Latest news with #QBDBooks
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
High-flying QBD Books CEO's debut novel is ruthlessly savaged with one-star reviews over bizarre sex scene. But the BOOK SHOP chain he owns has awarded it a special honour
One of the most powerful figures in Australian book publishing has been accused of writing a debut novel so bad an amateur reviewer described it as '300 pages of slop'. Nick Croydon is the CEO and co-owner of retail giant QBD Books and has penned a historical thriller called The Turing Protocol which was published by Affirm Press late last month. The novel imagines celebrated World War II codebreaker Alan Turing inventing a time machine called Nautilus which can send messages back into the recent past. Croydon's company QBD, which operates 91 stores across Australia and bills itself as the nation's number one online book seller, is promoting The Turing Protocol as its fiction title of the month. More than half the readers whose ratings were posted on the popular Goodreads website by Friday afternoon gave The Turing Protocol one star out of five, amid a backlash against Croydon for depicting the famously gay Turing as having sex with a woman. Some users suspected QBD employees were also bombarding the review site with positive comments, with the store acknowledging that staff 'shared their genuine views on the book - both complimentary and critical'. Turing, who was played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the acclaimed 2014 film The Imitation Game, helped crack Nazi Germany 's Enigma code machine, which became a major turning point in the war. The brilliant English mathematician and computing pioneer was notoriously prosecuted for homosexual acts in 1952 and underwent chemical castration instead of going to jail. Two years later, in a state of despair Turing took his own life by cyanide poisoning, aged 41. It was not until 2009 the British government finally made a formal apology for what then prime minister Gordon Brown described as the 'appalling' treatment Turing endured. Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a pardon in 2013 and the term 'Alan Turing law' now refers to UK legislation retroactively pardoning men convicted for acts of homosexuality. Some of the critics of Croydon's book are aghast the author has both described Turing having sex with a woman and given him a secret son, while others simply say the writing is awful. A prolific Australian author was flabbergasted by the change in Turing's circumstances, imagining if an African-American civil rights hero received the same treatment. 'What's next?' he asked Daily Mail. 'Perhaps The Rosa Parks Codex, except, you know, Rosa is CIA, hot and secretly white, as written by the CEO of Dymocks.' Affirm Press, which is owned by Simon & Schuster, acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights to The Turing Project in a two-book deal with Croydon. 'In the midst of World War II, Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing has created a machine named Nautilus that can send a message back into the recent past,' a synopsis begins. 'After Turing uses it to help the Allied forces succeed on D-Day, he sees the power (and potential danger) of what he has created. He knows he can only entrust it to one person: Joan, the mother of his secret child. 'Over the next seventy years, the Nautilus is passed down through the Turing family, who all must decide for themselves when to use this powerful invention. Will it save the world - or destroy it?' The cover carries blurbs by crime writers Dervla McTiernan - 'a fascinating alternative history with an intriguing "what if" at its core' - and Chris Hammer: 'Thought-provoking, The Time Machine meets The Da Vinci Code'. Turing did have a close relationship with a female colleague - Joan Clarke, to whom he was briefly engaged in what is sometimes called a lavender marriage. But many online reviewers believe Croydon went too far. 'The way this book portrays him genuinely makes me feel sick in the mouth,' one wrote. As of Friday, there were 71 ratings on Goodreads, with 38 (53 per cent) of them one-star, 20 (28 per cent) five-star, and just 13 others between those extremes. Most of the one-star ratings were from users who had reviewed multiple books, while all bar one of the five-star ratings were left by readers who had never previously posted on the site. More than half the ratings for The Turing Protocol posted on Goodreads by Friday afternoon gave the book one star out of five One reviewer who described herself as queer took exception to Croydon's graphic portrayal of Turing engaging in heterosexual sex, even in a work of historical fiction. 'Using real figures but keeping them at a distance to establish setting is one thing, writing how Alan Turing, a gay man, experiences having sex with a woman is something else entirely,' she wrote. The one-star reviews are scathing, including a suggestion a better title for the book would be 'The Boring Protocol'. 'Honestly one of the worst things I've ever read, do not waste your time or money on it,' one man wrote. '300 pages of slop,' wrote another. 'This is possibly one of the worst books I've ever read.' The first five-star review on Goodreads described reading The Turing Protocol as 'like stepping into the mind of a creator who understands both the beauty and the burden of invention'. 'If you're looking for a holiday read that's smart, soulful, and deeply original - this is it,' one man wrote. The next glowing review came from a reader who was hooked from page one. He wrote: 'I was constantly checking what was real or not, and the twists kept me racing through the pages, but it was the tender family relationships that really struck me.' Some of the five-star reviews addressed earlier criticism. User Gayman3123 wrote: 'im gay and I enjoyed the book so much it was interesting during "that" part but I don't know why you guys hate because (it's) just fiction.' One fan read Croydon's book in a night. 'The Turing Protocol is as good of a debut as we have seen in historical fiction this year, and I will be surprised if sales all around the world don't reflect this,' he wrote. A young reader calling themselves 'Reader' gave the book five stars and said: 'Picked up this book for a recent long-haul flight and oh my goodness, I didn't put it down for a single moment!' As of Friday, there were 71 ratings on Goodreads, with 38 (53 per cent) of them one-star, 20 (28 per cent) five-star, and just 13 others between those extremes One even wrote: 'I watched the Book Launch and went to QBD Books the next day and was assisted by a very kind young man. Great shopping experience and great book.' A spokeswoman for QBD Books said 'it's not unusual for friends, family, colleagues and peers to provide reviews of an author's work. 'QBD Books staff are a team of avid readers across the country who engage with literature passionately, some of whom have shared their genuine views on the book - both complimentary and critical.' The spokeswoman said QBD chose its books of the month after 'a rigorous selection process that highlights debut or new authors who have written standout works'. She also defended Croydon's portrayal of Turing's sexuality and his relationship with Clarke. 'Throughout the novel, Alan Turing's identity as a gay man is neither erased, questioned nor diminished,' she said. 'Both the narrative and author's intent are clear to critique Turing's treatment, chemical castration, and ultimately his death as a result of society's and the government's treatment of him due to his sexuality. 'Specifically, the Author's note at the end of the book reads, "The way he was treated by society and the authorities was a travesty".'
The Advertiser
18-06-2025
- Business
- The Advertiser
Is the inventor of Bitcoin just some guy who lives on the Queensland coast?
What's new: A small-town doctor discovers he can see how many days his patients have left to live in Michael Thompson's novel All The Perfect Days while Stephen King reintroduces readers to private detective Holly Gibney in Never Flinch. Benjamin Wallace. Atlantic Books Australia. $45.00. Satoshi Nakamoto is the person credited with inventing Bitcoin, the world's first cryptocurrency. But is he really a person? Does he even exist? If he does, he's a billionaire many times over, but, curiously, his $75 billion Bitcoin fortune has remained untouched. So is Nakamoto actually Elon Musk, or is he just a guy who lives on the Queensland coast? Benjamin Wallace has been writing about crypto since covering it for Wired in 2011, and he sees Nakamoto's identity as one of the last big mysteries. He follows a trail of breadcrumbs from the US to Norway and Australia. Find it at QBD Books and Amazon. Linda Jaivin. Black Inc. $26.99. Mao Zedong's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China in the late 1960s was a time when, it seemed to observers, almost the entire country went mad. Mao detonated the societal explosion that ripped the country and its heritage apart with the words Australian China expert Linda Jaivin has used as the title of this concise and very readable little book. Youthful red guards took violent aim at "the four olds", mass murders of class enemies were committed and even the centuries-old Forbidden City came close to destruction. Then came "mango worship", a bizarre, widespread veneration of ... a fruit. Find it at QBD Books or Amazon. Patrick McGee. Simon & Schuster. $36.99. That little glass and plastic brain we all have in our pockets, otherwise known as the iPhone, has changed the world. Apple's visionary founder, the late Steve Jobs, conceptualised it, but to build it, Apple had to rethink how to produce exceptional quality at huge scale. That path led to China, where Apple invested a staggering amount of money building excellence in manufacturing (and helping, the author argues, to create modern China in the process). A central theme of this book is the existential problem the world's biggest company faces from putting so many of its eggs in China's basket. Find it at Apple Books, QBD Books and Amazon. Harrison Christian. Ultimo Press. $36.99. A young Charles Darwin was set to become a clergyman when, in 1831, the chance to join a Christian mission to South America, aboard a ship called the HMS Beagle, fell into his lap. As Harrison Christian says, the voyage resulted in "one of the most unchristian theories imaginable" and Darwin's revolutionary book On the Origin of Species. Christian looks at the voyage and its aftermath from the perspectives of the budding scientist Darwin and the ship's fervently religious captain, Robert FitzRoy, who would later publicly denigrate his former companion and say that he was sorry he had taken Darwin aboard. Find it at Amazon, Big W, or Kobo. Taylor Jenkins Reid. Hutchinson Heinemann. $34.99. There are few contemporary fiction writers who write about falling in love better than Taylor Jenkins Reid. When NASA opened applications for the first female scientists in its space shuttle program Joan Goodwin knew she had to be one of them. What she hadn't planned on was how it would make her question everything she knew about herself - and the universe. She finds passion and a love she never imagined. Then, in December 1984, one mission changes everything. Atmosphere will hit you in the heart from every direction - and with a gravity that will stay with you long after you return to Earth. Find it at Amazon and Big W. Stephen King. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. Private detective Holly Gibney has been a recurring character in seven Stephen King novels since he introduced her in 2014's Mr Mercedes. She got her own crime to solve in 2023's Holly and now, in Never Flinch, we find her working for a women's rights activist to track the controversial campaigner's increasingly unhinged and bold stalker. When Holly's police detective friend Izzy Jaynes asks for her help identifying an anonymous letter writer threatening to kill "13 innocents and 1 guilty" as "an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man", the two disturbing and dangerous mysteries collide. Find it at Big W or Amazon. Michael Thompson. Pantera Press. $34.99. The film rights to Michael Thompson's first book, 2023 heartwarmer How to Be Remembered, were sold before it was published. The new novel by the Sydney-based former journalist and Ray Hadley radio show executive producer - who now co-hosts popular business news podcast Fear & Greed - promises more life-affirming drama as a small-town family doctor discovers he can see exactly how many days his patients have left to live. He uses this knowledge to try to help his patients, family and friends live full lives. But, of course, his "gift" doesn't quite work the way he hopes and he discovers some things he just doesn't want to know. Find it at QBD Books and Amazon. Holden Sheppard. Pantera Press. $34.99. Holden Sheppard's debut novel for young adults, Invisible Boys, about teens wrestling with their sexuality in fiercely macho Geraldton, is now a hit drama on Stan. That book drew on the author's experiences growing up gay in regional Western Australia and he does it again for his first book for adults, which expands beyond coming-of-age angst. Jack Brolo is a digger driver at remote WA worksites. He's desperately trying to cover his tracks as a gay man, with booze and reckless behaviour. Returning home to Geraldton for a wedding, he must face his conservative family and news he conceived a son with his teenage girlfriend. Find it at Amazon and QBD Books. You can also find these and other great books at Apple Books and on Kobo. What's new: A small-town doctor discovers he can see how many days his patients have left to live in Michael Thompson's novel All The Perfect Days while Stephen King reintroduces readers to private detective Holly Gibney in Never Flinch. Benjamin Wallace. Atlantic Books Australia. $45.00. Satoshi Nakamoto is the person credited with inventing Bitcoin, the world's first cryptocurrency. But is he really a person? Does he even exist? If he does, he's a billionaire many times over, but, curiously, his $75 billion Bitcoin fortune has remained untouched. So is Nakamoto actually Elon Musk, or is he just a guy who lives on the Queensland coast? Benjamin Wallace has been writing about crypto since covering it for Wired in 2011, and he sees Nakamoto's identity as one of the last big mysteries. He follows a trail of breadcrumbs from the US to Norway and Australia. Find it at QBD Books and Amazon. Linda Jaivin. Black Inc. $26.99. Mao Zedong's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China in the late 1960s was a time when, it seemed to observers, almost the entire country went mad. Mao detonated the societal explosion that ripped the country and its heritage apart with the words Australian China expert Linda Jaivin has used as the title of this concise and very readable little book. Youthful red guards took violent aim at "the four olds", mass murders of class enemies were committed and even the centuries-old Forbidden City came close to destruction. Then came "mango worship", a bizarre, widespread veneration of ... a fruit. Find it at QBD Books or Amazon. Patrick McGee. Simon & Schuster. $36.99. That little glass and plastic brain we all have in our pockets, otherwise known as the iPhone, has changed the world. Apple's visionary founder, the late Steve Jobs, conceptualised it, but to build it, Apple had to rethink how to produce exceptional quality at huge scale. That path led to China, where Apple invested a staggering amount of money building excellence in manufacturing (and helping, the author argues, to create modern China in the process). A central theme of this book is the existential problem the world's biggest company faces from putting so many of its eggs in China's basket. Find it at Apple Books, QBD Books and Amazon. Harrison Christian. Ultimo Press. $36.99. A young Charles Darwin was set to become a clergyman when, in 1831, the chance to join a Christian mission to South America, aboard a ship called the HMS Beagle, fell into his lap. As Harrison Christian says, the voyage resulted in "one of the most unchristian theories imaginable" and Darwin's revolutionary book On the Origin of Species. Christian looks at the voyage and its aftermath from the perspectives of the budding scientist Darwin and the ship's fervently religious captain, Robert FitzRoy, who would later publicly denigrate his former companion and say that he was sorry he had taken Darwin aboard. Find it at Amazon, Big W, or Kobo. Taylor Jenkins Reid. Hutchinson Heinemann. $34.99. There are few contemporary fiction writers who write about falling in love better than Taylor Jenkins Reid. When NASA opened applications for the first female scientists in its space shuttle program Joan Goodwin knew she had to be one of them. What she hadn't planned on was how it would make her question everything she knew about herself - and the universe. She finds passion and a love she never imagined. Then, in December 1984, one mission changes everything. Atmosphere will hit you in the heart from every direction - and with a gravity that will stay with you long after you return to Earth. Find it at Amazon and Big W. Stephen King. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. Private detective Holly Gibney has been a recurring character in seven Stephen King novels since he introduced her in 2014's Mr Mercedes. She got her own crime to solve in 2023's Holly and now, in Never Flinch, we find her working for a women's rights activist to track the controversial campaigner's increasingly unhinged and bold stalker. When Holly's police detective friend Izzy Jaynes asks for her help identifying an anonymous letter writer threatening to kill "13 innocents and 1 guilty" as "an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man", the two disturbing and dangerous mysteries collide. Find it at Big W or Amazon. Michael Thompson. Pantera Press. $34.99. The film rights to Michael Thompson's first book, 2023 heartwarmer How to Be Remembered, were sold before it was published. The new novel by the Sydney-based former journalist and Ray Hadley radio show executive producer - who now co-hosts popular business news podcast Fear & Greed - promises more life-affirming drama as a small-town family doctor discovers he can see exactly how many days his patients have left to live. He uses this knowledge to try to help his patients, family and friends live full lives. But, of course, his "gift" doesn't quite work the way he hopes and he discovers some things he just doesn't want to know. Find it at QBD Books and Amazon. Holden Sheppard. Pantera Press. $34.99. Holden Sheppard's debut novel for young adults, Invisible Boys, about teens wrestling with their sexuality in fiercely macho Geraldton, is now a hit drama on Stan. That book drew on the author's experiences growing up gay in regional Western Australia and he does it again for his first book for adults, which expands beyond coming-of-age angst. Jack Brolo is a digger driver at remote WA worksites. He's desperately trying to cover his tracks as a gay man, with booze and reckless behaviour. Returning home to Geraldton for a wedding, he must face his conservative family and news he conceived a son with his teenage girlfriend. Find it at Amazon and QBD Books. You can also find these and other great books at Apple Books and on Kobo. What's new: A small-town doctor discovers he can see how many days his patients have left to live in Michael Thompson's novel All The Perfect Days while Stephen King reintroduces readers to private detective Holly Gibney in Never Flinch. Benjamin Wallace. Atlantic Books Australia. $45.00. Satoshi Nakamoto is the person credited with inventing Bitcoin, the world's first cryptocurrency. But is he really a person? Does he even exist? If he does, he's a billionaire many times over, but, curiously, his $75 billion Bitcoin fortune has remained untouched. So is Nakamoto actually Elon Musk, or is he just a guy who lives on the Queensland coast? Benjamin Wallace has been writing about crypto since covering it for Wired in 2011, and he sees Nakamoto's identity as one of the last big mysteries. He follows a trail of breadcrumbs from the US to Norway and Australia. Find it at QBD Books and Amazon. Linda Jaivin. Black Inc. $26.99. Mao Zedong's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China in the late 1960s was a time when, it seemed to observers, almost the entire country went mad. Mao detonated the societal explosion that ripped the country and its heritage apart with the words Australian China expert Linda Jaivin has used as the title of this concise and very readable little book. Youthful red guards took violent aim at "the four olds", mass murders of class enemies were committed and even the centuries-old Forbidden City came close to destruction. Then came "mango worship", a bizarre, widespread veneration of ... a fruit. Find it at QBD Books or Amazon. Patrick McGee. Simon & Schuster. $36.99. That little glass and plastic brain we all have in our pockets, otherwise known as the iPhone, has changed the world. Apple's visionary founder, the late Steve Jobs, conceptualised it, but to build it, Apple had to rethink how to produce exceptional quality at huge scale. That path led to China, where Apple invested a staggering amount of money building excellence in manufacturing (and helping, the author argues, to create modern China in the process). A central theme of this book is the existential problem the world's biggest company faces from putting so many of its eggs in China's basket. Find it at Apple Books, QBD Books and Amazon. Harrison Christian. Ultimo Press. $36.99. A young Charles Darwin was set to become a clergyman when, in 1831, the chance to join a Christian mission to South America, aboard a ship called the HMS Beagle, fell into his lap. As Harrison Christian says, the voyage resulted in "one of the most unchristian theories imaginable" and Darwin's revolutionary book On the Origin of Species. Christian looks at the voyage and its aftermath from the perspectives of the budding scientist Darwin and the ship's fervently religious captain, Robert FitzRoy, who would later publicly denigrate his former companion and say that he was sorry he had taken Darwin aboard. Find it at Amazon, Big W, or Kobo. Taylor Jenkins Reid. Hutchinson Heinemann. $34.99. There are few contemporary fiction writers who write about falling in love better than Taylor Jenkins Reid. When NASA opened applications for the first female scientists in its space shuttle program Joan Goodwin knew she had to be one of them. What she hadn't planned on was how it would make her question everything she knew about herself - and the universe. She finds passion and a love she never imagined. Then, in December 1984, one mission changes everything. Atmosphere will hit you in the heart from every direction - and with a gravity that will stay with you long after you return to Earth. Find it at Amazon and Big W. Stephen King. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. Private detective Holly Gibney has been a recurring character in seven Stephen King novels since he introduced her in 2014's Mr Mercedes. She got her own crime to solve in 2023's Holly and now, in Never Flinch, we find her working for a women's rights activist to track the controversial campaigner's increasingly unhinged and bold stalker. When Holly's police detective friend Izzy Jaynes asks for her help identifying an anonymous letter writer threatening to kill "13 innocents and 1 guilty" as "an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man", the two disturbing and dangerous mysteries collide. Find it at Big W or Amazon. Michael Thompson. Pantera Press. $34.99. The film rights to Michael Thompson's first book, 2023 heartwarmer How to Be Remembered, were sold before it was published. The new novel by the Sydney-based former journalist and Ray Hadley radio show executive producer - who now co-hosts popular business news podcast Fear & Greed - promises more life-affirming drama as a small-town family doctor discovers he can see exactly how many days his patients have left to live. He uses this knowledge to try to help his patients, family and friends live full lives. But, of course, his "gift" doesn't quite work the way he hopes and he discovers some things he just doesn't want to know. Find it at QBD Books and Amazon. Holden Sheppard. Pantera Press. $34.99. Holden Sheppard's debut novel for young adults, Invisible Boys, about teens wrestling with their sexuality in fiercely macho Geraldton, is now a hit drama on Stan. That book drew on the author's experiences growing up gay in regional Western Australia and he does it again for his first book for adults, which expands beyond coming-of-age angst. Jack Brolo is a digger driver at remote WA worksites. He's desperately trying to cover his tracks as a gay man, with booze and reckless behaviour. Returning home to Geraldton for a wedding, he must face his conservative family and news he conceived a son with his teenage girlfriend. Find it at Amazon and QBD Books. You can also find these and other great books at Apple Books and on Kobo. What's new: A small-town doctor discovers he can see how many days his patients have left to live in Michael Thompson's novel All The Perfect Days while Stephen King reintroduces readers to private detective Holly Gibney in Never Flinch. Benjamin Wallace. Atlantic Books Australia. $45.00. Satoshi Nakamoto is the person credited with inventing Bitcoin, the world's first cryptocurrency. But is he really a person? Does he even exist? If he does, he's a billionaire many times over, but, curiously, his $75 billion Bitcoin fortune has remained untouched. So is Nakamoto actually Elon Musk, or is he just a guy who lives on the Queensland coast? Benjamin Wallace has been writing about crypto since covering it for Wired in 2011, and he sees Nakamoto's identity as one of the last big mysteries. He follows a trail of breadcrumbs from the US to Norway and Australia. Find it at QBD Books and Amazon. Linda Jaivin. Black Inc. $26.99. Mao Zedong's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China in the late 1960s was a time when, it seemed to observers, almost the entire country went mad. Mao detonated the societal explosion that ripped the country and its heritage apart with the words Australian China expert Linda Jaivin has used as the title of this concise and very readable little book. Youthful red guards took violent aim at "the four olds", mass murders of class enemies were committed and even the centuries-old Forbidden City came close to destruction. Then came "mango worship", a bizarre, widespread veneration of ... a fruit. Find it at QBD Books or Amazon. Patrick McGee. Simon & Schuster. $36.99. That little glass and plastic brain we all have in our pockets, otherwise known as the iPhone, has changed the world. Apple's visionary founder, the late Steve Jobs, conceptualised it, but to build it, Apple had to rethink how to produce exceptional quality at huge scale. That path led to China, where Apple invested a staggering amount of money building excellence in manufacturing (and helping, the author argues, to create modern China in the process). A central theme of this book is the existential problem the world's biggest company faces from putting so many of its eggs in China's basket. Find it at Apple Books, QBD Books and Amazon. Harrison Christian. Ultimo Press. $36.99. A young Charles Darwin was set to become a clergyman when, in 1831, the chance to join a Christian mission to South America, aboard a ship called the HMS Beagle, fell into his lap. As Harrison Christian says, the voyage resulted in "one of the most unchristian theories imaginable" and Darwin's revolutionary book On the Origin of Species. Christian looks at the voyage and its aftermath from the perspectives of the budding scientist Darwin and the ship's fervently religious captain, Robert FitzRoy, who would later publicly denigrate his former companion and say that he was sorry he had taken Darwin aboard. Find it at Amazon, Big W, or Kobo. Taylor Jenkins Reid. Hutchinson Heinemann. $34.99. There are few contemporary fiction writers who write about falling in love better than Taylor Jenkins Reid. When NASA opened applications for the first female scientists in its space shuttle program Joan Goodwin knew she had to be one of them. What she hadn't planned on was how it would make her question everything she knew about herself - and the universe. She finds passion and a love she never imagined. Then, in December 1984, one mission changes everything. Atmosphere will hit you in the heart from every direction - and with a gravity that will stay with you long after you return to Earth. Find it at Amazon and Big W. Stephen King. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. Private detective Holly Gibney has been a recurring character in seven Stephen King novels since he introduced her in 2014's Mr Mercedes. She got her own crime to solve in 2023's Holly and now, in Never Flinch, we find her working for a women's rights activist to track the controversial campaigner's increasingly unhinged and bold stalker. When Holly's police detective friend Izzy Jaynes asks for her help identifying an anonymous letter writer threatening to kill "13 innocents and 1 guilty" as "an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man", the two disturbing and dangerous mysteries collide. Find it at Big W or Amazon. Michael Thompson. Pantera Press. $34.99. The film rights to Michael Thompson's first book, 2023 heartwarmer How to Be Remembered, were sold before it was published. The new novel by the Sydney-based former journalist and Ray Hadley radio show executive producer - who now co-hosts popular business news podcast Fear & Greed - promises more life-affirming drama as a small-town family doctor discovers he can see exactly how many days his patients have left to live. He uses this knowledge to try to help his patients, family and friends live full lives. But, of course, his "gift" doesn't quite work the way he hopes and he discovers some things he just doesn't want to know. Find it at QBD Books and Amazon. Holden Sheppard. Pantera Press. $34.99. Holden Sheppard's debut novel for young adults, Invisible Boys, about teens wrestling with their sexuality in fiercely macho Geraldton, is now a hit drama on Stan. That book drew on the author's experiences growing up gay in regional Western Australia and he does it again for his first book for adults, which expands beyond coming-of-age angst. Jack Brolo is a digger driver at remote WA worksites. He's desperately trying to cover his tracks as a gay man, with booze and reckless behaviour. Returning home to Geraldton for a wedding, he must face his conservative family and news he conceived a son with his teenage girlfriend. Find it at Amazon and QBD Books. You can also find these and other great books at Apple Books and on Kobo.
