Böcker av Mel Anastasiou

Thirty Days Towards an Extraordinary Volume.The Writer's Boon Companion is a quiet, thoughtful chap, offering daily hints and exercises to support your narrative along its road to completion. You'll also find generous servings of motivation and philosophy to help you forge ahead over thirty days of drafting towards a completed novel.

In this issue, a giant feline swats us into the void with 'Space Cat' by Bronwyn Schuster. And feature author Kate Heartfield leads us on a daring escape through the universe in 'And in the Arcade, Ego'. Hitch a ride into the heat - and heart - of the desert with Kevin Sandefur's 'Out in the Sticks'. And it all goes up in flames in 'Paper, Candles, Hearts & Other Combustible Materials' by Anne Baldo. Natalie Harris-Spencer, in 'The Art of Ironing', and Cara Waterfall, in 'Vessel', illustrate ways of navigating relationships and bodily autonomy. And friendship transcends time and place in 'Fate of Chickens' by Krista Jane May. We delve into familial grief and sacrifice in 'Sap and Seed', by H Pueyo and Dante Luiz, and the opening chapters of 'Allaigna's Song: Chorale' by JM Landels, while 'Pale Pony Express' by Lulu Keating and 'The Echo of Light Footsteps on Parchment' by Kimberley Aslett explore memory and loss through storytelling. Strange science brings us 'The Magic Shuffling Machine' by Derek Salinas Lazarski but can't explain the tiny home intruder in 'The Switch Fairy' by Monica Wang or the supernatural occurrences in 'Pretty Lies: Eyes Full of Moon' by Mel Anastasiou.

Join us as we step into the blossoming spring with Superbloom, by cover artist Weiwei Xu, and disappear into future past with feature author Robert Silverberg's 'Chip Runner' and Leo X Robertson's 'Bar Hopping for Astronauts'. Take a deep breath and let the aroma of the blossoms permeate your senses because taste and scents infuse Michelle Goddard's 'Bhut', 'The Shepherdess: Merveilles' by JM Landels, and 'The Smell of Screaming' by SiWC runner-up Adrienne Gruber. We witness the powerful and varied effects of death and mourning in 'Life Supports' by Claire Lawrence, and in Raven Contest winner 'Good Intentions' by Nancy Ludmerer. We cross the fourth wall in Erin MacNair's Raven Contest runner-up 'It Can Be Done with Words', we cross the desert in Paige Elizabeth Wajda's rhapsodic 'Heaven or Las Vegas', and we cross dimensions in PG Streeter's homage to Shakespeare in 'The Earth Has Bubbles'. Phoebe Mol washes away her troubles in the graphic version of Edna St Vincent Millay's 'O World' while Marietta puts out fire with gasoline in the next chapter of Mel Anastasiou's The Extra, 'Frankie Ray and the Blazing Anubis'.

Dare to venture behind the intriguing cover by award-winning British artist Ben Baldwin and you'll find that … Feature author, Kristene Perron, asks us to savour the simple things in life and question the validity of tradition in 'Flavour of the Forsaken'. Those of you who admire magpies for their intelligence and unique beauty will find these qualities in this year's winners of the Magpie Award for Poetry, Kelli Allen, Christine Levickzy Riek, and Angela Caravan. Great-Great-Grandpa stops by for a visit 90 years after his death in 'Away Game' by Mitchell Toews, and for some reason, we're not at all surprised. 'Gross Motor' by Sara Mang takes us back to kindergarten, while the hardworking folks in Mitchell's Crossing contend with a nosy superhero and government officials in 'Small Town Superhero' by Dave Beynon. Epiphany Ferrell exposes the dubious talents of a ne'er-do-well townsman in 'Every Town Has One', and Susan Pieters challenges us to walk in someone else's shoes with 'Waking Up Black'. Love jewellery? We doubt you'll want one of the bracelets in Summer Jewel Keown's 'Indebted'. Alex Reece Abbott lands quick punches you won't flinch from with 'Alphabet Soup', while coffee lovers and dreamers beware of 'The Hub', SiWC's Honourable Mention by Erin Evans. Mel Anastasiou's graphic story 'Meat' involves a gargoyle who rises above his station, while the next instalment of Allaigna's Song: Aria by JM Landels takes us deeper into unknown territory.

On this particular sun-and-shade April morning at Fairmount Manor, Stella Ryman no more entertained the idea of becoming an amateur sleuth than she did of entering next spring's Boston Marathon. For not only was Stella eighty-two years old, but she had lately sold her home and a lifetime of gathered possessions and washed up at Fairmount Manor Care Home in such a state that she would have bet her remaining seven pairs of socks that she'd be dead in half a year. But when money goes missing and an innocent woman stands to lose her job at Fairmount; when malicious poison pen letters find their way into the hands of staff and residents; and when a resident vanishes without a trace, Stella takes matters into her own hands. To hell with being elderly Stella will break every one of the Director's rules and slash all the institutional red tape in the place in her struggle to solve mysteries and protect the innocent. Over the course of the first five mystery adventures, Mrs Stella Ryman transforms from a woman on her deathbed to a force of nature and intellect. She's a fish out of water, a stranger in a strange land, and an amateur sleuth trapped in a down-at-the-heels care home. You'd be cranky, too.Readers are saying ';witty and endearing' ';beautifully written with humour, grace, and suspense' ';You know a story's good when you keep finding yourself laughing out loud. ';Stella Ryman is my new hero!'