When Dark Roots Hunt

2 May, 2023 Editor-in-Chief

by Zena Shapter

Don’t go out onto the lake. Wyann trees search the shallows to spear passing prey with their roots. Giant water-ants hunt anything that moves on the water-skin. Sala’s village survives hidden behind a wall of poisonous ivy, because everyone agrees: don’t go out onto the lake.

But then a strange comet crosses the night sky, throwing Sala and her pet pointer into a race through wyann-infested swampland that has her risking it all, unearthing long-hidden Continue reading When Dark Roots Hunt →

Teacher Notes

Teacher Notes – Satin

12 February, 2023 Site Manager

Teachers’ Notes for Satin (pdf, 714 kb)

Title

Satin

9 February, 2023 Editor-in-Chief 2 Comments

Written by Sophie Masson,
illustrated by Lorena Carrington

HB 32 | 240 x 240 | $29.99 | ISBN: 9781922858016 | March 2023 Picture
Book | MidnightSun Publishing | Distributed by NewSouth Books

Every morning early, when no-one’s about, Satin slips out of the forest and walks along the sleepy sunrise streets, looking for blue…

He’s collected all kinds of blues, from all kinds of places. He’s making something beautiful, with all those blues. But something’s missing, and he doesn’t know what it is. And then, one day, he comes to a street he’s never been in before. And what he finds there will Continue reading Satin →

Author

Lorena Carrington

9 February, 2023 Editor-in-Chief

Lorena Carrington is an acclaimed illustrator and writer based in regional Victoria, known for her intricate photographic montage illustrations. Some of her recent books include The Grown-Up’s Guide to Picture Books with Lara Cain Gray (author) and Timothy Ide (co-illustrator), Leaf Letters, Kate Forsyth’s Long Lost Fairy Tales, and Satin with Sophie Masson. Her work has earned her numerous Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Submissions Temporarily Closed

8 February, 2023 Editor-in-Chief

Due to the overwhelming number of submissions, MidnightSun has regretfully decided to close our submissions for a few months until we have had time to look at the hundreds of submissions that are currently waiting to be read. It isn’t fair for you to have to wait so long for a reply and this is the best way for our small team to deal with the situation. We will open again as soon as we have been able to reduce the number of submissions waiting. Please keep an eye on the website and social media for the next opening date. Thank you for understanding!

Teacher Notes

Teacher Notes – Something About Alaska

21 October, 2022 Site Manager

Teachers’ Notes for Something About Alaska (pdf, 830 kb)

Title

Her Death Was Also Water

30 September, 2022 Editor-in-Chief 2 Comments

by Allen C. Jones

PB 368 | 234 x 153 | $29.99
ISBN: 9781925227918 | November 2022
Novel | Also available as ebook
MidnightSun Publishing
Distributed by NewSouth Books

A mixture of apocalypse, high-seas adventure, and otherworldliness, Her Death Was Also Water tells the story of seven people trying to survive on a small boat in a world completely transformed by an apocalyptic flood. Haunted by entwined pasts, the characters must voyage from a small Midwestern town through a world that seems increasingly fantastic. Each will face their past, and some will die, and the boat will even float through the miraculous, but only fifteen-year-old Charlotte will discover that death is not always death. Sometimes, it is Continue reading Her Death Was Also Water →

Title

Something About Alaska

15 August, 2022 Editor-in-Chief

by J. A. Cooper

PB 224 | 198 x 128 | $19.99
ISBN: 9780987380975 | September 2022
Young Adult | Also available as ebook
MidnightSun Publishing
Distributed by NewSouth Books

‘It’s a wicked cold, the Alaska winter, and can kill a man in a second…’

Nearing 15, Zac Greene travels to Alaska to re-connect with the father he’s only ever known from a distance. But Zac’s dad is a lone wolf – a wounded soul who’d rather drown his regrets in a bottle of bourbon than confront the mistakes of his past. As Zac struggles to earn his father’s approval, things spiral out of control forcing Zac to take his chances with the Alaskan winter. Whatever hope remains for father and son quickly fades, as Zac is forced to hitchhike to escape the hostile weather and soon finds himself sharing a remote cabin with a total stranger… and his gun. Continue reading Something About Alaska →

Author

J. A. Cooper

15 August, 2022 Editor-in-Chief 1 Comment

Years ago, James Cooper travelled the world over and once spent three months tending sled dogs in Alaska. His work as a teacher took him from southern England to the remote Australian outback, and he completed his Ph.D. while living in a tin shed on 40 acres. Nowadays, his adventures mostly take place on the page. He loves reading and writing poetry and stories that reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary, and his work has appeared in such journals as Dappled Things, Light Poetry Magazine, and Continue reading →

Title

Wild Bush Days

15 July, 2022 Editor-in-Chief

Written by Penny Harrison, illustrated by Virginia Gray

HB 32 | 210 x 295 | $29.99 | ISBN: 9780987380906
August 2022 | Picture Book | MidnightSun Publishing
Distributed by NewSouth Books

Jessie Hickman was Australia’s bold, but little-known, Lady Bushranger. Raised in the circus during the early 1900s, she later turned to a life of crime and cattle hustling. She used her skills as a rough-rider and tightrope walker to elude police, often hiding in a cave, deep in the mountains. Continue reading Wild Bush Days →

Author

Penny Harrison

15 July, 2022 Editor-in-Chief

Penny Harrison has always lived in a world of stories. A journalist for more than 20 years, her work has appeared in a variety of leading magazines, newspapers and journals. Penny is the author of acclaimed picture books such as Extraordinary and the CBCA Notable Me & My Boots. Wild Bush Days is the story of her childhood. Penny grew up on a farm in the NSW Capertee Valley and spent much of her time exploring the bush, always dreaming up adventurous tales and the possibility of finding the Lady Bushranger’s cave. She now lives on the outskirts of Melbourne with her family and an ever-growing menagerie.

Author

Virginia Gray

15 July, 2022 Editor-in-Chief

Born on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, Virginia developed at an early age a keen appreciation of nature in all its forms. Her family then moved to Adelaide where she continued her schooling, later training as a fashion illustrator. Moving to the UK, Virginia worked in London for many years as a fashion illustrator for Harrods, Selfridges and various advertising agencies. She adapted her style to illustrate children’s educational books, focussing on history, where her interest in costume detail and fashion proved very useful. Eventually Continue reading →

Title

Random Acts of Unkindness

9 June, 2022 Editor-in-Chief

by Anna Mandoki

PB 352 | 234 x 153 | $29.99 | IBSN: 9780987226587
July 2022 | Fiction | Also available as ebook
MidnightSun Publishing
Distributed by NewSouth Books

In an all-too-recognisable Melbourne of the near future, the lives of three very different women become intertwined.

Emily is a researcher at the University, carrying out experiments on overcrowding in rats. Free-spirited Amala is an international student feeling the strong tug of home. Roz is a struggling photographer who has visions of the future, although she tries her best to ignore them.

When Roz foresees a terrible tragedy, she is finally driven to act. But can she turn things around once a direction has already been set? As events rapidly escalate Continue reading Random Acts of Unkindness →

Author

Anna Mandoki

9 June, 2022 Editor-in-Chief

Anna Mandoki is an Australian author and artist. She was born in the UK and lived and worked in London and Budapest before making her home in Melbourne, on beautiful Wurundjeri woi wurrung country.

Anna has a Bachelor degree in Psychology from the University of York and a Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing from Melbourne’s RMIT. Her short fiction and non-fiction has appeared in various journals and anthologies including Island and Westerly, and has been broadcast on ABC Radio National. Random Acts of Unkindness is her first novel.

Title

The Rider on the Bridge

17 May, 2022 Editor-in-Chief

by Scott Pearce

PB 192 | 234 x 153 | $29.99
ISBN: 9780987226556 | 18 May 2022
Fiction | Also available as ebook
MidnightSun Publishing
Distributed by NewSouth Books

‘It is a good story, although I cannot say it is true. Like most stories I suppose there is some truth in it, but the absence of truth does not diminish the story, does it?’ In late autumn, Kitten, so named by a girl he met long ago, sits and remembers an aching adolescence; not of lost love and romance, but of wild and unbound Continue reading The Rider on the Bridge →

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