Books published by Odyssey Books

Talkingfruit. Time reversing. A scheming liver. A lighter's journey. Vengeful teddybears. Vending machine salvation. The Annual Meeting of Words. Everyone onEarth moving six feet to the left.Escape into vivid worlds, populated by everyday - ordinary if you will -characters facing unique challenges... when sometimes the mask becomes theface. From horror to humour, Speculative to literary fiction, Magic realismto psychological dualism: Fifteen stories that linger in the mind.

Emmeline Muchamore was respectable once. Her sweetheart, Matilda Newry, certainly put a stop to that. But when Emmeline gains magical insight into a disastrous future battle, she weaponises her wild reputation in order to draw trouble and death away from her adopted home ... risking everything and everyone she loves in the process.Iron Lights is a steam-powered tale of honour, love, magic, adventure, and mechanical spiders.

The only weapon Dance has is her name.When pirates threaten the tiny hidden island of Luar, Dance knows her home has only one hope of survival: the magical monsters that killed her twin sister.Dance loses her friends one by one as she attempts to prepare her strange apprentices for the showdown between monsters and pirates. Can she do it alone?The Monster's Apprentice is a powerful story of looking at the world differently and finding an answer in an unexpected place.

Getting into prison is easy. Getting out is hard. Getting away is nearly impossible. Getting the power to control your own destiny might cost everything you have. Emmeline, Matilda, and Patrick are sworn to rescue Patrick's mother from the infamous Female Factory prison, but when a vengeful police officer tracks down their hideout, things get worse fast. Soon they're framed for a double murder and fighting a magical monster in the eerie and unfamiliar island of Tasmania. Patrick's mother hides crucial papers in a tin under her prison smock, and her best friend Fei Fei is dying in the overcrowded prison. More than one woman's life hangs in the balance.

"e;A gripping tale of resilience, survival, and how we define the 'other' - this is intelligent SF that speaks to our time."e; - Jennifer Mills, author of DyschroniaThe Outside can be a dangerous place.But so can the inside.It's been years since the original cataclysm, but life has been structured, peaceful, and most of all uneventful in the Pale. The humachine citizens welcome the order provided by their ruler, the baleful Regent.However, when one of their own rescues a human boy, Hector, from ravenous ferals on the Outside, their careful systems are turned upside down.As Hector grows more and more human-strange, the citizens of the Pale grow uneasy.What will happen when the Outside tries to get in?

What happens to aid projects after the money is spent? Or the people and communities once the media spotlight has left?No Dancing, No Dancingfollows the return journey of a former aid worker back to the site of three major humanitarian crises-South Sudan, Iraq and East Timor-in search of what happened to the people and projects. Along the way, he looks for answers to how we can better respond to the emerging global humanitarian crisis.Meetingyoung entrepreneurs striving to build their businesses, listening to tribal leaders give unvarnished views of foreign aid or negotiating the release of a kidnapped colleague, this riveting work brings the reader into the global humanitarian crisis while engaging with questions of cultural imperialism, Western aid models and foreign interventions.

On Christmas Day, Connie Chase opens the twenty-fifth door on her advent calendar, eating the last chocolate as she tries to swallow the memory of her former love, Viggo MacDuff. His dazzling green eyes are everywhere; from the Christmas tree to the promise of eternal love in a sprig of mistletoe, Connie sees only her hopeless gaze reflected back at her, trapped inside an all-too-shiny bauble. When she finds that even Christmas festivities can't erase the pain of her first heartbreak, she begins to tell her love story to her best friend Jed.Unwrapping each piece as they go on adventures together, Connie realises how she let her internal struggles control her, accepting behaviour that she believed she deserved. Connie explores both friendships and romantic relationships, discovering the strength of her voice and the power of her individuality as she reveals her most vulnerable self.

A shadow is spreading across the land. Fear will be your downfall.When the Prefects of Redmondis discover that their quick minds and quicker fingers hide secret potential, young thieves Wilt and Higgs find themselves unwilling recruits. Wilt's ability to sink into others' thoughts, knowing what action they will take before they do, is both a prized and dangerous gift.The Nine Sisters of Redmondis have sensed a growing threat, and search for the one who can control the power of the blood within the stone. But even their sinister plots are nothing compared to the force that controls them.As Wilt and Higgs rally their newfound weapons, they discover that the threat to their lives, and their reality, is much greater than they realise.

In a thirsty, drought-stricken Australia, the country is well and truly sunburnt. As the Eastern states are evacuated to more appealing climates, a stubborn few resist the forced removal. They hide out in small country towns - somewhere no one would ever bother looking.Bill Cook and Tobe Cousins are united in their disregard of the law. Aussie larrikins, they pass their hot, monotonous existence drinking at the barely standing pub. When strange lights appear across the Western sky, it seems that those embittered by the drought are seeking revenge. And Bill and Tobe are in their path. In the heat of the moment secrets will be revealed, and survival can't be guaranteed.

After news of grave robbing and murder in Dún Ringall, the ancient stronghold of Clan McKinnon on the Isle of Skye, Rosalie realises it is time to share her family's secrets. Descendants of the mystical Ethne M'Kynnon, Rosalie tells of a violent rift that occurred centuries earlier, splitting Ethne from her sisters forever and causing relentless anguish and enmity between ancient families. Meanwhile, Algernon and Clement Benedict have arrived in Sydney searching for the lost relics of their family. They are driven by revenge and a thirst for power, and will take what they can to reinstate their family heritage. Their meddling with ancient magic will have far-reaching effects, as they fail to realise ther role in a far greater quest.In the grounds of Sydney's magnificent Garden Palace, danger grows as an ages-old feud of queens and goddesses heats up. The discovery of arcane symbols bring the distant past in a foreign land to Australia and will cause a profound struggle with tragic results, a surprising new recruit from an unknown world, and the complete destruction of the palace.Set around stories and characters in 1882 Sydney, Keeper of the Way includes current affairs, people and buildings long gone, and gives a voice to people history doesn't always listen to.

Annie has grown up knowing she is destined to meet her soul mate. He will always remain close to her. He will always know exactly where she is, and how she's feeling. He'll guard and protect her. At least until she produces the next heir to her Cherubim line.There has to be a way to avoid this supernatural stalker.Determined to find her own identity before becoming bonded to her Guardian, Annie does everything she can to keep him at a distance - until her partner Cherub, Harry, dredges up the mystery of his parents' deaths and triggers unwanted attention from an organised crime syndicate. Now all three of them need to do whatever it takes to save Harry's farm, solve the mystery of the missing ruby necklace, and keep anyone from finding the hidden Paradise it came from.

When Willow Farrington first meets Isaac Silberstein she doesn't know what to expect. He's a gnome-like old man who survived a World War II concentration camp, and she's an almost-14-year-old who is just back at school after a four-month stay in hospital with an eating disorder. He has written a recipe and gardening book, and she has to do a talk on it for school.Birthdays, custard, book reports, gardens, families, friendship and fun all combine in this contemporary, witty and moving book.A fresh and uplifting novel based on a true story.

When fifteen-year-old Esme Silver objects at her father's wedding, her protest is dismissed as the actions of a stubborn, selfish teenager. Everyone else has accepted the loss of Esme's mother - so why can't she?But Esme is suspicious. She is sure that others are covering up the real reason for her mother's disappearance - that 'lost at sea' is code for something more terrible, something she has a right to know.After Esme is accidentally swept into the enchanted world of Aeolia, the truth begins to unfold. With her newfound friends, Daniel and Lillian, Esme retraces her mother's steps in the glittering canal city of Esperance, untangling the threads of Ariane's double life. But the more Esme discovers about Ariane, the more she questions whether she really knew her at all.

In 1841, on the eve of her departure from London, Bridie's mother demands she forget her dead father and prepare for a sensible, adult life in Port Phillip. Desperate to save her childhood, fifteen-year-old Bridie is determined to smuggle a notebook filled with her father's fairy tales to the far side of the world.When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller and fellow traveller realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Rhys has his own secrets and the words written in Bridie's notebook carry a dark double meaning.As they inch towards their destination, Rhys's past returns to haunt him. Bridie grapples with the implications of her dad's final message. The pair take refuge in fairy tales, little expecting the trouble it will cause.

Lainie Gracewood has turned her back on the world she used to call home. But who can blame her? After all, the sweet bliss of paradise is hard to resist.But there's a restlessness inside her that yearns to be set free. When a native Edenite discovers the boundary between Earth and Eden, Lainie promises herself a return will be short and sweet.As always, Earth is more complicated than that. When a Guardian is abducted, the urge to protect the sacred knowledge will see her faced with the ultimate choice: life, death or paradise?