s important and get control of his life leads him to face truths he had always avoided and to become the person he never wanted to be. Is Joe Solitus the spokesman for the digital generation? Is simplicity the answer?

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About Hunter: A Novel by Campbell Jefferys:

How do you find a way to fit in when you don’t really feel you belong? Hunter follows the stories of Eric, a teenage boy, and two men, one a Nazi from Austria and the other a Nazi from northern Germany. Eric has just moved from the country to the coastal town of Crescent Bay and has difficulty adjusting. To earn some money, he begins doing odd jobs for seniors and comes into contact with the two old men. Of Germany descent himself, Eric becomes fascinated by the men and the stories they tell. Are they Nazis? Should he contact the police? He discovers that one of the men has damning evidence against the other and is forced to choose who to turn over to the police. Set during the Gulf War and with a backdrop of middle class Australian coastal life, Hunter is a coming of age story which poses some interesting questions about nationality, social acceptance, conformity and middle class suburban life in Australia. Winner of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.
[Read more…]

About The Bicycle Teacher by Campbell Jefferys:

In the summer of 1981, Michael from Perth meets Kathrin from Berlin. It’s love. It’s East meets West, and East wins. To those in the west, life behind the Iron Curtain was horrible and oppressive. But for the millions who lived there, it was a way of life and they did the best they could. Some are now even nostalgic for it. Ostalgie it’s called in Germany. For Michael Smith, East Germany fills all the gaps in his own life. He’s happy there. He wants to stay. Everything is within his reach. And yes he’s very naïve, and yes he’s ignoring a lot of bad to focus on the good, but ignorance really can be bliss. Until the Berlin Wall falls.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About A Little Leg Work by Royce Leville:

An Italian restaurant turns to a new food source, with surprising and sickening results. A plate of meatballs will never be the same again.When you order a meal in a restaurant, how can you be sure you get what you asked for? Isn’t that meat a little pale to be beef? And what tastes like chicken doesn’t mean it’s actually chicken. The thing is, most diners are completely oblivious as to what goes on in a restaurant’s kitchen. They order, eat and pay, with no clue as to where the food has come from.Take the Alfresco Paradiso in A Little Leg Work. When this renowned Italian restaurant turns to a new food source, with surprising and sickening results, it means a plate of meatballs will never be the same again. And while no one knows what the Alfresco’s chefs are up to, the public loves it and gobbles it up. A local detective (and weekend gourmet chef) tries to find out just what it is that makes the meatballs so good, while his brother-in-law, a journalist, smells a page one story. Meanwhile, the Alfresco owner becomes a celebrity and all those involved in the restaurant start rolling in the cash, including a butcher, an adventurer and a morgue manager. They all get to tell their own story and have their say because the book is told from numerous points of view.Royce Leville’s debut novel pushes the boundaries of taste and the limits of traditional narrative style. Replete with footnotes, multiple narrators, gristly scenes and thousands of satisfied eaters, A Little Leg Work will disgust, intrigue, amuse and offend, and leave you salivating for more.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About Rowan and Eris by Campbell Jefferys:

It’s a simple story, a journey, a search, a pursuit. There is a man from Perth, an American woman, their daughter. The woman is intent on creating chaos wherever she goes, through urban art, and her work extends to creating chaos in her own life by having a daughter. The man is intent on finding his daughter and in doing so finds himself and the songs inside him. It’s a road trip novel, starting in Perth, Australia, and traversing America, Canada and Europe. It is also a meditation on art, creativity, success, growing up and taking responsibility. A highly ambitious project, the book includes a CD of original music, plus illustrations and song lyrics.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About The Vagabond King: A Coming of Age Story by James Campion Conway:

When his mother dies and he discovers the man he believed was his father is not, sixteen year old Chris is haunted by a mysterious apparition that forces him to question his pampered existence and embark upon a quest to find himself. Hoping she will “make a man of him”, he seeks sanctuary in the home of Magda, a middle aged waitress with a penchant for sex, only to discover she lives with her father, a cigarette smoking, beer swilling immigrant. Chris hates his shabby new surroundings at the end of the street and the shabby old man at the end of his life who spends his days listening to old blues records and making Chris fetch him fresh cans of beer. But, when the old man tells tales of Communist Hungary, torture, escape and the mysterious medallion he wears, Chris learns that, like the old man’s skipping records, history repeats itself and the roles we play have been played many times before.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About There’s a Shark in My Hockey Pool by David Belisle:

Fantasy hockey just got real. Two bitter collegiate rivals, now Toronto ad men, draft hockey teams for a game to determine the winner of a lucrative government contract. On a wing and a prayer, Derek Marcotte scrapes together a motley crew of puck chasers. His marketing firm May-Ja-Look hangs in the balance, his pillow is double-parked and his knee mutters revenge with each waking step. It’s enough to make you part with your favorite hockey card. Drop the puck already!

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About The Book of Names: Stories by Royce Leville:

Strange situations, unsolvable problems, secret lives, redemption and revenge. Who are the people behind the names? Frankie, Pavel, Willard, Esmeralda, Milo, Shannon … these are just some of the stories in The Book of Names. There’s a benevolent locksmith with keys to every lock in town. There’s a serial-killing vet who harvests his victims’ organs. A pediatrician battling her own imaginary friends. A group of men locked inside a container, stranded at a harbor somewhere. A performance artist who can open a bottle of champagne in an extraordinary way. And more. Royce Leville’s second book is a mesmerizing collection of the bizarre, the off-kilter, the strangely normal and the cleverly humorous.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.
[Read more…]

About The Vagabond King: A Coming of Age Story by James Campion Conway:

When his mother dies and he discovers the man he believed was his father is not, sixteen year old Chris is haunted by a mysterious apparition that forces him to question his pampered existence and embark upon a quest to find himself. Hoping she will “make a man of him”, he seeks sanctuary in the home of Magda, a middle aged waitress with a penchant for sex, only to discover she lives with her father, a cigarette smoking, beer swilling immigrant. Chris hates his shabby new surroundings at the end of the street and the shabby old man at the end of his life who spends his days listening to old blues records and making Chris fetch him fresh cans of beer. But, when the old man tells tales of Communist Hungary, torture, escape and the mysterious medallion he wears, Chris learns that, like the old man’s skipping records, history repeats itself and the roles we play have been played many times before.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About Forever We Play by David Belisle:

It’s America’s pastime … when your time is past. Baseball … that diamond cut on emerald grass under turquoise skies … is where heaven meets earth. Down home dialogue breezes through dugout chatter and buzzing fans to find the sunny disposition in all of us. Baseball is the true escape, taking one’s soul to a better time in a better place, where life is but a game and a loss is still a win because you were there.In Forever We Play, that life IS the afterlife. Through the stained glass eyes of religion, come the refrains of the ballpark. Baseball is gospel, Jesus is a slick-fielding shortstop from the Dominican Republic and Fielding Schmelling is a rookie soul taker with the Houston Astros. When an attractive realtor falls out of a Florida upper deck, he shepherds her soul aboard the Evans / Murgatroid bus in preparation for Opening Day. She must choose a team, who must then win the World Series if she wants to reach heaven. God has streamlined the purification process.A three-base error is still a sin, the Chicago Cubs have yet to win and – with so many souls – you know the devil wants in.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.
[Read more…]

About Rustlers in the Sage: A Western Novella by Donald L Robertson:

Holt Kincannon has nothing left but his horse, his guns, and his pride. His years as a Texas rancher and lawman are behind him. His wife and son rest on a lonely hill overlooking the Llano River.Now, he rides through the rugged mountains and sagebrush covered valleys of Northern New Mexico, searching. He’s hoping for a new life, but will settle for a hot meal.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About The Pizza Prophet by David Belisle:

Polish philosophy-trained Kosma Stankowicz is one of your more profound pizza delivery experts. He’s certainly the most respected at Lead Pipe Joe’s. Whether he’s training a mobster’s son from the ground up … or stepping lightly around a cranky boss who has 5 daughter’s weddings to pay for … or being discreet about a fellow employee’s lust for black men, Kosma is always on the clock.Life can seem like a pizza waiting to be delivered. Following a near-death experience and an armored truck money bag gone missing – has Kosma received the greatest tip from on high? He’s convinced he’s a prophet. His oracle? A hooker named Divine. Kosma’s resulting revelations only turn up the heat on workplace romance. Any unsuspecting customer would have to wonder, is it true love or the jalapeno peppers?

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About Newfie, Come Home! by David Belisle:

For non-Canadians, this quick Newfie Primer may prove valuable. The Newfie is a proud citizen of Canada’s maritime playground – Newfoundland – also known as The Rock. This coastal, craggy island is the size of Montana but with half the people (500,000) and you’ll need to swap the cowboy hat for a pair of rubber boots. Since John Cabot landed on the shores of Cape Bonavista in 1497, the Newfie has been the fisher of cod. Until 1992 that is, when cod stocks hit rock bottom and a government moratorium on the little flipper took every net out of the water. It was like telling a fish he couldn’t swim. Out of tragedy comes comedy however, and the Newfie is blessed with perhaps the best sense of humor in the country. They stand out with their infectious laugh and dialect, a combination of Bristol English, Cork Irish and a Scottish kilt flapping in the wind. This is the backdrop for the gullible, happy-go-lucky hero of our tale, Gord McDougall.  “Newfie, Come Home!” is a fun-filled, fictional walk down a very short plank to the splash of laughter.Gord visits his father in the hospital after the elder McDougall decided to end it all with a shot of Skreech and a handful of pills, including Flintstone vitamins. But Gord’s dad survives and sees the error of his ways. He tells Gord that he should live life large and go out big. Gord misunderstands his father’s advice, thinking that in order to be somebody … he must kill himself. What follows is a series of misadventures where Gord’s quest for suicide inevitably finds him inside a terrorist cell. International incidents abound with Gord standing front row center. Is it time for this Newfie to finally come home?

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About A Favorite Son by Uvi Poznansky:

In this plot of mistaken identity, Becky instructs her son to cheat his elderly father Isaac, who is lying on his deathbed. Will Jacob pretend to be that which he is not? Is he ready for the last moment he is going to have with his father?

This is a modern twist on a very old story. It is so much more than a morality tale. Do you find sibling rivalry in adults intriguing? Are you troubled by the notion that the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children? If so, you will find this story utterly captivating.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]

About Beryl and the Monsters by Neil McFarlane:

Beryl and the MonstersA story of pre-lapsarian innocence and corruption … a gripping and powerful allegory of the modern world. Voices emerge from the darkness. Albert and Beryl hear the howls of strange creatures in the forest. John tells them there are no monsters, but Beryl discovers a creature caught in the brambles. Albert doesn’t like the look of it …

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.
[Read more…]

About I Was Justin’s Nanny by David Belisle:

The Liberal red tidal wave of support had receded, revealing a new prime minister on the Hill. It’s the daring, debonair Justin Prudhomme … and his delicious dark locks. Issues pile up quickly. The stuffed shirts and stiff collars need to be ironed out. A hungry media awaits their daily dish and there’s simply no end to the dirty laundry. But that’s all on the Hill. Justin’s wife Josie is busy producing a CBC documentary on saving lemmings. Somebody must tend to the home fires.Enter Marie Bellehumeur. The 52-year-old, chain-smoking native of St. Louis-du-Ha-Ha! has been around the block. Of unemployment. Dumb luck and dumber clerical staff allow her in the door at 24 Sussex.Today’s hot potatoes – immigration, terrorism and U.S. President Ronald Stump – are mashed onto the prime minister’s plate. Can Justin govern? Can Marie stand the heat in the kitchen? Has anyone seen the kids? Marie tells all in this first-person perspective from Canada’s number one nanny.

Buy the book, Learn more about the writer and follow the author on social media:
Buy the Book On Amazon.

[Read more…]