Books published by Interactive Publications

More Lies is a highly referential comedy thriller about a writer being held hostage in their own apartment and forced to type to hide the manoeuvres of a femme fatale, holding a pearl-handled gun, and her brother, a small-time thug with big-time ambitions. This wild tale about assassination, lost gold, betrayal, passion and identity theft engages the reader in the many layers of the author's witty but deceptive journey. Through a series of lies, backflips and alternative versions of the tale, the author moves from being a trapped hack, forced to prostitute themselves, to dazzling the world with the acrobatics of their imagination, to the heart of the matter: storytelling is all that is keeping them alive. A phantasmagoric, avant-garde story set in a lost New York, Richard James Allen's More Lies both entertains and provokes as it reveals a world where 'truth is never enough/Or it's unlikeable.' A fluid narrative forward motion and a sense of the fundamental mystery of it all have never been so closely intertwined. - Nicholas Birns, New York University

Never Good at Maths is a collection of contrasts and voices, ruminating on the everyday, our global, and personal passions. With vivid imagery, the underlying beauty of our world is evoked with fresh perspectives.

Staying Whole While Falling Apart celebrates troubled all-rounder, Aaron Auslander, as he strives to find meaning and shape his identity in the midst of too many influences. Love and parenthood complicate matters, and Aaron has to find creative ways to rally and stay whole.Gering artfully combines surreally black humour, arresting imagery, and tenderness to take the reader on a grand tour of the human landscape. The narrative roves from apartheid South Africa to the beach suburbs of Sydney, from the orange cliffs of the Blue Mountains to Nazi Europe. In precise and vivid language, the poems deliver fresh takes on life, at once quirky and bittersweet.

A poetic tribute to tropical birdlife to be found in and around Queensland, Australia. The poems are enhanced by colour photos of many of the subject birds. Includes pages for the reader's notes and drawings.

What do you get if you cross a hop-challenged kangaroo, a know-it-all galah, a rusty Holden ute and a fearsome bushfire?A sizzling tale of outback adventure featuring thrills and spills, springs and dings and every rhyme in between.Written by Jeremy Southern, illustrated by Amberly Kramhoft.JUMP IN!!!!Alice the Kangaroo is an epic tale of how one kangaroo, with the help of a galah, overcomes her inability to jump. After losing her mob Alice and Gary the galah invent a way for her to put the "spring" back into her hop. After some initial fails Alice heroically saves the day and is rewarded accordingly, I wonder if you can guess how? Told in rollicking rhyme this is a story about disability, determination, and bravery scattered throughout with some very Aussie humour.- Jackie Hosking, Pass It On

May is a carefree girl who likes nothing better than singing along to the Spice Girls, roller blading and eating cheese on toast with her friends. But then May''s family moves to a new town and May''s world is turned upside down.Out of the blue, an imaginary friend Anna comes along to help May out of her predicament, but Anna''s ''solutions'' only isolate May from her family and lead her into unhealthy habits.Author Maddy Tyers knows only too well the pressures faced by children who become overly concerned about their body image and how they are regarded by their peers. Her story encourages children to feel positive about their body image and to accept the love and support offered them by understanding family and friends in times of crisis.The Butterfly Foundation, which is dedicated to helping children overcome eating disorders, is very supportive of the lessons to be gained from this important book.Highly recommended for parents, teachers and health professionals.

Daunted. Petrified. Whether it's tasting a new food, diving into a pool or riding a bike, Frankie Lane won't risk not being the best. Join Frankie and her fastastically daring friend Tallulah Flare on an adventure into the wonder of Magic Mistakes. This book encourages us to embrace our imperfections, take risks and welcome failure as apart of growth. It will help parents, caregivers and teachers support children to be more resilient when faced with life's 'oopsy lohs.'    

A practical, no-nonsense guide into the essentials of composing and publishing eBooks. The Kit provides advice and step-by-step instructions on how to set up a file for conversion into the dominant formats of ePub, mobi (Kindle), optimized pdf as well as the new Fixed Layout formats suitable for spread-oriented books. You'll then see how to package the files for uploading to online distributors such as Amazon, Apple and Google by starting with a master file that is similar to that created for print or print on demand (POD) production. The Kit also provides strategies for getting out the word about your title to the global community.What's new in the 4th Edition?• Information on the new export features from Adobe InDesign (Creative Cloud Suite) that allow you to export your files with confidence to the key eBook formats• an up-to-date review of the latest eBook Readers, smartphones, phablets and tablets in terms of their functionality for enhanced eBook files• Step-by-step instructions on how to set up your book in Kindle Create and iBooks Author, and how to prepare, test and add interactive and multimedia elements to enhance your eBook• How to streamline your workflow from Word or Pages via Adobe's Creative Cloud Suite to shorten the conversion process• Hands-on directions on how to use emulators like Sigil and Calibre to fine-tune your ePub files and convert them to Kindle friendly mobi files• How to validate your files offline with a single click before uploading them to distributors like Google, Apple, Kobo and Amazon• When to outsource tasks related to your book’s preparation and conversion to eBook formats, and how much you should expect to pay• Up-to-date social media strategies for spreading the word about your book• And much, much more!

Although originally daunted at being asked to present the 2020 James Backhouse Lecture to Australian Friends, Fiona Gardner came to find that the opportunity encouraged her to reflect more deeply on her own journey and what might usefully be shared with others. For over twenty years, Fiona has participated in facilitating the Meeting for Learning (a year-long program for spiritual nurture, designed to explore Spirit and Quaker ways), and lives with her partner in a small intentional community that has been a place of spiritual nurture and learning. She has worked as a social worker for many years and now as a university teacher, particularly in fostering critical reflection and spirituality for social workers and critical spirituality for pastoral care workers. A continuing challenge in her spiritual life has been how to integrate her spiritual being in all of these aspects of her life. "Why seek to live life in union with Spirit? Such a life, in my experience and that of many others, is a fuller, richer, meaning filled and deeper life, connected to that which is eternal. It means moving from what is often called the 'divided life', beyond opposing forces to a place of wholeness, to integrating all of who we are in all that we do. To do this means holding together these opposites." Fiona Gardner is a longstanding member of Victoria Regional Meeting, based within the Bendigo Worshiping Group. She has also played a significant role nationally in the development of Meeting for Learning over the years, as a facilitator and coordinator. Her professional work is as a social worker primarily in rural areas, and for the last seven years she has been coordinator of the Department of Social Work at La Trobe University Rural Health School, and researching and writing related to the place of spirituality in social work and allied health. She also teaches a unit in critical spirituality at Stirling Theological College with pastoral care workers and ministers, mainly from a variety of Christian traditions. Fiona Gardner came to the Religious Society of Friends in her mid-thirties, convinced by the depth and power of silent worship, the warmth and welcome of Quaker community and social commitment. She is part of a small worshipping group in rural Victoria and has been fortunate to be a facilitator of Meeting for Learning since its beginning in 1996.

While women account for 50% of the population they only occupy around 0.5% of recorded history. When pre-history turned into history, and, as new civilisations expanded, society became more militarised, and the story of "humanity" was often filtered through male perspectives. So the tales of many strong and powerful women became stifled and forgotten.It's time to restore the stories of feisty, courageous, and athletic females into the historical narrative. It's time to reconsider what it means for men and women to be human and to seek to excel. Jane Daoud's The Power of Women takes an important step toward that goal.

This is the tale of the critters who reside behind the locked gates of a Botanical Gardens at night. It’s the first formal offering from author/illustrator War Of The Real.The idea for characters like those in this book was hatched in aCooktown (Far North Queensland, Australia) public restroom.It all came together after the discovery of a permanent markerdiscarded on the bathroom floor, a fleeting inspiration and an unoccupied moment in an otherwise occupied cubicle.From then on, wherever the road led, the artist is alwaysarmed with his trusty Sharpie on the trail of bug-eyedoddities, smiling down from where they’ve been scrawled.  The mission for War Of The Real is to deliver wackiness to the world, encouraging you to never take anything too seriously, question everything you run into and most of all have fun while you’re doing it.

This colourful and thoroughly researched history of the Lord Delamere branch of the British aristocracy focuses on the famous Vale Royal Abbey in Cheshire, England. The Cholmondeley family, who owned the Abbey throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, are described in lavish and intimate detail as they maneuvered to maintain, through three generations, their status as a leading family in the United Kingdom.Beginning in the late 17th century, we follow Charles Cholmondeley as he served as a member of the King’s army in Canada in the war against the French. Part I witnesses the ubiquitous Thomas Cholmondeley who purchased the title ‘Lord (Baron) Delamere’ for £5000 from the British crown in 1821. Part II covers the 2nd Lord Delamere, Hugh Cholmondeley, who led a very sad and difficult life, and experienced the deterioration of Vale Royal. Part III reviews the life of Hugh Cholmondeley, Jnr., 3rd Lord Delamere, his abandonment of Vale Royal Abbey and his relocation to East Africa. Narcissistic Hugh was part of the notorious “happy valley crowd” of Kenya and their lives of debauchery, sex and drugs.The Vale Royal Abbey lives on today, a national treasure and testament to the intriguing lives of those who occupied it over the centuries.

When you look up at a midnight sky, what do you see—mottled stars and a full Moon trying hard to compete with the street lamps for your attention? You might be situated in a city, or its sprawling suburbs, where the ever-present urban glow tends to keep your gaze horizontal, missing out on the beckoning mysteries of the Universe. This Skywriters anthology will change all that. Through the eyes and creativity of people who write about south-eastern inland Australia, we’ll redirect your vision upwards to a brighter Moon, the subtle presence of nearby planets, the cosmic spectacular of our Milky Way galaxy and those celestial bodies even further away. You’ll find inspiring stories, poems and essays by a great diversity of Australians responding to what some have called the ‘Inland Astro-Trail’, which connects rural and remote communities with world-class astronomical observatories such as those at Parkes, Siding Springs and Narrabri. Some skystories are “literary”, others intensely personal, but all are guaranteed to widen your horizons—upwards!

It is increasingly recognised that the strength of the bond between counsellor and client is the best indicator of a good outcome for the client. The theoretical model employed by the counsellor matters less than the relationship the counsellor can build with each individual client.Yet first year counselling students continue to be taught about different models of therapy and specialised approaches supposedly needed by clients with different problems. The result is often confusion and uncertainty, and many 'trained counsellors' graduate without a solid grasp of how to form an authentic relationship with any client.Unlike most texts, A Safe Place for Change focusses squarely on the therapeutic relationship. Skills are presented in terms of their contribution to the relationship. Theories and models are referred to throughout, but the authors emphasise what the different approaches have in common, rather than the specialised terminology that often makes them seem more different than they actually are.The personal capacities and skills that distinguish a good counsellor or therapist are presented in the same order in which they would appear within the actual therapeutic relationship. The initial chapters teach 'holding' and 'exploring'-skills that are almost automatically required in the first few sessions with a new client. Then follows a chapter that deals with the challenge to the counsellor-client relationship which often appears after the first two sessions, and shows counsellors how they can respond most usefully to that challenge. As the therapeutic relationship continues and deepens, it becomes possible to invite clients to consider how they might be contributing to their own problems-the skill of 'gentle honesty' or 'encountering'.Finally, the authors introduce two different approaches to achieving change-- 'solving the problem' via advice, instruction, and homework, and 're-parenting the person'-something that is more likely to be crucial in long-term work with clients who present entrenched difficulties in living and relating.Well-written, insightful and accessible, this textbook speaks directly to students of counselling and psychotherapy, recognising their needs and their challenges. The authors' real-world experience is evident throughout the book, as is their skill in teaching complex concepts in clear language.

In 1991, Jason MacLeod travelled to occupied West Papua. That visit changed his life. Eight years later, in 1999, Jason made a thirty-year commitment to journey in solidarity with West Papuans as they search for nonviolent ways out of occupation. Since then he has been regularly traveling inside the country. He has walked alongside Papuan leaders as they travelled from West Papua to Washington; Port Moresby to Port Vila. It is a journey has taken him deep into the mountains and forests of West Papua; from the halls of power to the inside of police interrogation rooms.  In this Backhouse Lecture, Jason shares what he has learnt about accompanying West Papuans – and to a lesser extent Aboriginal people, Bougainvilleans and East Timorese – in their struggle for self-determination. Through personal stories, he tries to make sense of this experience in ways that might speak more broadly to Quakers and general readers. This lecture is a deeply personal reflection on what one person thinks it takes to animate freedom and accompany Indigenous peoples on a journey from empire to the ‘good life.’