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NZSA New Books List - April 2017
Congratulations to all those who have launched a book this month. Here's a selection of books that our members have sent in for the New Books Lists.
Keen to submit your book for the next edition of the New Books List? Please send to: Claire Hill
Deadline for next issue: 1 May 2017. Information about what you need to send in is explained on our website and at the bottom of this email.
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Good Sons
A Novel of the Great War
Greg Hall
In early 1914, Frank Wilson and his two close friends, Tom Davis and Robert Sutherland are growing up in Oamaru in the South Island of New Zealand. The coming war in Europe arouses the hopes and dreams of a generation of young men. The pressure becomes irresistible and one by one the boys become soldiers. Frank delays his decision but in 1916 a strange encounter shocks him into enlisting. After a rapid coming-of-age in the training camps of the North Island the novel moves to France. A reunion, the insanity of a love affair in the midst of a terrible war and a brutal event set Frank on course for the best and worst days of his young life. As he becomes a frontline soldier and experiences hard fighting, fate forces him to make an agonising decision.
Greg Hall’s poignant and moving historical novel brings us right into the hearts and minds of the boys who went to WWI.
‘A compelling story of a young man caught up in the agony of World War One’ Glyn Harper – Professor of War Studies, Massey University
Available: Can be purchased in all good bookstores. Published by Mary Egan Publishing. (ISBN 978-0-473-38378-7) RRP $32
Author’s Bio: Greg Hall had a career in banking and finance before opting out a few years ago to concentrate on writing and Good Sons is his first novel. He is a director of the Passchendaele Society, which in 2017, is immersed in centenary commemorations of the apocalyptic Flanders battles of 1917. He lives in Auckland with his partner, Carolyn, a former bookseller.
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From Battle of Britain Airman to POW Escapee
The Story of Ian Walker RAF
Angela Walker
This is the Second World War story of a champion cyclist turned airman who lived to tell the tale against almost impossible odds. A New Zealander in the RAF, Ian Walker took part in the Battle of Britain before transferring to Bomber Command and surviving three plane crashes in his Wellington bomber. The last of these saw him crash land in enemy territory, where he was taken prisoner. Confined within the claustrophobic walls of a POW camp, he hatched a plot with a fellow inmate to escape. This they achieved, almost miraculously, in broad daylight. Living on basic rations, they navigated the enemy wilds until they were captured, yet again, and taken back to prison. Written by Ian’s daughter, it’s a tale that circumnavigates the globe, weaving snippets taken from letters and extensive journals kept by her father in order to create a compelling, warm hearted and thrilling account of his war.
Available: in leading bookstores and online, including Book Depository and Amazon. Also available as an ebook. Published by Pen & Sword Books. ISBN: 978-1473890725
Author Bio: Angela Walker is a former Olympic gymnast and Commonwealth gold medallist, inspired in her own sporting endeavours by her father, a champion cyclist who narrowly missed Commonwealth Games selection himself, cycling on a leg that had been injured during the war. The publication of this book represents the culmination of a real labour of love on her part, commemorating the life and career of her late father and celebrating him as an icon of endurance and survival.
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The Adriatic Kitchen
(Recipes inspired by the abundance of seasonal ingredients flourishing on the Croatian island of Korčula)
Barbara Unković
Barbara Unković has always been drawn to the land of her father, the sun-soaked Croatian island of Korčula in the Adriatic Sea. She lived there for seven years in the seaside village of Račišcé, immersed in its way of life, its culture, history and food. Now, inspired by the island’s culinary traditions and its abundance of fresh seasonal ingredients, Barbara has produced The Adriatic Kitchen, a rustic kitchen notebook full of irresistible recipes and evocative memories.
Over 70 delicious recipes are included such as Adriatic Almond Biscuits, Glazed Figs, Peasant Bread and Roast chicken with Pomegranate and Spinach.
This is a must have affordable recipe book for those wanting to experience traditional cuisine at its finest.
Available: Published by Exisle in New Zealand The Adriatic Kitchen will be in bookstores worldwide from the beginning of April and is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble,and many other sites including Exisle publishing NZ and Australia. ISBN 9781925335361
Author's bio: Barbara Unkovic is the author of seven books. She holds a Master of Creative Writing from The University of Auckland
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Black Shag
Marion Day
Black Shag is washed up by a storm. She is too weak to stand and dry her feathers so she can fly home. None of the little creatures on the seashore can help her. And Big Wild Swan is in a bad mood so he is of not use. Can Black Shag save herself before the tide comes in? Is there anyone who can rescue her?
Available: from all good bookstores, library suppliers and on-line. Trade orders: JanetteB@bateman.co.nz Trade Enquiries: sales@booksrus.co.nz ISBN 978-0-9941413-5-4. Price $19.99
The Little Feijoa Tree
Marion Day
The little feijoa tree is different from all the other fruit trees in the orchard. She cannot understand why, so she calls on Mother Nature to explain. But can Mother Nature reassure the little tree? Will she ever have fruit of her own?
The Little Feijoa Tree was short-listed in the 2011 Storylines Joy Cowley Award.
Available: from all good bookstores, library suppliers and online. Trade orders: JanetteB@bateman.co.nz Trade Enquiries: sales@booksrus.co.nz. ISBN 978-0-9941413-2-3. Price $19.99
Author's bio: Marion Day lives in the Marlborough Sounds. As an already published author, Marion's dream has always been to produce a series of picture books where children learn about nature through fictional, realistic stories. Published by AM Publishing New Zealand, her first three books are now out - Spiny Sebastian Starfish, Black Shag and The Little Feijoa Tree. Each book is supported by an info page in the front and back. Three more books, Jed Jelly and the Jelly Gang, Oscar and Ollie Oystercatcher's Ordeal andThe Forest Ringlet Butterfly will follow.
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Backpacker’s Practical and Spiritual Guide to the Universe 
Gaylyn Morgan
A wanderlust by heart and in spirit, Gaylyn shares this passion to both active and armchair travellers with this treasure trove of practical hints cushioned in a type of spiritualism that encourages you to take charge of your own future. Advice is offered to make positive changes to your life through example and action. From shopping and packing lists to saving money for the next big journey, the author applies her well-trialled methods to ensure you get to put your plans into action and live your dreams. Whether it’s your gap year or not, you will enjoy the snapshots of travel that are offered to entice you to take the first steps towards your next journey. May this book inspire you to welcome the travel bug inside you.
Available: from fishpond.co.nz, bookventure.com, E-book books.google.co.nz ISBN - 978-1-943265-71-8
Author's Bio: Gaylyn Morgan is a New Zealand author born in Whangarei. She has been a teacher for 26 years and has lived most of her life in Australia. She is back in New Zealand where she lives on a yacht with her husband, Thomas. They are half-way on their circumnavigation of the world. Her story is included to illustrate her practical and spiritual tips in her first book. She admits to being a little bit ‘out there’ and this is what makes her so unique. Her well founded advice is helpful to all people, but her book is mainly aimed at helping teenagers and young adults to realise their dreams.
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Ruru’s Hangi
Author/Illustrator: Nikki Slade Robinson
Published by Duck Creek Press
‘Ruru’s Hangi’ is the sequel to the award-winning, best-selling childrens’ book ‘The little Kiwi’s Matariki’.
Ruru’s babies have hatched! She calls into the night, spreading the exciting news. The little Kiwi hears. Such an event deserves a special celebration… but what should be done? Luckily little Kiwi has an idea, and gathers the other friends to help. But it’s a surprise - shh! Don’t tell Ruru!
Finally the friends call Ruru and her babies… the celebratory hangi is ready! The story ends with a information on hangi.
Free teachers notes and activity sheets are available by contacting the author. Ages 4 - 7.
Available: at all good bookshops and online. Published by Duck Creek Press, distributed by Batemans. Available in paperback (ISBN 978-1-927305-31-7, $19.99) and hardback (ISBN 978-1-927305-30-0, $29.99). www.davidling.co.nz
Author’s bio: Nikki Slade Robinson has illustrated well over 70 books, and has written many. Her recent title ‘The little Kiwi’s Matariki’ won Best Picture Book in the recent 2016 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. She has three Storylines Notable Book Awards, was a finalist in the Sir Julius Vogel Award, highly commended in Pride in Print, and illustrated Te Kura Pounamu Medal Winner ’The Puriri Tree’ by Merito Tawhara. She continues to write and illustrate in paradise! Facebook: Nikki Slade Robinson: Illustrator/Author Email: nikkisladerobinson@gmail.com
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Under the Himalayan Sky
Margaret Jefferies
In the 1970s the New Zealand Government established an agreement with the Government of Nepal for help with setting up a national park in the Khumbu (Mt Everest) Region of the Himalayas. Bruce Jefferies, a ranger with the New Zealand National Park Service was appointed to the project and, accompanied by his wife Margaret and three young children, they set off for Nepal. They had little idea of what to expect in their new high altitude environment.
Under the Himalayan Sky is the story of the family’s time spent in Khumbu, from 1977-79, largely cut off from the outside world, with no running water or electricity, and living on a traditional diet of potatoes and tea. It opens a window on this region of Nepal in the days before large-scale tourism and globalisation opened it up to the outside world.
Available: www.himalayansky.co.nz, PaperPlus Wanaka, TakeNote Hokitika or directly from the author. Email margthemule@xtra.co.nz. RRP $45. Published by: Vajra Books, Kathmandu, Nepal. ISBN 978-9937-623-65-0
Author’s Bio: after living in Khumbu from 1977-79, I have returned to Nepal and Khumbu many times. This includes living in Kathmandu from 1986-89. My other books on Nepal are Highest Heritage, a guide to the natural and cultural history of Sagamartha National Park, and Royal Chitwan National Park, Wildlife Heritage of Nepal. I have also lived in Papua New Guinea and Laos.
My home is currently in Wanaka, New Zealand, with my husband Bruce, assisting him with his work in conservation, which still takes us to many corners of the world.
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The Chinese Proverb
Tina Clough
Published by Lightpool Publishing
Army veteran Hunter Grant thought he had left war behind in Afghanistan – a conflict that left him with physical and psychological scars. But finding an unconscious girl in the Northland bush and gradually untangling her story involves him in a war of a different kind in his own country. Hunter sets out to find and punish the man Dao calls Master, but he soon finds there is more to this than enslavement. Before long he himself is being hunted by the overlord of a drug empire whose sole objective is to kill Dao because she knows too much. Protecting her and waging war while trying to keep the police from stifling his enterprise takes all Hunter’s ingenuity and determination and puts him in deadly jeopardy.
Available: NZ bookshops (distributed by PDL), Amazon, Fishpond, Lightpool Publishing 294 pages, ISBN 978-0-473-37926-1, Price 34.99
Author's Bio: Tina Clough grew up in Sweden and now lives in New Zealand; dividing her time between writing crime fiction and translating and editing scientific research papers. She also looks after an acre of fruit trees, vegetable gardens and roaming hens. Apart from reading her interests include photography, wine, growing organic vegetables, making jam and kayaking.
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Brushstrokes of Memory
Karen McMillan
A novel of love, lost memories and rediscovering dreams.
On her thirty-second birthday, Rebecca is in high spirits. She adores her husband of seven years, Daniel, a successful musician. She is carving out a reputation as a talented painter. Life could not be better. But in 2013, she wakes in hospital after a head injury and finds out that nearly a decade of her life has been erased from her memory. Now almost forty-two, she can’t remember anything after her thirty-second birthday, a decade fraught with changes she would never have anticipated – illness, infidelity, betrayal, separation and death – and the disintegration of many of her dreams. Feeling like she is still thirty-two, Rebecca has to grapple with suddenly being so much older and with a world that is more complicated than she remembers. As she learns about her life from the last decade, she comes to realise she has lost her way. But if she can’t remember anything of nearly ten years, then could this be the chance for her to wipe the slate clean and start again?
Available: published by McKenzie Publishing and available nationwide from all good bookstores, including Whitcoulls, Paper Plus and independent bookstores. RRP $34.99. Also available as an e-book on Amazon and Kobo.
Author's bio: Karen McMillan is the author of both fiction and non-fiction. Her non-fiction titles include – Unbreakable Spirit: Facing the Challenge of Cancer, Love Bytes, Feast or Famine, Unleash Your Inner Seductress and From the Blitz to the Burmese Jungle and Beyond. Her fiction titles include Watching Over Me, and the bestselling historical novels The Paris of the East and The Paris of the West. More information at www.karenm.co.nz
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Dancing on the Tundra
The final memoir in the trilogy of life and love in the Alaskan wilderness
Emma Stevens
The sequel to Walking on Ice and Nesting on the Nushagak.
Emma’s husband is now superintendent of nine village schools based in Dillingham, a small hub city in southwestern Alaska. Working as a bicultural coordinator, Emma flies to remote villages to meet local teachers and elders, organising an inaugural Spring Festival to unite everyone in a huge dance celebration.
After a particularly perilous flight in a tiny bush plane, the couple relocates to Chevak, a remote Cup’ik Eskimo village in western Alaska. Emma is amazed to be welcomed by a Cup’ik elder holding a Māori tokotoko who declares, ‘We’ve been waiting for you.’
When temperatures plummet and houses are buried by blizzards, the realities of the life-threatening dangers of remote living eventually force the couple to decide whether to return home to New Zealand.
Available: from all good bookshops and from the publisher at www.emzelbooks.com.
Also available on Amazon. ISBN 978-0-473-38082-3
Author's Bio: Emma Stevens was born in Christchurch and raised in Whanganui. She holds a MEd from Victoria University, and was voted Sydney’s Child Teacher of the Year in 1994 while teaching in an alternative school in Sydney. Emma has taught in the UK, Australia, the US and New Zealand. After six years teaching in the icy wilderness of bush Alaska, Emma and her husband now live among orchards and vineyards just outside Nelson.
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Salt Skin
Michelle Rhodes
After a series of strange yet beautiful dreams, NorthTec student Michelle Rhodes asked herself two questions: What if a pale, water-breathing girl really did exist? And how was she going to bring her to life?
Salt Skin is the compelling tale of Sunlight West, a misfit teenager with an intense fear of the ocean. As Sunny learns more about her cursed bloodline, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about herself.
Rhodes drew inspiration for the paranormal novel from the Bay of Islands where she lives. While writing, she constantly reminded herself of her intention—to make an impossible concept feel believable.
"Deep inside the ocean it is very still. After I drown there is a moment of nothingness. It lasts until I feel the broken shells beneath me and remember who I am. My name is Sunlight. My heart is beating. I’m alive."
When Sunny moves to the forgotten town of Procellae Bay, she doesn’t expect much. Plagued by devastating storms and shrouded in myth, it is a disturbing place. Amongst the shadowy residents, whispers flourish – of an ocean curse and ancient sacrifice – and the locals who trust in the old stories watch her, their chilling eyes laced with accusation.
Being back near the water is her ultimate fear. Haunted by the memory of nearly drowning as a child, she’s convinced the sea is calling her again. At night it breathes against her windows, luring her down to the moon-drenched tide and into the deep.
Mesmerising and unforgettable, Salt Skin will stay with you long after you finish reading.
Available: on Amazon as both a paperback and e-book.
Author's bio: Michelle Rhodes lives in Paihia, New Zealand. She is in her third year of study towards a Diploma in Applied Writing, and in 2015 won the NZ Society of Authors Northland Award for excellence. Her poem, Desert Dreaming, and a short story were published in NorthTec’s anthology, Dancing on Air. She is currently working towards her editing qualification. When she isn’t writing essays and proofreading manuscripts, Michelle is reading and writing fiction. Website and blog, Facebook
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Alignment
Tracy Chollet
A poignant and heart-warming love story with appeal for readers of Jojo Moyes and Joanne Harris’ French novels.
All Saints 1986. Three destinies converge at the mysterious standing stones of Carnac, France.
For Isabeau Martin, the standing stones were the silent companions of her lonely childhood. Now, twenty years later, returning to Carnac to take up the position of Deputy Postmaster, Isabeau is once again drawn back to the stones. Feeling like an outsider, she yearns to put her past to rest and start afresh by finding her father, who disappeared when she was a child, leaving Isabeau alone with her mentally ill mother.
On the eve of All Saints’ Day, a parcel from New Zealand arrives at the post office. It contains the ashes of a dead man, and a plea for them to be scattered at the standing stones. Isabeau feels a connection to George Turner. She takes his ashes home and writes back to his son, Joseph. Scattering the ashes at the stones is another matter, however. Before she can do so, Isabeau must first confront her troubled childhood. But now she is not alone; a dead man and a stranger on the other side of the world are helping her create a future and learn to trust in love.
Available: on Amazon, both paperback and Kindle editions. Alignment at Amazon
Author’s bio: Tracy Chollet is a New Zealand writer who lived for many years in France. She studied French in New Zealand and France, and has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in French and French literature respectively. She has been writing for many years, including as a freelance journalist. Alignment is her first novel.
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Allow Me To Demonstrate
Hugh James
When death threats and legal proceedings force Finn to abandon his coverage of the civil war in the United Kingdom, he arrives home to face a new set of problems: drugs are legal in Germany, a mixed blessing considering the cocaine habit he's developed; his subscriber numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate; and things just aren't the same with Maddha. A job offer from tech-giant OpenSauce, to report on the first demonstration in more than a decade, seems to good to be true. Corruption is rife and capitalism is failing. A conspiracy has been set in motion that could well be the catalyst for revolution.
Available: on Amazon ISBN-10: 1539154157, ISBN-13: 978-1539154150
Author's bio: Hugh James is a writer and musician hailing from New Zealand and currently living in Hamburg. A founding member of the international writer’s collective, Found in Translation, Hugh is a co-organiser of the successful Hafen Lesung series. He is always working on his next manuscript. You can check out his current projects on his website at www.hugh-james.com
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Colin Wilson's Lulu
with introduction by Vaughan Rapatahana
Colin Wilson became famous overnight after The Outsider was published in 1956. He went on to write a slew of books across a wide array of topoi: this novel, however, was never published in his lifetime. Vaughan Rapatahana has worked on seeing this manuscript in print for a number of years and - with the assistance of the publisher, Wilson's bibliographer Colin Stanley - here it is: http://pauperspress.co.uk/newtitles.html.
Available: from Paupers Press, Nottingham, England at a cost of 9.95 sterling and available from Colin Stanley at - stan2727uk@aol.com ISBN: 9780956866387, 184 pages.
Bio: Vaughan Rapatahana continues to commute regularly between Aotearoa NZ, Hong Kong SAR; Philippines. He is widely published internationally across several genre and writes in both English and Maori. His most recent poetry collection, Atonement, was nominated for a National Book Award in Philippines in 2016: he also won the inaugural Proverse Poetry prize the same year. Rapatahana has a Ph.D in the works of Colin Wilson, from the University of Auckland.
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New Books List Submission Requirements:
Are you an NZSA member? Like to feature your new book in the New Books List? Please email the following to Claire Hill at office@nzauthors.org.nz
- A JPG, or PNG image: The book's front cover (we don't need back cover).
- A Blurb: 1-2 brief paragraphs about the book. (Max 150 words)
- Available: Don't forget to include relevant information about where your book can be purchased. If your book is available to purchase online, include the html links. Include publisher name and ISBN number if applicable.
- Author's Bio: 1-3 sentences about you. We don’t need a full CV – just the edited highlights. NB: A link to a website is not a bio. (Max 100 words)
And please do a final read and spell check before you send!
The deadline for the next issue is: 1 May
Image: Philip K Dick
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