Pacific Island Books
Fiction, Songs and Drama

Fiction, Songs and Drama

Caught in a Singapore Sling by Bob Nimmo. Published by Horizon Press. ISBN 0958235147. Recommended retail price $24.95.

Peter Richards, a Caucasian teacher working for the Singapore Education Ministry, has his world turned upside down when one of his students witnesses his father falling to his death from their apartment building. Mystified and intrigued, he begins to investigate the tragedy and inadvertently opens up a Pandora’s box of brutality, deceit, corruption and child abuse which threatens to cost him his reputation, his career and ultimately his life.

As time runs out and he sees his friends and partner drawn into the vortex, he grasps the terrible reality that their only hope of escape lies locked in the mind of a 13 year-old boy. Entertaining, witty, panoramic and disturbingly authentic, Caught in a Singapore Sling draws the reader into the colorful, dramatic, culturally challenging worlds of modern Singapore and Malaysia in a story that offers a fascinating insight into a side of Asia the tourist never sees.

In this fast-paced novel, Bob Nimmo exposes a different side to Singapore’s well-laundered public image. This is a story of duplicity and sudden twists, where little is as it seems. Nimmo’s innocent yet sardonic hero describes a world where there is an abundance of hard options and few easy answers, a world full of the flavors and tastes of the orient – a Singapore far beyond the familiar polish and spin. – James Norcliffe Former Burns Fellow, University of Otago.

Soft cover, 331 pages. Published in 2003.

Chosen One, The by Alan J. Garner. Published by National Pacific Press. ISBN 9781877368035.

The Chosen One is set in prehistoric North America, 65 million years ago. Dinosaurs still rule the Earth, but time is fast running out for them. Four light years away in a nearby star system, a massive explosion sends an asteroid on a direct collision course with Earth. The asteroid is big enough to cause an ecological catastrophe, but could it really wipe out the dinosaurs? As it approaches the Earth, a humanoid alien appears on the scene and offers one of the reptiles - the 'chosen one' - an opportunity to escape the potential annihilation of her kind. With a skilful blend of fantasy and science fiction, the author offers an intriguing alternative hypothesis on how and why the human species may have appeared on Earth, against a backdrop of both peaceful and deadly interactions between different dinosaur groups. An arrestingly novel take on evolution, intelligent design and the origins of humankind. It will be an absorbing read for anyone who fancies a clever blend of myth, science and fantasy. -David Brown

We are served a feast of word pictures which bring life and feeling to the pages. -John Swinburn

Softcover, 376 pages. Published in 2004.

Don’t Cry Mama by Vilsoni (Tausie) Hereniko. Recommended retail price $7.

A drama written by a Rotuman originally published in 1977 and reprinted in 1978, 1986, 1991 and 1999. Don’t Cry Mama is Vilsoni’s first play, written in 1977 when he was still a student. He now teaches drama and theatre at the University of the South Pacific. His later work includes the two plays A Child for Iva and Sera’s Choice. Soft cover, 32 pages.

Fantasy With Witches by Alistair Te Ariki Campbell. Recommended retail price $13, our price $12.

Extraordinary things happen on a small Pacific island under the spell of two witches, mother and daughter, who have the power to tame a hurricane. The islanders are in awe of them, because even to mention their names is to bring down punishment on their heads.

Kimi, the young hero, falls in love with the beautiful and mischievous daughter. She leads him a merry dance, and when at last she reveals her true identity she nearly breaks his heart.

Readers who were amused by the weird goings on of the colorful characters in Campbell’s The Frigate Bird will find a similar assortment of rogues and eccentrics in this high-spirited modern fairy tale. This is an adult story but young adults will find much to enjoy in this imaginative novel, easily Campbell’s best so far.

The first two novels in Campbell’s ground-breaking Sidewinder trilogy, The Frigate Bird and Sidewinder, were both regional finalists for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Alistair is better known as a poet – his Pocket Collected Poems was shortlisted in the 1997 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, poetry section – he has also written radio and stage drama, a trilogy of novels, and an autobiography. Soft cover, 264 pages.

Fourth Eye, The by Clinton Smith. ISBN 1877161578. Published by Hazard Press. Recommended retail price $18.95.

A faulty lift traps photographer Colin Blake on the unlisted floor of a high-security area. Within minutes, a SWAT team grabs him and he faces an inquisition. Blake is sucked into a nightmare of intrigue and corruption. Though relentlessly pursued, he manages to connect with an underground trio – Kate, a Kiwi weapons expert, Sergeant Higgins and the mystical Mr Ko. As the action shifts across continents and oceans, Blake encounters everything from human experiments to slaughterhouses for unwanted populations. But he has one extraordinary weapon – his mind. Written with meticulous military detail and inside knowledge, The Fourth Eye is an utterly convincing, non-stop descent into terror.

The Fourth Eye, will soon be a major film and Clinton Smith’s second novel, The Godgame was optioned for film before it was published. Smith’s tense, superbly-plotted thrillers twist terror together with an authenticity that leaves readers gasping. Paddy has read this and can vouch that it's a 'great read'.

Clinton Smith lives in Sydney, Australia, and has been an advertising guru, film director, documentary and short story writer. His television commercials have won him thirty local and international awards and his short stories seven more. He uses his contacts to authenticate military details in his thrillers and is personally familiar with the settings in his books. Soft cover.

Fricken Kids by Monica K.K. Lee. Published by Makali'i Productions. Recommended retail price $13.99.

Welcome to paradise where kids go hungry, single moms get taken advantage of, poverty runs rampant, and deadbeat dads plot deaths to avoid paying child support. Not the gorgeous, scenic, tourist-laden Hawaii that most people dream about, but for three young sisters: Wendy (12-years-old), Amanda (9-years-old), and Stephanie (5-years-old) it's life.  "Fricken Kids" chronicles the year the three girls were neglected and forced to survive on their own for three weeks.  It is set in 1985 and 1986, and narrated by nine-year-old Amanda Nakamura, a Hawaiian, Asian, Haole, Apache mixed girl who is struggling to find her identity in a world that is constantly falling apart around her. Their Mother, a full-time-student is too busy trying to find a new man, job, and lifestyle to guide them, their father, a fulltime-coward is too busy not wanting anything to do with them to have anything to do with them, and everyone else is too concerned with fitting into the material culture to care about the ancient one.  And the girls are as colorful and hypnotic as their island home is.

Monica K.K. Lee is a direct descendant of the Royal families of Hawai'i.  Her documented lineage can be traced to H>R>M. Kind Kamehameha I, as well as to the sacred and ruling chiefs of these islands.  She graduated from Chaminade University with a Bachelor's degree in English.  She has modeled and acted professionally, and is currently a parenting columnist, and published author.  Her poems and stories have appeared in several literary journals.  She currently resides on O'ahu, where she surfs (the internet) daily.

Soft cover, 378 pages. Published in 2013.

Dark Faith, A by Justin MacRae. ISBN 1877270458. Published by Hazard Press. Recommended retail price $15.95.

By the hands of a fool, darkness shall enter this world.”

An ancient and secret prophecy begins to unfold in the murky backwaters of the coastal city of Norfolk after a man’s body, burnt beyond recognition, is found near the ruins of an old Spanish monastery.

Soon the city becomes the battleground between two subtle but deadly forces, each hunting one another to find and protect the answer to humankind’s oldest question.

Michael Reeve, a junior detective assigned to the murder case is drawn into a brutal struggle between two forces he cannot comprehend, ultimately having to risk his very soul in a fight where true evil never confronts those it strikes down, and where your most feared enemy can become your closest ally.

Justin MacRae was raised in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. After completing two years training and travelling with the New Zealand Army he is now travelling and writing in Europe. Soft cover, 253 pages. Published in 2033.

Islands of the Frigate Bird by Daryl Tarte illustrated by Teweiariki Teaero. Recommended retail price $20, our price $18.50.

Islands of the Frigate Bird is a story based on truth. Exploited by phosphateers, shattered in the crossfire of world war, victimized by tuna poachers, helpless before global warming, the Central Pacific Islanders show remarkable tenacity. Tarte’s novel is based on historical events on Banaba, in Kiribati, in the Marshall Islands, and on Rabi. Told from the perspective of Islanders, traders, and civil servants, it is a gripping story of environmental degradation, and of human survival.

Four generations ago, the Tarte family came to Fiji in 1868 and settled on Tavenui. Daryl Tarte joined the Fiji sugar industry in 1968. After years of heading the Sugar Industry Tribunal, he retired in 1999, to devote more time to writing. He is author of Aftermath, a fictional adventure story set in military coups; Fiji Fiji, a pictorial book; and, a biography of Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau. He has also written for local newspapers and magazines. Soft cover, 222 pages.

Last Virgin in Paradise by Vilsoni Hereniko & Teresia Teaiwa. Recommended retail price $10, our price $9.50.

Take a beautiful young girl desperate to get out of Marawa, a fictional island in the South Pacific. Add a retired psychology professor from Europe looking for a virgin bride. Stir, the sprinkle liberally with an anthropologist from Harvard collecting data on sexual harassment. Pour into mixture a native feminist, educated at the Australian National University, in search of her roots. What do you get? LAST VIRGIN IN PARADISE. Soft cover, 82 pages.

Long Range Plan, The by Wade Tabor. ISBN 1-877270-56-3. Published by Hazard Press. Recommended retail price $24.95.

When Cole Archer’s fiancée of four years leaves him, he quits law school and the carefully orchestrated life he’d been planning for years. He moves to Charleston, South Carolina, and takes a job at a wealthy suburban high school. In his classroom, in his depressing one-room apartment, and in Charleston’s bars and pubs Cole struggles to reassemble the pieces of his life.

But Savannah changes everything. She’s an alluring 17-year-old in his English class, a student who balances schoolwork and her job with the rearing of her little brothers, while her mother bounces in and out of relationships and rehab centers. As Cole’s feelings for her begin to grow beyond anything allowed in the classroom, Savannah’s drive to break free of her life of want and need proves unparalleled, and when she turns to Cole for help he’s unable to say no. The Long-Range Plan is a love story, and it is also a novel of suspense, as Cole and the reader begin to realize that Savannah has an agenda of her own. Soft cover, published in 2004.

Medusa Papers,The by John Opie. Recommended retail price $9.95, our price $9.50.

The master terrorist known as the Jackal has returned. The problem is, who has he become? And who is he working with?

Enraged by his daughter’s death in a terrorist attack, a KGB official steps over a forbidden line and offers a file, code-named Medusa Papers, to US counter-terrorism authorities. National Security Agent Jonathan Gold is elected to retrieve the file – a task that is extremely dangerous yet essential in order to stop the Jackal’s new group from systematically destroying Paris. Soft cover, 327 pages.

Monster,The and Other Plays by Vilsoni Hereniko. Recommended retail price $9.

The one-act plays in this collection were written between 1975 and 1988, and are arranged chronologically, according o when they were written. There were some revisions made to earlier texts in recent years, but on the whole, the plays reflect the author'’ development as a playwright, and the issues which are of concern to him, and perhaps to those who love Fiji and the Pacific as well.

“Vilsoni Hereniko is, through his publications and stage productions, probably the best-known English-language playwright working in the South Pacific today. In all his work he has demonstrated the great value drama has in being able to put before us the conflicts and contradictions which characterize our lives and which, even if they cannot be resolved, must at least be acknowledged and discussed as dispassionately as possible.” Andrew Horn, Professor of English, University of the South Pacific. Soft cover, 120 pages.

Motu Tapu: Stories of the South Pacific by Graeme Lay. Published by Polynesian Press. ISBN 0-908597-06-1. Recommended retail price $X.

A Cook Islands' dancer learns a lesson in economic survival in Auckland: a New Zealand academic encounters the spirit of a long-dead poet at Robert Louis Steveson's grave in Samoa: an Indian teenager fights for her life in Ponsonby; the son of a Jewish refugee falls victim to anti-Semitism in God's Own Country; an Englishman in Aotearoa violates tapu and pays the price.

Pacific Islanders in Auckland struggling for acceptance in an unforgiving urban milieu; Europeans in the Islands, uncertain of their role in post-colonial Polynesia; small-town inhabitants of New Zealand, in conflict with their landscape and each other. The diverse and often desperate charcters in this strongly multi-cultural collection share one main feature, they are all Islanders of our ocean, a region whose sublime physical beauty can camouflage, but not conceal, its cultural collisions and social tensions. Soft cover, 172 pages. Published in 1990.

Passage of the Frog and the Wild Strawberries of 1942, The by Beniamino Petrosino. Published by Hazard Press. ISBN 1877270253. Recommended retail price $24.95

The Passage of the Frog and the Wild Strawberries of 1942 is Beniamino Petrosino’s profoundly personal story of a family’s history. It is a tale of superstition, religion, tradition and beliefs, poverty and fate and a way of life that, in southern Italy at the time, involved few people being able to read or write.

Early in the nineteenth century, Prince de Lampedusa wrote of social change in Southern Italy through the eyes of his family. The Passage of the Frog has a different tale to tell, an insight into life at the other end of the spectrum.

Spanning several generations over the course of the twentieth century, the story is raw and often tersely told. The eyes of the child give way to the maturity and wisdom of an author writing far removed from his past, but through the immediacy of his narrative, the harshness and the heartbreak are not lost. A grain of humor carries the reader over the highs and lows, as the author casts his own light on an epoch that could so easily be buried and forgotten.

Beniamino Petrosino was born in the province of Salerno, in Italy in 1955. He trained as a chef at the State Polytechnic in Potenza and after qualifying, he emigrated to Switzerland where he lived and worked for four years. In 1976, Mr Petrosino returned home to Southern Italy where he was soon conscripted by the Italian Army and sent to the Far North for twelve months. He later traveled to London where he met his future wife, a New Zealander, and in 1983 he moved to Christchurch, New Zealand where he has lived ever since. Together with his wife, he opened one of the first Italian cafes in Christchurch. He has two children. Soft cover, 214 pages. Published in 2003.

Rashoman Factor, The by Isa Moynihan. Published by Addenda Books. ISBN 0473068451. Recommended retail price $12.00.

‘As they rounded the corner of the shed, Bridget saw Odysseus. He was sitting on the low wall above the beach, gaing out to sea; bright hair and beard, golden body; numinous.
He turned his head and smiled at them. “Hi,” he said.’

Bridget reluctantly joins a cruise in the Greek Islands, still haunted by her brief married life in Singapore with high-flying Mike, recently killed in a car crash in Malaysia. She shares a table with English couple Philip and Lally, and Californians Jo and Pete. They are joined by Norwegian Per, who knew Mike. Why do they seem to be expecting her, and why is the steward in her cabin so often? When Bridget fails to return from a shore trip in Crete Philip’s Interpol mind goes into overdrive and journalist Jo envisages the big story. The police hear different interpretations of events, and of Bridget, from each of them. What is the truth? As in the film Rashomon, perceptions are distorted and reality is blurred.

‘With The Rashomon Factor, Agatha Christie meets her modern-day match… Set against the glamorous backdrop of a luxury cruise, Moynihan’s story of drug-smuggling and deception is glossy, fast-paced, sure-footed, and utterly absorbing from beginning to end.’ – Sarah Quigley

‘The Rashomon Factor teases and intrigues. It is a fascinating hall of mirrors where neither the characters nor the reader can trust their first or even second impressions. The story is compelling, and when all is finally revealed in a warm Mediterranean light, there is tremendous satisfaction.’ – James Norcliffe

Born in Ireland, Isa Moynihan lived in Singapore and Malaysia before settling in New Zealand. She is fiction editor of Takahe literary magazine and has been published in anthologies and literary magazines in New Zealand and overseas. In 1996 Isa won the Reed Fiction Award for her collection, Sex and the Single Mayfly. The Rashomon Factor is her first novel.Soft cover, 218 pages. Published in 2000.

Second Favorite Son, The by Daniel Myers. ISBN 187727044X. Published by Hazard Press. recommended retail price $24.95.

When Straughan Packard III dies suddenly, control of the family empire should have been passed to his firstborn son, the princely ‘Junior’, Straughan Packard IV. But given Junior’s mysterious disappearance, the job has fallen to the second son, the free-spirited JD Packard.

This is a world where the South has emerged victorious in the War Between the States, where plantations have evolved into corporate empires, the men who run them hold the reins of almost unlimited power, and history and tradition rule. And as JD Packard learns, once caught in a web of hostile corporate takeovers and forbidden love, it’s not easy changing the world.

For Dexter Peebles, a descendant of former Packard slaves, discovering the truth behind Junior’s disappearance means uncovering a past that is full of ghosts: it seems somebody is killing the Packards off, and has been for a long time.

The Second Favorite Son unfolds two hundred years of the Packard family saga. It is a story of the ties that bind and the kind of love only a truly eccentric family can understand.

“Funny, sad, sexy, and filled with characters the reader will not easily forget, The Second Favorite Son carves out a place in Southern fiction and establishes Mr. Myers as a first –rate storyteller and social observer. A brilliant debut.” -- Ben Greer, author of The Loss of Heaven

“Part family saga, part alternative history, part murder mystery and part love story … throw out your precious genre categories, this book is bigger than them all.” – Mike Johnson, author of Counterpart

Daniel Myers has worked as a flight instructor, an air traffic controller, and English teacher in China, for a mercifully brief stint as a chicken farmer, a television gag writer, and a ghostwriter. He has traveled extensively and currently divides his time between the U.S. and New Zealand, where he teaches. The Second Favorite Son is his first novel.

Soft cover, 429 pages. Published in 2004.

Small Change of Silence, The by Michael Henderson. Published by Longacre Press. ISBN 1877135. Recommended retail price $13.

In 1998 New Zealand lost one of its finest ever writers. Michael Henderson’s striking stories gained him the respect of literary figures both in New Zealand and worldwide. His publications were rare, and always worth the wait. Michael’s untimely death leaves us with this, his last book – The Small Change of Silence.

These thirteen tales are breathtakingly inventive and powerful. Henderson’s control of language is exhilarating; the vernacular world of his characters is captured with remarkable agility. What is just under the surface is explored with imaginative intelligence and a graceful strength.

We look for a voice, don’t we, when we pick up a new writer.
Only Michael Henderson could have written these stories.…His ear is amazing – his ear is a national treasure. Maurice Gee

Soft cover, 182 pages. Published in 1999.

  Song of Laughing Bird, The by Rudy Whitehead-Lopez. Published by National Pacific Press. ISBN 9781877368073

In an isolated canyon, three children sit around a campfire as their grandfather tells the story of their ancestors in pre-Ice Age Siberia.  The tale begins 25,000 years ago with the winter birth of a girl-child, Laughing Bird.  She is born into a world where survival is a constant struggle, and where the traditions of the clan are upheld without question.  But as Laughing Bird grows into a woman, she discovers that her destiny stretches far beyond the confines of the harsh tundra.  Against the backdrop of this epic landscape, amidst the rich culture of the Red Bison Clan, an unusual love story unfolds.  Finally, the time comes when Laughing Bird must choose whether to conform to the ways of the tribe, or to embark on an extraordinary adventure that could change the course of history.

Whitehead-Lopez' quality narrative has a universal appeal.  Entwined with this fascinating story are the myths of The People.  It is the story of all of us, told in a way that captures each of us.  It is about challenges and courage, and above all, love.  These stories belong to every culture…
-Amanda Jarden, teacher in English, Hastings Girls' High School

A compelling read, with poetic language and very vivid descriptions of landscape and rituals.  My interest was held until the last page - a great first novel!
-Margaret Dempsey, owner, Janeff Books

Soft cover, 354 pages. Published in 2005.

Songmaker's Chair, The by Albert Wendt. Published by University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824829255. Recommended retail price $20.00.

Auckland, one summer weekend. A family fused together by the energies of multicultural Aotearoa New Zealand faces meltdown as tensions build between migrant and New Zealand-born generations, and between Samoan, Mâori, and Pâlagi family members.
Why is it we've strayed this far?
We think we've found a firm fit to this land.
To our children and mokopuna it's home.
That's good enough pe ‘a o‘o mai le Amen
and Papatûânuku embraces us ...

Albert Wendt has been an influential figure in the developments that have shaped New Zealand and Pacific literature since the 1970s, writing numerous works of fiction and several volumes of poetry, and editing notable anthologies of Pacific literature. He is a professor of New Zealand literature at the University of Auckland. The Songmaker's Chair is his first full-length play. Soft cover, 120 pages. Published in 2004.

South Pacific Literature From Myth to Fabulation by Subramani. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. ISBN 9820200806. Recommended retail price $15.

South Pacific Literature was first published in 1985. It was essentially a study of literary genesis. The book examined the origins and growth of a new literature that developed recently in the South Pacific in interaction with changing cultural and institutional conditions.

This new edition offers the whole of that investigation as part of the region's literary history. This edition also has two additional chapters plus an expanded bibliography.

Subramani is the author of a book of fiction, The Fantasy Eaters (1988). He has edited the Indo-Fijian Experience (1979) and After Narrative: The Pursuit of Reality and Fiction (1990). He is a Professor of Literature at the University of the South Pacific. Soft cover, 228 pages. Published in 1992.

Tales of the Tikongs by Epeli Hau'ofa. Recommended retail price $9.95.

Tales of the Tikongs is an uproariously funny novel. Those people lucky enough to have spent time in Pacific Island cultures will recognize many of the characters. The book is set in Tiko, an imaginary? Pacific Island which is threatened with imminent development. Fortunately Epeli’s characters don’t allow too much development to occur.

Epeli is a huggy bear of a man, quick with a laugh, compassionate and full of the joys of life. I was privileged to work with him for over five years, ample time to recognize and appreciate his unbounded talent. Tales has been described as “a South Pacific Under Milk Wood” and “a milestone in Pacific literature”. I concur. A brilliant book. Highly recommended. Soft cover, 93 pages.

Tensions: 1. In-Between by Julian Treadaway. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. ISBN 982-02-0327-9. Recommended retail price $8.99

Tensions is a series of plays aimed at secondary and above level students in the Pacific, as well as general readers. The plays are interesting stories, full of action and conflict and are suitable for class readers and for stage production. The theme of each play relates to the social, economic, and political pressures or tensions in Pacific Islands individuals and societies, as they come to terms with modern living. Themes include inter-ethnic and racial tensions; social tensions affecting young people, including unplanned pregnancy, marriage, suicide, and alcoholism; land disputes; corruption in politics; health issues; and tensions over the use of the environment by tourism and logging. The plays are equally applicable to Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The plays make excellent starting points for discussion of these issues in classes of English, social studies, or religious education or in youth groups. Exercises follow each play to aid understanding of the text, characters, and issues involved and suggested role plays. Softcover, 74 pages. Published in 2002.

Tensions: 2. Whose Land? by Julian Treadaway. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. ISBN 982-02-0328-7. Recommended retail price $8.99.

Tensions is a series of plays aimed at secondary and above level students in the Pacific, as well as general readers. The plays are interesting stories, full of action and conflict and are suitable for class readers and for stage production. The theme of each play relates to the social, economic, and political pressures or tensions in Pacific Islands individuals and societies, as they come to terms with modern living. Themes include inter-ethnic and racial tensions; social tensions affecting young people, including unplanned pregnancy, marriage, suicide, and alcoholism; land disputes; corruption in politics; health issues; and tensions over the use of the environment by tourism and logging. The plays are equally applicable to Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The plays make excellent starting points for discussion of these issues in classes of English, social studies, or religious education or in youth groups. Exercises follow each play to aid understanding of the text, characters, and issues involved and suggested role plays. Softcover, 82 pages. Published in 2002.  

Tensions: 3. Unwanted by Julian Treadaway. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. ISBN 982-02-0329-5. Recommended retail price $8.99.

Tensions is a series of plays aimed at secondary and above level students in the Pacific, as well as general readers. The plays are interesting stories, full of action and conflict and are suitable for class readers and for stage production. The theme of each play relates to the social, economic, and political pressures or tensions in Pacific Islands individuals and societies, as they come to terms with modern living. Themes include inter-ethnic and racial tensions; social tensions affecting young people, including unplanned pregnancy, marriage, suicide, and alcoholism; land disputes; corruption in politics; health issues; and tensions over the use of the environment by tourism and logging. The plays are equally applicable to Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The plays make excellent starting points for discussion of these issues in classes of English, social studies, or religious education or in youth groups. Exercises follow each play to aid understanding of the text, characters, and issues involved and suggested role plays. Softcover, 56 pages. Published in 2002.  

Tensions: 4. Trees by Julian Treadaway. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. ISBN 982-02-0330-9. Recommended retail price $8.99.

Tensions is a series of plays aimed at secondary and above level students in the Pacific, as well as general readers. The plays are interesting stories, full of action and conflict and are suitable for class readers and for stage production. The theme of each play relates to the social, economic, and political pressures or tensions in Pacific Islands individuals and societies, as they come to terms with modern living. Themes include inter-ethnic and racial tensions; social tensions affecting young people, including unplanned pregnancy, marriage, suicide, and alcoholism; land disputes; corruption in politics; health issues; and tensions over the use of the environment by tourism and logging. The plays are equally applicable to Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The plays make excellent starting points for discussion of these issues in classes of English, social studies, or religious education or in youth groups. Exercises follow each play to aid understanding of the text, characters, and issues involved and suggested role plays. Softcover, 55 pages. Published in 2002.

Tensions: 5. Healthy or Wealthy by Julian Treadaway. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. ISBN 982-02-0331-7. Recommended retail price $8.99.

Tensions is a series of plays aimed at secondary and above level students in the Pacific, as well as general readers. The plays are interesting stories, full of action and conflict and are suitable for class readers and for stage production. The theme of each play relates to the social, economic, and political pressures or tensions in Pacific Islands individuals and societies, as they come to terms with modern living. Themes include inter-ethnic and racial tensions; social tensions affecting young people, including unplanned pregnancy, marriage, suicide, and alcoholism; land disputes; corruption in politics; health issues; and tensions over the use of the environment by tourism and logging. The plays are equally applicable to Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The plays make excellent starting points for discussion of these issues in classes of English, social studies, or religious education or in youth groups. Exercises follow each play to aid understanding of the text, characters, and issues involved and suggested role plays. Softcover, 78 pages. Published in 2002.

Tensions: 6. Helen by Julian Treadaway. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. ISBN 982-02-0332-5. Recommended retail price $8.99.

Tensions is a series of plays aimed at secondary and above level students in the Pacific, as well as general readers. The plays are interesting stories, full of action and conflict and are suitable for class readers and for stage production. The theme of each play relates to the social, economic, and political pressures or tensions in Pacific Islands individuals and societies, as they come to terms with modern living. Themes include inter-ethnic and racial tensions; social tensions affecting young people, including unplanned pregnancy, marriage, suicide, and alcoholism; land disputes; corruption in politics; health issues; and tensions over the use of the environment by tourism and logging. The plays are equally applicable to Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The plays make excellent starting points for discussion of these issues in classes of English, social studies, or religious education or in youth groups. Exercises follow each play to aid understanding of the text, characters, and issues involved and suggested role plays. Softcover, 38 pages. Published in 2002.

They Who Do Not Grieve by Sia Figiel. ISBN 1885030339. Recommended retail price $14.95

“Poetic, energetic, swirling with wild sweeps of feeling, this is powerful and uninhibited writing which unleashes a world dense with ghosts, taboos, deceptions and violence… Bracing and exhilarating.” – The Times, London

In They Who Do Not Grieve, Sia Figiel’s powerful, poetic skills weave together the voices of three generations of women from two families in Samoa and New Zealand. Their fates indelibly joined by betrayal and an unfinished tattoo, Lalolagi and Tausi pass along to their granddaughters, Malu and Alofa, a complex legacy of stories, secrets, and courage. In this sequel to her award-winning first novel, Where We Once Belonged, Figiel invokes the bythic twin sisters who brought the tattoo custom to Samoa as guides to Malu and Alofa as they navigate a society that threatens their self-determination as Samoans and as women.

Born in Apia in 1967, Sia Figiel is the first contemporary woman novelist from Samoa. Her first book, Where We Once Belonged, won the 1997 Commonwealth Writer’s prize for Best First Book for the South East Asia-South Pacific Region, and has been translated into several European languages. She is also the author of The Girl in the Moon Circle and a collection of prose poetry, To A Young Artist in Contemplation (see below). Also known as a performance-poet, Sia is a frequent guest at literary festivals, women’s prisons, universities, and high schools. She recently appeared at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London. Sia has held writer in residencies at the Institucio de les Lletres Catalanes, Spain, the Pacific Writing Forum at the University of the South Pacific, the University of Technology, Sydney, and the East West Center – Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaii. Sia lives in Oceania.

Praise for Sia Figiel”
“A major literary voice ushering the vastness of Pacific Rim literatures into the millennium.” – Lois-Ann Yamanaka

Softcover, 273 pages. Published in 2003.

To A Young Artist in Contemplation by Sia Figiel. Recommended retail price $30, our price $27.50.

Poetry and prose by the Samoan writer who also brought us Where We Once Belonged and The Girl in the Moon Circle.

Reviews from her previous writings:

 “…She is obviously what we say in Samoan – Ua manavaiai le Atua fetalai – that is someone to whom the muse has breathed the gift of writing…” Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese in The Samoan Observer.

“…a storytelling triumph!” ELLE

“…look out for Sia Figiel!” VOGUE

We have been trying to get Oprah to read Girl in the Moon Circle, thus far without success. We believe that once Sia comes to the attention of US reviewers her books will become best-sellers. We heartily recommend anything she has written. Soft cover, 188 pages.

Tomorrow’s Empire by Sandra Arnold. Published by Horizon Press. ISBN 0958212643. Recommended retail price $27.95.

Tomorrow’s Empire is a multi-layered story set in England, Turkey, New Zealand and the USA. It is forged from the themes of cultural conflict and misunderstanding, through the relationship of the two main characters – Sarah, feminist and atheist, and Celik, whose beliefs, rooted in the strict moral code of Islam, drive his ambition to establish a global Islamic society.

‘Tomorrow’s Empire tells a compelling story. In the central figure of Celik, Sandra Arnold has created an individual and complex character, who, while he both fascinates and infuriates, is at the same time a window into a cultural mindset and set of values invariably misunderstood, or even feared in the west.’ – James Norcliffe

Soft cover, 280 pages. Published in 2000.

A Islamic jihad, or holy war, is started in the Middle East by an opportunist sheik. Crushing all opposition to the “Citadel of Wrath,” his ambitions extend far beyond the Arab world, and suddenly the peace and stability enjoyed by Western nations is threatened.

The United Nations scrambles to confront the revolutionary forces, setting the stage for an enthralling covert battle for supremacy between the Citadel’s warriors and a combined Western law enforcement team allied with special field agents of the United Nations. Soft cover, 330 pages. Published in 2000.

Typee by Herman Melville. Our price $15.

It's hard to know where to classify this classic by Herman Melville. Originally subtitled A Peep at Polynesian Life, it is closely based on Melville's four month sojourn with a group of South Sea Islanders after he and a companion deserted their whaling ship. When it was first published in 1846 it catapaulted a youthful (27 year old) Melville to fame.

Initially the two Americans are charmed and fascinated by the exotic life of the Typees - their physical beauty, the regal bearing of their warriors, the gracefulness of their women - and embrace with enthusiasm their food and customs. Yet the land of the Typees is not quite paradise: the two men are guests who may not leave but eventually they make their escape. Today, over 150 years later, the freshness of Melville's vision is still appealing, while the moral perceptions the narrator draws from his experiences foreshadows the author's profound concerns in later works. If you are a Melville fan already then this book is a must. Soft cover, 389 pages. First published in 1849!

(42k)

Vaka: Saga of a Polynesian Canoe by Tom Davis, Pa Tuterangi Ariki Recommended retail price $26.

This saga of Polynesian voyaging is told by one of its most distinguished sons. Sir Tom Davis, Pa Tuterangi Ariki, KFE, is himself a navigator of some renown as well as a scientist of international repute and a former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands. He gives, in the form of a novel, a fascinating account of 300 years of voyaging of a single historic canoe by his own forebears as told in their traditions.

Polynesians are people of the outrigger canoe. In the beginning, they sailed from south-east Asia, through the islands of Indonesia and Melanesia. They settled in Tonga and Samoa around 1500 BC and later sailed on to the Cook Islands, the Society Islands, Marquesas, Tuamotu, Easter Island, Hawaii, New Zealand, even to Micronesia. The communication between their communities offered by their swift voyaging canoes was a major reason for the maintenance of basic systems of language, social structure and numerous cultural similarities for more than 3,000 years.

Only Ariki (royal paramount chiefs) commanded the resources to build, maintain and operate large voyaging canoes. Their life was accompanied by cyclical problems of over-population and struggles for power and territory. The technology of Takitumu, the voyaging canoe, which is the focus of this novel, was developed to serve the purposes, whims, intrigues and passions of those who sailed her over a period of 300 years. This book is destined to become a classic. Soft cover, 326 pp.

Violated by Barbara Ker-Mann. Published by Horizon Press. ISBN 0958212686. Recommended retail price $24.95.

Violated is a story that grips you. It comjures up a world where human cloning is a frequent reality. It hits your heart and your head.

Violated takes you on the global journey you have wanted to take. A journey to discover for yourself how others live – only to find that people everywhere love, and want to be loved, and where most couples desire to have children.

No other New Zealand writer of fiction has ventured into the complex arena of cloning issues that confront scientists and the medical fraternity in the 21st century.

‘She cuts through the abstract arguments of philosophers and theologians with a compelling tale that both entertains and forces the reader to confront stark possibilities of our times.’ – Professor Donald Evans, Director Bioethics Centre, University of Otago

Barbara Ker-Mann is a New Zealander. Her writing reflects a passion for family, music-education and ideas. She has been a teacher of English, art, and music and studied violin and music-education at UWO, London, Canada, while doing her Master’s Degree from Auckland University, New Zealand.

Her thesis, The Suzuki Violin Method, was researched at the Talent Education Institute, Matsumoto, Japan, in 1983-4 and was supported by an International Fellowship from the American Association of University Women.

While living in Japan, Barbara studied traditional Japanese art and chigirie and practices these arts.

Barbara now resides at Paraparaumu on the Kapiti Coast north of Wellington, New Zealand. Soft cover, 359 pages. Published in 2002.

Click on links below for these books.

Aboriginal Myths, Legends & Fables by A. W. Reed

Aboriginal Stories by A. W. Reed

All Done With Mirrors by Russell Haley

Anno Domini 2000 or Woman's Destiny by Julius Vogel

Antipodean Tales: Stories from the dark side edited by Stephen Cain

Attack of the Skunk People by Phil Kawana

Bag Lady's Picnic,The and other stories by Frankie McMillan

Beginner’s Guide to the Treaty of Waitangi, The by Tony Veitch

Beyond Ceremony: An Anthology of Drama From Fiji edited by Ian Gaskell

Black Messiah: A collection of short stories and a novella by Joseph C Veramu

Book of Possibilities: Contemporary Australian poets, The by Jill Jones

Bunyip Archives, The by James E. Schutte

Celebration, The : Collection of Short Stories by Raymond Pillai

Confession and Other Stories, The by Julian Maka’a

Custom Stories from Choiseul by Colin Rugebatu & 16 others

Dead Jazz Guys and other stories by Phil Kawana

Diamonds in the Sand by Laurel Benson

Don’t Panic: Head for the Hills – New Zealand Short Stories by Glenis Jacobs

Dread by Stephen Sinclair

Eleven Stories from Ranongga/Manoga Maka Vavakato pa Ganoqa by Lesieli ‘Atonio and 7 others

Girl in the Moon Circle, The by Sia Figiel

Glitch In Time, A by Peter Durney

Gold in the Creek; a Dinkum Kiwi Farce by David McGill

Gutsini Posa (Rough Seas) by Regis Stella

Haviliviliaga Manatu (Reflections) by Tohitohi Nukutuluea - the Niue Writers Group

Hawks by Andrew Grant

Heart of the Volcano by Michael Morrissey

Hobsons’ Chance by Jenny Haworth

Huia Short Stories 3 by Jill Bevan-Brown, et al

Huia Short Stories 4; Contemporary Maori Fiction Te Awhina Arahanga et al

Huia Short Stories 5; Contemporary Maori Fiction by Marlene Bennetts et al

Hummingbird by James George

I Native No More by Jo Nacola

In the Constellation of the Crab by Doris Brett

Irish Yankee, The by Edmund Bohan

Jane Austen: Antipodean Views by Susannah Fullerton & Anne Harbers

Keiki by Jan Tissot

Kokopu Dreams by Chris Baker

Legends From the Atolls by Kauraka Kauraka

Lomo’ha I Am, In Spirit’s Voice I Call by Steven Edmund Winduo

Mana 2000, Cook Islands Special edited by Jean Tekura and Vaine Rasmussen

Mocemoce, Na Vanua; The Land Abiding by Caitlin Scholl

Moving Through The Streets by Joseph C. Veramu

Musings on Niue edited by Larry Thomas

Myths and Legends of Fiji & Rotuma (students edition) by AW Reed and Inez Hames

Nei Ikuiku Ma Ana Karaki by Tekarei Tibwere Russell

New Zealand Music Charts: 1966-1996: Singles by Dean Scapolo

No Angel by Felicity Price

Olivia by Lester Earnshaw

One Lady at Wairakei by Rudyard Kipling

Parrot Parfait by Sue Emms

Passionate Pen, The: New Zealand's Romance Writers talk to Rachel McAlpine by Rachel McAlpine

Radio Man, The by Lester Earnshaw

Roviana Custom Stories edited by Jully Makini

Rutherford's Dreams: A New Zealand science fiction collection edited by Warwick Bennett and Patrick Hudson

Scarring, The by Geoff Page

Second Favorite Son, The by Daniel Myers

Skeleton Woman, The: A Romance by Renee

Song of the Circle by Barry Brailsford

Song of the Eagle by Barry Brailsford

Song of the Sacred Wind by Barry Brailsford

Song of the Silence by Barry Brailsford

Song of the Whale by Barry Brailsford

Songs and Songwriters of the Cook Islands: E Au Imene Tamataora by John J. Herrmann

Songs of Tuvalu by Gerd Koch. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies

Taku Akatauira/ My Dawning Star by Kauraka Kauraka

Tales of a Lonely Island by Mesulama Titifanua and C. Maxwell Churchward

Tales Of Manihiki collected by K. Kauraka

Tambu Ground, The by Barry Hayes

Tasman’s Lay by Peter Hawes

To Each His Own by Philip Temple

Top Hat and Taiaha and Other Stories by Lindsay Charman-Love

To the Land of Light: A Saga of Kupe and Ngahue by Jean Irvine

Two Plays by Vilsoni Hereniko

Tyler's Gold by Andrew Grant. Published by Shoal Bay Press

Unlevel Crossings by Michael O’Leary

Woman Far Walking by Witi Ihimaera

Wooden Horses by James George