AustLit

'What's an Aussie witch to do for Halloween when the weather is all spring sunshine and happiness? What's the appropriate ritual for breaking up with your boyfriend on the Summer Solstice? And who did Ferd Chauvelin kiss on New Year's Eve?

'Follow our Belladonna U student witches through three holiday festivals with their usual romantic disasters, friendship dramas, and magical explosions.

'(Includes the stories Halloween Is Not A Verb, Solstice on the Rocks and Kissing Basilisks)'.

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Welcome to Charming, where fairy tales come true (whether you like it or not).

'Kai's new job to report on the scandals of the messed up royal family for the local newspaper. He didn't expect to become the story.

'Dennis signed up to protect the princes. Falling in love with one of them was never part of the deal.

'Ziyi made a wish to catch her own Prince Charming... but wishes come at a cost, when fairies are involved.

'In this magical kingdom of cursed spinning wheels, violent beanstalks, deadly queens and disaster princes, the most dangerous thing of all might be a Happily Ever After.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Our heroine stumbles across a precarious plot while printing political pamphlets...

'Thanks to last Season's scandal, Miss Mnemosyne Seabourne is now officially notorious. Wintering in Town, she hopes to use her new celebrity to campaign about the unfair restriction on portal travel for ladies... while being quietly courted by a certain handsome spellcracker.

'As the river freezes over and a spectacular Frost Fair sets up on the ice, Mneme finds herself beset by secret societies, spies and sneaky saboteurs. Who stole her political pamphlets? Who is leaving dead bodies around printing presses for anyone to find?

'Mr Thornbury knows more than he's letting on. If she can't trust the man she hoped to marry, Mneme is just going to have to unravel the mystery for herself, quickly enough to save both of their lives. 

'If you enjoy vintage spy adventures, flirtatious couples and cozy sleigh rides, you'll adore this exciting sequel novella to Tea and Sympathetic Magic.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'There's nothing more dangerous than an eligible duke...

'Every eligible young lady of the Teacup Isles wants to marry the Duke of Storm, except Miss Mnemosyne Seabourne, who is quite content on the shelf, thank you very much. All she wants is a quiet life and a good book.

'At a house party full of ruthless debutantes willing to employ sneaky sympathetic magic to win a husband of quality, Mneme joins forces with an enigmatic spellcracker to rescue the duke from being married against his will, and to find out who is responsible for his abduction.

'Can Mneme save the Duke of Storm without becoming his bride? Will this caper ruin her reputation forever? Can teacups and hedgehogs be used as projectile weapons in emergencies? Why are attractive men more devastating when they roll up their sleeves?

'If you enjoy Regency house parties, witty romantic banter and high society sorcery, you'll adore this magical comedy of manners cosy mystery novella.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Unreal Alchemy is a light-hearted urban fantasy about a group of friends at a university for the magical, and unmagical.

'Hebe wants her sister’s band to stop writing songs about her life. Sage wants to kiss boys and make music. Jules wants Sage. Holly wants to be famous. Juniper wants Holly to notice her. Ferd wants his magic back. Viola wants her best friend to stop ditching her for some geeky rock band!

'Welcome to Belladonna U, where Australian student witches study the Real and the Unreal. On a Friday night, they drink hard and play hard down the local pub.

'Roll the dice. Fight the troll. Let’s make magic.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Scones, tea, and a stabbing…

'When Tabitha Darling entered Cafe La Femme in a reality TV show hosted by an infamous “bad boy” Chef, she never expected to be a suspect in his murder.

'When Xanthippe Carides quit working in a cafe to become a private detective, she never expected one of her first cases would be keeping Tabitha out of jail…

'These two friends have a mystery to solve, and only one of them is telling the whole truth.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Young Aussie witches Hebe and Holly Hallow are bringing their friends home to meet their mums for Halloween! What terrible life choices will Sage and Jules make around the bonfire? Why is Ferd flipping out about poetry? What’s with all the butternut pumpkins?

'Epic friendship and festive shenanigans with the magical students from Belladonna University.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Dennis is a Royal Hound. His job is to protect the Royals of Castle Charming from harm. But when a plague of magical spinning wheels besieges the kingdom, it’s his boyfriend Kai who falls under their spell.

'Kai didn’t know he was a long-lost prince, but now he’s trapped in a magical nightmare castle that’s trying to kill him… with the one person he thought he would never meet.

'Secrets, lies and old plots finally unravel at the heart of Castle Charming. Will Kai and Dennis ever find their way back to each other?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Saturnalia in Aufleur is a time of topsy-turvy revels, of the world turned upside down and transformed before your eyes. The city's theatres produce an annual display of reversals, surprises and transformations.

'In this city, flappers can transform into wolves. Even the rats are not what they seem.

'Evie Inglirra is on a mission to infiltrate the theatrical world of Aufleur and discover what lies beneath their glamorous cabaret costumes and backstage scandals. Has she bitten off more than she can chew?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Norse myth and magic collides with a small town Tasmanian Christmas in this festive romantic fantasy!

'Lief Fraser has mixed feelings about returning home to Matilda, the only Australian town where it always snows at Christmas. As a TV weather presenter, it’s her job to report on the strange holiday phenomenon… but as a local, it’s her duty to preserve Matilda’s many magical secrets.

'Then pretty Audrey Astor rolls into town to shoot the ultimate romantic Australian Christmas movie with her film crew. Sparks fly, secrets unravel… and soon everyone will know exactly how Mt Valkyrie got its name.' (Publication summary)

'An ambitious anthology from award-winning Australian publishing house Twelfth Planet Press, Mother of Invention will feature diverse, challenging stories about gender as it relates to the creation of artificial intelligence and robotics.

'From Pygmalion and Galatea to Frankenstein, Ex Machina and Person of Interest, the fictional landscape so often frames cisgender men as the creators of artificial life, leading to the same kinds of stories being told over and over. We want to bring some genuine revolution to the way that artificial intelligence stories are told, and how they intersect with gender identity, parenthood, sexuality, war, and the future of our species. How can we interrogate the gendered assumptions around the making of robots compared with the making of babies? Can computers learn to speak in a code beyond the (gender) binary?

'If necessity is the mother of invention, what exciting AI might come to exist in the hands of a more diverse range of innovators?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.