Published...Or Not

In ‘The Writer’s Retreat’, it’s not just fiction that is being written and the closer it becomes to real life is when the suspense just doesn’t happen on the page, cleverly crafted by Victoria Brownlee.

Gordon Thompson catapults a young William Shakespeare and many of his characters into the present day in his novel, Kill Will.The trauma of war links a small community on an island off Scotland, massacres in Bosnia and an Australian war crimes investigator in Ian Kemish's thriller, Two Islands.

Grace wants the cultural emersion of Italy but has to decide if language barriers limit or enhance desire. ‘Slip’ by Abbey Lay could mean a slide for Grace back into, or out of, her comfortable relationship. An assassination attempt on the journalist, Martin Scarsden, in Chris Hammer's latest novel, ‘Legacy’, leads to the discovery of an age old feud in the outback where the journalist is seeking to hide.

The loss of a body in Fiona Hardy's latest novel, 'Old Game',' isn't the crime you'd expect in a work of detective fiction but that's not the only surprise when a tennis star's accolytes claim his remains.There are dangerous currents of untold secrets, a vicious Group in the Irish Catholic Church and facing trauma in ‘Shellybanks’, another crime novel by Louise Milligan.

The resonance of literature and its interconnectedness with geography, the lives or artists and one's own individual journey intermingle in 'On Not Climbing Mountains' by Claire Thomas.Bridie Blake has written about the chaos and joy of big-family life – the overlapping conversations, the competitiveness, the laughter especially in suppressed desire and mouthwatering cakes in ‘The Boyfriend Clause’.

'The Mother of All Calamities' is Lisa Moule's debut novel about the travails of parenting in the modern age. She has reminded us about the joys and hazards of parenting by bringing alive the problems and delights of a year in Grade 3,. Things go right and very wrong.

‘Murder in the Suburbs’ are true crime cases committed by neighbours or even family with often the psychological reason of why they did it, researched and written by Emily Webb. A murder in the East Melbourne library seriously upsets the baby rhyme time session in Penny Tangey's murder mystery novel, 'What Rhymes With Murder'.

A drying lake leads to a discovery of a corpse on a cracked shoreline in Michael Brissenden's, ‘Dust’. What follows is a tale of intrigue and deception in a morally deprived and environmentally compromised landscape.Fiona Lowe talks about her new book ‘The Drowning’ and also about Sisters in Crime and what that organisation does for readers and writers.

An Australian photographer in New York meets a wealthy businessman from LA who has a controlling family and insistent fiancé. Will the necessities of life drive them apart? ‘Capturing Love’ is the first in a romantic series by Ann Penny.Dr Niraj Lal guides us through the dangers and benefits of the internet in 'Behind the Screens' where terminology is explained and the dangers and benefits of living in the digital age are made apparent.

A scout on another planet makes money from plundering the ruins of an alien civilisation but finds himself questioning every choice he has made in John Morrissey’s ‘Bird Deity’.The Furphy Literary Award has just released its sixth compilation. The current anthology has a story each from Damian O'Donnell and Emma Westwood which speak to the range and versatility within the collection.

Murray Middleton toys with narrative conventions in his short story anthology, 'U Want It Darker'. These tales of 'artists in despair' speak to the emotional challenges faced by those contributing to art, music, acting and the culture in general.

Siang Lu's novel, Ghost Cities, won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2025. We thought it timely, as we begin our 2026 season, to revisit his interview on Published or Not when the book first came out. The imaginative and allegorical references, the literary influences, and the diverse timelines make this an enthralling and entertaining read.

‘The Hiding Place’ is a literary thriller written by Kate Mildenhall.‘What Have They Done to Liza McLean?’ sister Meg needs to get into the school data base which requires help from the very handsome and wealthy Benedict Hargreaves the fourth. Horticulture, herbology, chemistry and psychology are all in play as well as murder in this YA book by Amy Doak.

A remarkable novel about lust, not just for a person but for music and the consequence of choice in Indyana Schneider’s ‘Since The World is Ending’.Sam Guthrie takes us into the world of espionage and deceit where diplomats are emotionally blackmailed to betray their country in, ‘The Peak’.

Zana Fraillon’s verse novel ‘Song of a Thousand Seas’ has an octopus who knows her world looking at humans with intelligence and curiosity. Elise Janes is actually the psuedonym for Elise Wackett and Jane Abbott whose novel, 'The Canvas Killings', reveals the macabre world of a serial killer artist who turns the blood and bones of his victims into paint and pigment to create renowned and admired works or art.

Lyn Yeowart has set her book in the not so distance past when unmarried mothers were a social disgrace and sent away to have their babies who were adopted. Years later there are murders ‘The Hollow Girl’ may be the perpetrator of these revenge killings . Sibling rivalry, arson attacks, a surf lifesaving competition and the threat of bushfires are the Australian touchstones activated by Carla Salmon in her adolescent novel, 'We Saw What You Started'.

In a continuation of the Hirsch crime series, Constable Hirschhausen finds himself not just contending with the local problems of his isolated South Australian community but with a cold case involving the death and disappearance of two fossickers. The past and present come together in 'Mischance Creek'.Leisl and her daughter Else are awkward in society but in the demands of a climatic crisis they find their capabilities more attuned to their changing environment, one in which other animals have adaptions and techniques to survive. ‘Else’ is a book set in the not so distant future by Rose Michael.

High octane action in a high rise building - that's where all the mayhem and murder takes place in Gabriel Bergmoser's latest novel, High Rise.Rachael Johns', The Lucky Sisters, is a moving story about life, death and miracles.

Oliver loves his job as the 113th Assistant Librarian, he knows books can be dangerous but if the wording in one is changed could it impact the stability of the kingdom? Travel books help him leave and return in ‘Lost in a Book’ the second book in the series by Stuart Wilson . Mythology and reality merge in Sofie Laguna's novel, The Underworld.

‘Shutter City’ has photographs of early Melbourne. They come alive as Robyn Annear guides our eye into the detail and describes it with her insightful humour. Christian White takes us on a journey of kidnapping, revenge and violence over one concentrated evening in, ‘The Long Night’.