Usher

"It's the hottest day of the year, hotter than broccoli soup, hotter than the Atacama Desert, hotter than the surface of the sun. It's just the right kind of day for a boy and his grandad to go for a picnic. But as the sun beats down, Grandad keeps having to stop for a rest, and by the time they find the perfect picnic spot, some pirates have beaten them to it. Good job they have enough food to share!" --From the publisher.

"Climate change is an increasingly well understood problem: modern economies are emitting greenhouse gases at an unprecedented rate, leading to a higher concentration of gases in the atmosphere and a rapid warming of the planet. Most investors understand this, but they have waited for government policy on climate change to provide guidance on where to allocate capital. That is now changing. Investment capital is rapidly moving out of assets that contribute...

"A boy and his granddad set off with their homemade sled to find a lost dog on a snowy afternoon. And so begins an exhilarating adventure ..."--

Rod Usher's third collection, Convent Mermaid, is full of wit and sadness, love and loss. Many of the poems spring from his long experience as a journalist, novelist and from years of living and working in Europe. As Les Murray has written, Rod's poetry inspires both tears and laughter. He's equally at home in poetic conversation with Emily Dickinson, David Bowie and Federico Garcia Lorca, in revisiting Cro-Magnon Man, or portraying the to-and-fro...

As cash-strapped metropolitan newspapers struggle to maintain their traditional influence and quality reporting, large national and international outlets have pivoted to serving readers, who can and will choose to pay for news, skewing coverage toward a wealthy, white, and liberal audience. Amid rampant inequality and distrust, media outlets have become more out of touch with the democracy they purport to serve. How did journalism end up in such a...

ONE NIGHT STANDS: SHE'S DOING 'EM WRONG Happy ever afters are for suckers, and Cat Keller ain't no sucker. Not for dimples, not for abs, and definitely not for the guy sporting both. She has rules for a reason, dammit. Except this one-night stand turned consistent booty-call isn't following her rules. He's already broken one. It's only a matter of time before the rest come crashing down. So why can't she walk away? Jude Oliver-radio deejay and local...