The Force: living safely in a world of electromagnetic pollution
Lyn McLean
Scribe 2011
ISBN: 9781921640292
$35
400 pp

As Hamlet told Horatio: “There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy”¹.  This could be a slogan for much of what affects our lives today.  We live almost constantly immersed in an electromagnetic ‘soup’, but most of us are unaware of it.  In The Force, Lyn McLean renders this soup visible and exposes much of the misinformation and obfuscation perpetrated by those with vested interests.  She compares the current state of denial of adverse health impacts to the situation that for so long surrounded asbestos and tobacco.

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what the world will look like when all the water leaves us
Laura van den Berg
Scribe 2011
ISBN: 9781921640896
$25.95
192 pp

Never judge a book by its cover; I know this but judge it I did – by its cover and by its title.  The title (taken from the closing story) misled me, as this is not a book about environmental issues although issues of species survival come up in a few instances.  The stories in this collection are about the internal environments of a number of women.  A better title may have been taken from the opening story: ‘where we must be’.

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I can’t ignore that it is Australia Day.  We received Chinese-made Australian flags in the letterbox from a local real estate agent and people are walking around with Australian-flag clothing and head gear.  Cars are sporting flags, as are letterboxes and house rooves.

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The Pen and the Stethoscope
Ed: Leah Kaminsky
Scribe Publishing 2010
ISBN: 9781921640735
$32.95
240 pp

This is a strange collection – an anthology of stories and essays linked only by the fact that all the writers are, or once were, doctors.  The nine non-fiction pieces hang together through their subject matter; however, only a few of the six fictional short stories obviously owe something to the medical training of their authors.  Nevertheless, every piece entertains or informs or both and I enjoyed them all.

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New Australian Stories 2
Ed: Aviva Tuffield
Scribe Publishing 2010
ISBN: 9781921640865
$29.95
346 pp

With this second, large offering of short stories (36 examples of the art), Scribe is indicating a commitment as a publisher to add to the regular anthologies now available to Australian readers.  Among the many writers I had not previously come across, there are also a number of familiar names.

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Almost two years after the devastating fires in Victoria and now with a large area of Australia progressively inundated by floodwater, it is relevant to ask, ‘what is the best way to compensate people who suffer loss as a result of disasters on a large scale?

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What are modern children to make of the Santa Clause, when they may see dozens of them in one day in a shopping centre, weeks before Christmas?  What about the Easter Bunny?  How well do we manage mythology for our children?

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In the Santa-believing parts of the world, some tens of thousands of Santa suits have gone back into storage, along with fake sleighs and stuffed reindeer, tinsel, baubles and strings of lights, as well as all the flashing Santa displays and plastic Christmas trees.  That must require millions of cubic metres of storage space. (more…)

Dear part-of-me-that-is-perfect,

I will once more rely on you to ensure that the list of resolutions I dream up for the coming year will be adhered to and shepherded to fruition in a timely manner and with the help of your infinite wisdom.  You see, it will soon be a brand new year and I am determined that I will be a brand new person. (more…)

Instead of sitting at my usual table at the local café this afternoon, I was lying back in a dentist’s chair, with my mouth agape and full of fingers and implements. The annual cleaning of the ivories. (more…)