New books in August

Out this month, featuring a swishy new cover in honour of its 25th anniversary, is the Australian classic Space Demons by Gillian Rubinstein. Space Demons was first published by Omnibus Books in 1986. In that year I was in grade six at a primary school in an iron-dust-covered city in South Australia. My dad was the deputy principal of my school and as a result of that misfortune I spent a lot of time in the library, waiting for a lift home. This book was one that crossed my path in that year, and to say that it made an impression is definitely an understatement. After reading this book, playing 'Boulder Dash' on our Commodore 64 always felt just a little bit disappointing.

 

Coming up very soon on this blog is an interview with John Heffernan, author of Harry's War, also out this month. John Heffernan says: 'I realised how easy it is to impress young minds and fill them with romantic ideas about things like war which is a horrible experience in reality. I also realised how people often embellish the stories they tell about things they did such as fighting in a war. There can be a fine line between telling a good story and telling lies. Harry's War is partly (but only partly) about that.' Stay tuned for more on this fantastic new book.