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Nuclear free-ish, Nicky Hager

Standing Upright Here: New Zealand in the Nuclear Age 1945-1990 Malcolm Templeton Victoria University Press, $49.95, ISBN 0864735405 First impressions suggest this is the kind of worthy and dense book few people will get around to reading. That would be

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review, Science

Issue 79 | Spring 2007

  Volume 17 | Number 3 | Issue 79 | Spring 2007 Editorial Letters Tim Hazledine: Laurence Simmons (ed), Speaking Truth to Power: Public Intellectuals Rethink New Zealand Don Aimer: David Cook, Lake of Coal: The Disappearance of a Mining

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Posted in Contents

Confessions of an historical romance virgin, Beryl Fletcher

The Paua Tower Coral Atkinson Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 1869417623 The Sawdust Makers Jackie Fraser Hazard Press, $34.99, ISBN 187739307X Kitty  Deborah Challinor HarperCollins, $34.99 ISBN 1869506014 First, a confession: I’m an historical romance virgin. This is either a good

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Bring on the gothic, Jane Stafford

Fire  Deborah Challinor Harper Collins, $39.99, ISBN 9781869506001 Wild Latitudes Barbara Else Vintage, $27.99, ISBN 9781869418670 A Secret Mind  Kaye Kelly Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 978869417819 Sylvia lay awake listening to the mournful cry of a morepork. Another noise, a

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Our dark secrets, Tim Corballis and Ingrid Horrocks

Gothic NZ: The Darker Side of Kiwi Culture Misha Kavka, Jennifer Lawn, Mary Paul (eds) Otago University Press, $39.95, ISBN 1877372234 Strange goings-on in small towns. You know all about it – it’s the New Zealand gothic. It’s a familiar

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories

The impudent what-if, Geoff Cush

New Zealand as it Might Have Been Stephen Levine (ed) Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 0864735456 “Counterfactual” is the term preferred by the 15 writers here, who are mostly historians or political scientists, and mostly based at Victoria University of

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Posted in Fiction, History, Literature, Non-fiction, Review

Poem – Jan FitzGerald

Nest   Consider  this pouch of air,  thatch of cloud, tightly woven against a sky loosely strung. This swirl of wind  is threaded to miracles.   In this scoop of heaven,  time coddles echoes, joggle of eggs, shuffle of fledglings,

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Posted in Poem

Stamping one’s mark, Edmund Bohan

The Governors: New Zealand’s Governors and Governors-General Gavin McLean Otago University Press, $59.95, ISBN 1877372250 Amassing Treasures for All Times: Sir George Grey, Colonial Bookman and Collector Donald Jackson Kerr Otago University Press, $59.95, ISBN 1877372218 Gavin McLean’s book is,

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

Red pen pedants, Anna Rogers

Book editor Anna Rogers on why even the best authors need saving from themselves.  For most people, a menu is a list of food choices. For an editor, a menu is a test: can the restaurateurs (not the restauranteurs) spell

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