AustLit

'To prove to her family that she is worthy, Audrey takes on the biggest case she has ever faced. She will have to call on all the deadly sins to make it through this one.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Within a framework of trauma theory and its relationship to literature, this paper proposes a number of writing strategies that may enable crime fiction, in particular the domestic noir sub-genre, to portray narratives of trauma using textual cues that invite readers to enter the text in similar ways to trauma fiction. Despite the central role trauma plays in crime stories, the capacity for crime fiction to serve as a vehicle for representing trauma and to act as a catalyst for personal and social change has not been explored in any depth by critics or scholars. By employing an exegetical reflection and case study analysis of the writing of my completed PhD novel, Ebb and Flow, I show how analysis of these strategies can be aligned with the structure and literary devices typical of crime fiction This analysis offers tools to write a form of crime fiction that may deliver similar benefits to readers as trauma fiction. This leads the way for further research into the power that crime narrative has to evoke change through psychological and emotional growth and other inherent benefits for a genre fiction audience, as well as a potential new arts and health market for crime fiction writers.'  (Publication abstract)

'While we can’t change the past, we can change the way we view the past and the story we tell about it, which can transform identity. This is the premise of narrative therapy. However, some writers choose to work with fictionalised traumatic experience because of the difficulty of exposing hidden subject matter in an autobiographical work. Creating a fictional work may allow reflection on traumatic experiences with similar emotional aftereffects, but with the emotional distance to be able to write with a deeper exploration of the subjects writers are reluctant to confront autobiographically. This article proposes that writing a fictional account of traumatic experiences might achieve similar benefits as the personal accounts relied upon in narrative therapy. It further deduces that the hero-journey model could provide a metaphor for writers to become the hero in their own post-traumatic growth journey through creative writing. The culmination of this article is a mapping of the commonalities between White’s maps of narrative therapy steps and Campbell’s Hero’s Journey stages, and a case study of how this framed my post-traumatic journey through creative writing. This framework may be useful for other creative writers embarking on a similar writing journey for post-traumatic recovery.'  (Publication abstract)

'How far will one person go for family? Ex-air force pilot Ricky Winger and his brother-in-law Ted stumble across an underground people trafficking racket at an abandoned airfield in Phoenix, run by a ruthless Mexican cartel. When they kill Ted, Ricky infiltrates the cartel's ranks hell-bent on retribution. Now the cartel has kidnapped his sister and mother for ransom, and the only way to keep them alive is to unlock an age-old family secret to find a stash of money hidden in far-off Australia during a WWII plane crash. Ricky's only chance to find the money is to re-build the rocky relationship with his estranged father, an agoraphobic war veteran living reclusively in the Australian bush, who holds the secret to its location. Sassy, risk-taking undercover detective Sol Ramirez has only ever had one agenda as she climbed the U.S. police ranks - to track down the men who gunned down her parents and trafficked her into child prostitution. With her own personal agenda to avenge her parents' deaths, can she keep her promise to Ricky to keep his family safe while he is away or will the cartel carry out their threat to send Ricky's family home to him in pieces?' (Publication summary)

'A fisherman inadvertently lets the big one get away...a wannabe serial killer is accused of a crime he did not commit...an orphan finds freedom in retribution...love and new cures are found in unexpected places.'

Source: Publisher's blurb. (Sighted: 10/12/2013)

'By all appearances, Jade Sheffield has it all; a successful career, intelligence, beauty...but a darker side of her personality has always lain in wait, threatening to eclipse her otherwise conventional life. She becomes involved with Angelo Morley, a respected cardiac surgeon with a dark underworld background and an even darker personality, but is incensed to discover he is married and has been using her as a pawn in his latest scam. When she accidentally kills his wife in a fit of rage, she decides on a course of revenge and self-preservation. But her crime is discovered by the person closest to her. Could she kill a second time in cold blood to protect herself - and risk losing herself to the darkness forever?'

Source: Publisher's blurb. (Sighted: 10/12/2013)

'Australia's most infamous murdering bushranger, Ned Kelly, has been dead for more than 100 years since he was hanged in Old Melbourne Gaol. Now it seems he's back from the dead - and he can't stop killing! He starts with the four youths who stole his skull from the museum as part of a teenage prank. They're grown men now, and one by one they're picked off and 'hanged by the neck until dead', just as Kelly was. Felicity Simons, the one girl in on the teenage prank, is now a history lecturer at Australia's oldest university. When warning messages from Kelly start to appear she embarks on a quest to grant his dying wish, hoping to put mad Ned's spirit to rest. But has Ned Kelly really returned, or is there a real killer out there? As the police begin to hunt the killer, Felicity soon discovers she could be his next victim...'

Source: Publisher's blurb. (Sighted: 10/12/2013)