Post Mortem

This new collection of pieces by Alan Blackwood can hardly be called short stories; they are gem-like concentrations or distillations of a series of images erotic, sad, darkly humorous, that Alan calls ‘vignettes.’ They will have the reader turning compulsively from page to page to find out what on earth he’s going to come up with next. It’s literature in a world of its own.

Presidente

Presidente is seeing the Republic of Banania through a very turbulent and dangerous time. The separatists of El Panthera have successfully challenged the authority of Metronia, and others are poised to do the same elsewhere in the archipelago.

But an armed conflict is not the only trouble this tough feline has to contend with. Other matters will jump out of the boiling cauldron that she is charged to govern, and some concerns are more insidious than others.

With a rebellion to crush, and a traitor to uncover, Presidente will need to overcome the shadows in her mind if she is to save the motherland and restore peace.

However, there is more than one story to be told in Banania, and the future of these beautiful Caribbean islands may just be determined by forces lying way beyond presidential control.

Red Front Connection

WWI veteran Spicer leaves his native New York to join a Soviet spy service to combat fascists in Weimar Germany during the late 1920s. Despite his loyalty to the cause and successful exploits on its behalf, his moral principles and his devotion to a woman compel him to flee his spymasters and become the potential quarry of fascists and communists alike. Stacy John Haigney has created a thought-provoking thriller which should be enjoyed by anyone intrigued by the demimonde of espionage in the Europe of the 1920s.

Relatively Distant

Relatively Distant takes us on a journey that is peppered with typical life experiences, but in unusual and challenging circumstances. The story begins in the early seventies and brings us up to recent times. The main story is centred around a family of four, and is told at different stages from their individual viewpoints. As the younger characters mature, so does the underlying theme and the story becomes more serious and dark. Sibling rivalry is at its core, but there is an underlying history that doesn’t fully reveal itself until the end.

Although the book tackles some of life’s difficulties, it is sprinkled throughout with humour that helps to balance the atmosphere. The eternal question of ‘nature or nurture’ is posed as the main characters develop and their personalities become apparent. Relatively Distant is best described as a family tragedy, wrapped up in a love story and ending in a mystery discovered.

Royal Blood – The Knights

Ever since the car accident that killed her parents, Charlotte Davenport has managed to live a normal life like any other girl her age. Raised by her uncle with her best friend, Vicky Reed, always by her side, Charlotte is quite content. However, when young women start being viciously murdered in her area, Charlotte soon realises that perhaps life isn't so normal after all.

With the help of Nicholas Rinaldi, the most popular, desired, mysterious and ever-so-handsome vampire prince, Charlotte soon realises that she was born into a family with a dark hidden secret. Strange events and mysteries are solved when she is invited to the famous Rinaldi Ball where the secrets to her ancestry begin to unravel. Charlotte finds she is part of something darker and more sinister in this world. But who is murdering these young women and why? And what does it have to do with Charlotte?

Sail Away

Sail Away is a suspenseful thriller set against the backdrop of tanker ships at sea.

Brian Ridley is a 3^rd engineer in the British merchant navy who joins a super tanker on its way to Japan for a long overdue and major refit. Arriving at the shipyard in Sasebo, he is transferred to a second super tanker owned by the same company half way into being built.

Once at sea on the newly built tanker, Brian is sent to check the forward emergency fire pump, where he discovers what appears to be a bomb. Not sure who on board he can trust, he feigns illness and is airlifted back to England. Once back on UK soil, he contacts MI6 who take his report very seriously.

Now working with the British Secret Service, Brian is dropped back onto the first tanker under the disguise of being a representative of the shipyard. He discovers another bomb. Who is planting bombs onboard these ships?

Brian Ridley and MI6 are caught in a race against time as they try to avert a catastrophe on the high seas.

Salt in the Wounds

Caught between an international drug smuggling operation and murderous local gang warfare, Peter Barker must find a way out from the international web of violence and intrigue he finds in Nigeria and Brazil.

Faced with threats from all sides, he uncovers more and more of the complex plot as the tentacles reach out to threaten not just him in Lagos but his family back in UK. Drawn into ever-increasing levels of violence, Peter realises this new job will lead to certain disaster and he must find an escape route before it is too late.

San Diablo, The Devil’s Haven

They had all heard the rumours about the place of course, but they had dismissed them as jailhouse myth and bullshit, a place where the prison doctor would pronounce you dead, and you would disappear from heart and memory, and enter into Hell on Earth as the warden’s guest in San Diablo the devil’s haven.

The Devil’s Haven is set in the middle of the baking hot desert. Hidden far from public view and scrutiny resides the top-level, top-secret super-max correctional facility, a warehouse of sorts for the very worst of the worst of humanity’s dregs and gangsters, those sentenced to death for their heinous crimes, those that no one would miss.

Through twists and intrigue, it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems at San Diablo, neither is the hyper-sadistic warden, nor his new guest the bizarre and enigmatic high-profile inmate en route to the hell pit, or the mysterious CIA super agents entirely as they seem at the Devil's Haven, San Diablo.

Secrets

After her parents die in a car crash, Posy Walters moves to San Francisco to live with her new guardian family, the Farmers. Her world is not only turned upside down after Alex Farmer leads her into a world full of colours, but also when she discovers a mysterious box in the Farmer’s cellar. From that moment henceforth, everything changes…

Seth Bronx and the Coathanger Killer

When Eleandra Jacobson is murdered and her organs removed, it seems straightforward to Kentsville’s small police force that Clarke Richards is guilty. He was found dead, hanging from a noose next to her with a full confession in a suicide note. Eleandra’s mum and her cousin, Seth Bronx, disagree and the latter is out to prove they’re right. One year after her death, the now private investigator decides to find out for himself.
The town of Kentsville will be changed forever as Seth seeks truth and justice for his cousin, his blood and his family – for Eleandra.

Shaw Vengeance

Amid an escalating series of attacks, Australian Intelligence Service Agent Max 'Prince' Shaw hunts for the leader of a local terror group, known as The Pilot. Driven to stop the unfolding events, Max is thrown into a relentless pursuit across Australia, from Sydney to Canberra and Melbourne. Willing to do whatever it takes to protect the innocent, Max is ruthless and determined, but conflicted, as he is put on a collision course with his past. He is forced to question how he can live the life he always wanted while being the agent the country needs. Is it truly better to have loved and lost, and what would you do to honour your partner's memory and in the name of love? What lengths would you go to to protect your country and its people? When wronged, and in anguish and pain from loss, can you make it right and find peace and closure through vengeance?

Short Shrift

Jonny Hainsworth is an autistic, penniless orphan who lives in a caravan on his auntie’s farm. He never seems to get it right. William Mortensen is an erudite, successful lawyer who lives behind electric gates and has a gardener. He never seems to get it wrong.

But not everything is as it seems.

William Mortensen is dead, slumped over a dank public bench in a rank public park.

In and around this park hover shady characters – warm and humorous yet deviant and debauched. All of these characters have an interest in William Mortensen’s life. All of these characters have an interest in William Mortensen’s death.

And now there is someone else interested in William Mortensen’s life. And he is also interested in William Mortensen’s death. No one seems to know who he is. No one seems to know what he is doing. He can’t tell them. The man with no name is mute.

This book is not about class. This book is not about money. This book is not about success. This book is not about failure.

This book is about guilt.

We all carry it. But how do we carry it? And what does it lead us to do?

Jonny keeps asking. But Jonny keeps getting Short Shrift.