Air Born

 

 

Air Born
by J L Pawley

As a child I longed to fly, and I often experience intense flight dreams, where I soar through the sky without limits. Many readers will relate to this book’s concept as they, too, have dreamt about the freedom of flight. Later in life, I experimented with the adrenaline rush of skydiving, so I totally connected with the pre-flight suspense, and heart-stopping opening sequences of Air Born.
  Generation Icarus is a new breed, engineered by science, revered by religious fanatics, and subjected to maniacal social media coverage. Relentlessly hunted, ‘The Flight’ strives to master their emerging abilities, and find answers to their predicament.
     Multiple alternative points of view are used in first person, but each character and change is clearly marked at the start of the chapter. The different viewpoints add insight and depth to the storyline with emotional perspective, and reveal the characters’ backstories.
      Set in the USA, the cast of characters is racially diverse, including a ‘kiwi’ connection.
     The story flows well with appropriate pace, and includes: entertaining banter, teenage angst, and crushes.
     The black matt background of the cover, especially on the back, overshadows the dark wing, and potential readers may overlook this cover and the plain spine, as they could blend into the line-up of books offered on the shelf, and that would be unfortunate, as the story within deserves reading not only by YA readers, but those who enjoy action and mystery, with a sci-fi twist.
      If you’ve ever wished you could fly, then I strongly recommend you read ‘Air Born’.

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Flaxflower Review by WJ Scott
Award Winning Children’s Author

Title: Air Born
Author: J L Pawley
Publisher: Steam Press
ISBN: 978 0 9941387 9 8
RRP: $19.99
Available: bookshops

New Zealand Books Issue 120

NZB Issue 120
Summer 2017

The summer issue 120 of New Zealand Books Pukapuka Aotearoa revisits John Mulgan, Mansfield's Wellington and the 1967 All Blacks. We review poetry by Bill Manhire, Kate Camp and Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, and fiction by Mandy Hager, Elspeth Sandys and Jenny Pattrick.
We remember the way we were, and the things we've survived, and reflect on the country we have become.

 

The Roundup with PW

Gender Inequality in Literary Prizes: A VIDA report finds that women are still vastly overlooked for prizes in comparison to male authors.

Ferrante Is Working On a New Novel: The new work is reported to be separate from the TV screenplay the author is working on for the adaptation of her Neapolitan series.

A Pseudonym Scandal at Marvel: Editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski wrote multiple series for Marvel from 2004 to 2005 under a Japanese pseudonym to circumvent company policy.

How a Bookseller Became a Bag Seller: New York’s Strand Book Store has been making tote bags since the 1980s. Today, it boasts more than 100 designs.

Decent Men in Fiction: Hunting for a few good men in your reading life? They're harder to find in literature than you might think. Here are a few.

VIEW ALL »

LAKE TEKAPO IN THE LEGENDARY MACKENZIE COUNTRY

AFTER READING THIS BOOK, NO JOURNEY TO LAKE TEKAPO IN THE LEGENDARY MACKENZIE COUNTRY WILL EVER BE THE SAME.

 

Lake Tekapo, with its dazzling blue glacial water and backdrop of the Southern Alps, is one of the major drawcards of the South Island’s Mackenzie Country. While most people’s experience of Tekapo is the bustling tourist village, there is also another whole community beyond this settlement of iconic high-country stations that occupy the sweeping tussock land surrounding the Lake. This book tells the stories of these courageous and tough farming families, who choose to live and work in this spectacular, but unforgiving country with its extremes of cold and heat, devastating snowfalls and huge winds.

Author Mary Hobbs, a long-time resident of the Mackenzie Country, has unravelled the history of eight stations from around Lake Tekapo – Godley Peaks, Lilybank, Mt Gerald, Richmond, Mt Hay, Tekapo, Balmoral and Glenmore. Using both old accounts and interviews with current station holders and many others with connections to these stations, she has assembled a set of stories that capture the flavour and character of a unique part of rural New Zealand.

Heavily illustrated with both contemporary images and many old, previously unpublished photographs, this is a fascinating and beautiful book. It is a sister volume to Mary Hobbs’s bestselling High Country Stations of the Mackenzie, which focused on the stations around Lake Pukaki, and will be another much-loved addition to the legacy of New Zealand writing about the high country.

Author Information

MARY HOBBS published the award-winning New Zealand Outside magazine for 10 years. She is the author of six books including: Kiwi Tucker for the Soul, a best-selling collection of inspirational stories about New Zealanders; Letters to New York and America – from New Zealand with Love, a non-political book of letters gifted to the American people following 9/11: The Spirit of Mountaineering, Volume 1, about the early history of the first New Zealand-born mountain guide at Aoraki/Mount Cook; Matagouri and other Pricks – The Journey to Aoraki/Mount Cook, part-autobiography, that covers nursing, publishing, mountain guiding and includes the larger tale of a battle for the right to do business in the National Park; Christchurch Dreaming – a poignant, inspirational book for Christchurch people; and High Country Stations of the Mackenzie – a best-selling history of the high-country stations surrounding Lake Pukaki.

Mary has lived with her husband, mountain guide Charlie Hobbs at Aoraki/Mount Cook, near Lake Pukaki, for around 22 years.

They own a mountain and ski guiding company and The Old Mountaineers, a historical mountaineering-themed restaurant and photographic gallery at Aoraki/Mount Cook. They have two daughters.
 
RRP$59.99
Hardback with jacket, full colour throughout
ISBN: 9780947503475

A Guide to the Beer of New Zealand

The New Zealand beer industry is a dynamic one – full of larger-than-life, passionate characters; from loveable rogues through to budding mad scientists. Our beers are just as diverse. Bringing together brewing traditions from all over the world and combining these with Kiwi ingredients, ingenuity and creativity, we have a beer culture unlike any other.

Since the release of Brewed in 2015, the New Zealand beer industry has continued to grow dramatically, which this revised edition takes into account by featuring 45 new breweries, meaning over 160 commercially operating New Zealand breweries are profiled. Additionally, the tasting notes for over 450 beers have been revised and are now in a separate section, divided into beer type, for easier comparison of beers produced by different breweries.

Brewed includes a style guide written specifically for the New Zealand craft beer market and has all the information needed to make the increasingly complicated beer world a lot more comprehensible.

Brewed will encourage experimentation among engaged beer consumers, helping them to discover new breweries and, with the use of the comprehensive tasting notes, benchmark them against old favourites. It will also help emerging beer drinkers to identify beers they will enjoy, starting them on a journey of discovery.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

JULES VAN COSTELLO (née van Cruysen) is a Wellington-based drinks professional. He is a partner in two restaurants, Hillside Kitchen and The Ramen Shop, and wine director of Cult Wine. He has been working with wine and craft beer for over 12 years.

RRP$39.99

Paperback, colour photography throughout
ISBN: 9780947503413
Potton & Burton

Kahurangi Stories

STORIES FROM AN AREA OF ASTONISHING ECOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY, AN AREA THAT HAS GENERATED A WONDERFULLY RICH AND COLOURFUL HUMAN HISTORY

Building on the success of Kahurangi Calling, this new volume of stories from the Northwest Nelson backcountry, is a compelling blend of natural and social history. An area of astonishing ecological complexity, the area has generated a wonderfully rich and colourful human history. Gerard Hindmarsh tells the stories of the fascinating characters who have travelled and lived here, including early explorers, gold miners, flying crayfishers, early forest rangers, trampers and other adventurers. His stories are skillfully told and woven into the natural history of this captivating region, including geological, botanical and ecological treasures. For anyone who enjoys stories of New Zealand’s backcountry, or social history, this new title is a must-read.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Born in Wellington in 1957, GERARD HINDMARSH trained first as a cartographer before shifting to Golden Bay in 1976. Long-haul truck driving, fertiliser spreading,forestry, building a house and setting up a cinema all preceded his move into journalism in 1991. His award-winning feature writing has appeared in a variety of publications both here and overseas, and he also served for many years as National Radio’s Asian Correspondent on Kim Hill’s Nine to Noon show.

Gerard has five children and still lives on his land at Tukurua, near Collingwood in Golden Bay, on the edge of Kahurangi National Park. Aside from his first collection of stories told in Kahurangi Calling, Gerard’s books include Angelina: From Stromboli to D’Urville Island, a fictionalised account of his grandparents’ lives, Swamp Fever, a memoir of his time as an alternative lifestyler in Golden Bay and Outsiders: Stories from the fringe of New Zealand society.

 

RRP$39.99
Paperback, colour photographs throughout
ISBN: 9780947503420
Potton & Burton

Latest from The Bookseller including Foyles' Books of the Year champion women's voices

Foyles' Books of the Year champion women's voices Foyles has revealed its three Books of the Year, with Baileys Women’s Prize-winner Naomi Alderman taking the fiction crown for The Power (Viking).

Pan Mac splashes seven figures on Cassandra Clare Pan Macmillan has acquired two books from fantasy author Cassandra Clare in a seven-figure deal.

Plans to close 28 Northamptonshire libraries 'monstrous' Northamptonshire County Council has revealed plans to close up to 28 of the county’s libraries in a move that would be "completely unacceptable and completely monstrous" according to Alan Moore, Northampton resident and "Watchmen" creator.

Bad Dad steals away with the number one for a fourth week running David Walliams’ Bad Dad (HarperCollins) has skidded into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a fourth consecutive week, selling 78,127 copies for £443,681.

Scottish indie Findhorn sold Scottish independent publisher Findhorn Press has been acquired by US mind-body-spirit publisher Inner Traditions, also known as Bear & Co.

Bloomsbury signs deWitt after seven-way auction Bloomsbury is to publish the next title from Man Booker shortlisted author Patrick deWitt following a seven-way auction.

Indie Rapha scoops William Hill Award The second book published by premium cycling brand Rapha Editions has scooped the 29th William Hill Sport Book of the Year for its “startlingly intimate portrait” of Tour de France trailblazer Tom Simpson.

New venture for Mendeley co-founder Jan Reichelt Jan Reichelt, who co-founded influential start-up Mendeley, is launching a new venture aimed at improving access to research articles.

Ruth Ware's The Lying Game optioned for TV Ruth Ware's The Lying Game has been optioned for television by Hollywood production company Gotham and Entertainment One (eOne).

Man Booker International Prize-winning translator helps launch Shared Reading in Doncaster Man Booker International Prize-winning translator and publisher Deborah Smith is to support national charity The Reader by match-funding donations to the total value of £5,000.

HarperCollins refreshes BookGig HarperCollins’ "publisher agnostic" online events platform, BookGig, has had a face-lift.

Springer Nature shares SharedIt stats Springer Nature’s free content-sharing initiative SharedIt has racked up over 3.25m shares in its first full year, the publisher has revealed.

Off the Shelf

This Novel Will Make You Dream of a Bigger, Better World November 29, 2017 By Stu Smith

 

I want to start by saying that I am not someone who reads every book Oprah tells me to read. However, when I do read a book Oprah has selected, I will often find myself thinking that she was right to recommend it. And that was again the case with THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd, author of the beloved THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES. It is a rich, multigenerational story of a young abolitionist, Sarah, born into a plantation-owning Southern family several years before the Civil War, and a young slave named Handful, who is given to Sarah on her 11th birthday as a gift. She is meant to be her handmaid for life. Handful is presented in front of everyone with a ribbon tied around her waist and a bow on the top of her head in a stirring scene that shows one of our beloved narrators as nothing more than an object, in the eyes of the South. READ MORE

Publishers Lunch

Today's Meal

People, Etc.

Sean Concannon has joined No Starch Press as sales director. Most recently he handled national accounts, special markets, and institutional library sales at Taylor & Francis.

Abigail Novak will join Touchstone as a publicist starting December 11. Previously she was assistant publicist at Harper Collins.

December features an unusual Pennie's Pick at Costco: Liane Moriarty "is so good at what she does that I can't just pick one of her titles; I am suggesting you read everything you can by her." The chain is featuring The Husband's Secret, Big Little Lies, and What Alice Forgot.

Distribution
Quarto will start distributing Russian children's publisher Clever Publishing in North America in 2018.

Corporate
After selling Scottish mind/body/spirit publisher Findhorn Press to Inner Traditions, founder Thierry Bogliolo will launch a new company, Kaminn Media, which will continue publication of the Camino Guides, travel maps & books on the European pilgrimage routes.

Goodreads will launch a new U.S. giveaways program on January 9, replacing its old program. As part of the new initiative, authors self-publishing with Kindle Direct Publishing will be able to run giveaways for Kindle ebooks, a service previously only available traditionally published authors. Other services on offer include "featured placement on the highly-trafficked Giveaways page."

CHILDREN'S BOOKS IN THE MEDIA

From the New York Times: Maria Russo on Why Wonder, the Movie, Can't Best the Book It's Based On. Click here From Page Six: Facebook group for Upper East Side mothers may close down over a politically controversial alphabet book. Click here From the New York Times: Jacqueline Woodson on falling in love with New York City during the disco era. Click here From the Age: In Maurice Sendak's studio, a tantalizing glimpse of his unpublished manuscript. Click here From the Bookseller: Amelia Edwards, founding art director of Walker Books in the U.K., has died at 77. Click here From the Citizen-Times: Authors abound: A YA boom in Asheville, N.C. Click here

From Entertainment Weekly: Chris Colfer lands a new book deal and announces a new companion series. Click here From the Telegraph: Mother calls for Sleeping Beauty to be banned from primary school as it promotes "inappropriate behavior." Click here From Literary Hub: Anne of Green Gables: Patron Saint of Girls Who Ask Too Many Questions. Click here From WBUR: Thoughts on Art and Life from the Sculptor of Ducklings in Boston's Public Garden. Click here From the Bookseller: Terry Deary's Horrible Histories series to be turned into a film set in Roman Britain. Click here From Electric Literature: Poetry Is for Everyone, Says Jason Reynolds. Click here