No Worries, Mate is the journal of a modern-day swagman on a manly adventure in the land down under. Follow his manful exploits as he closes the pubs of Sydney, tramps about the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, cruises Victoria's Great Ocean Road, searches for the elusive Tasmanian devil, surfs the shores of Queensland, dives along the Great Barrier Reef, explores Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory, and as he manfully climbs Ayers Rock. Follow him also as he hones his manly virtues on the beach, around the barbie, at the track and in the Australian Outback. Needless to say, his are feats seldom seen in these, less than manful times.

NO WORRIES MATE!!! By Victor S E Moubarak I have an Aunt in Australia who is very nice ... up to a point. Shall we say she is an acquired taste and tends to grate on you somewhat. The first thing that my Australian Aunt Gertrude said to me when we first met was "G' Day cobber! You don't look as good as your photo! A Picasso with a bad stomach more like!!!" The second thing she said was "Are you gonna carry my luggage mate? Or do I have to call a porter and have to tip him for the pleasure?" As I carried her luggage to the car, there started my long ordeal of having my Aunt Gertrude as a guest whilst she holidays with us. Make no mistake about it, she is a kind old lady with a heart of gold which she hides well in case anyone thinks nicely of her. She lives in a world of her own totally oblivious of the effect her distinctive Australian accent, her loud voice which can be heard three Continents away, and her unbelievable antics, have on the rest of humanity. Or to be more precise ... have on me in particular. I hope you enjoy these short stories recording the various frolics of my Aunt Gertrude and my long suffering existence whilst she stays with us. Victor S E Moubarak www.holyvisions.co.uk

Since first appearing in 1998, Garner's Modern American Usage has established itself as the preeminent guide to the effective use of the English language. Brimming with witty, erudite essays on troublesome words and phrases, GMAU authoritatively shows how to avoid the countless pitfalls that await unwary writers and speakers whether the issues relate to grammar, punctuation, word choice, or pronunciation. An exciting new feature of this third edition is Garner's Language-Change Index, which registers where each disputed usage in modern English falls on a five-stage continuum from nonacceptability (to the language community as a whole) to acceptability, giving the book a consistent standard throughout. GMAU is the first usage guide ever to incorporate such a language-change index. The judgments are based both on Garner's own original research in linguistic corpora and on his analysis of hundreds of earlier studies. Another first in this edition is the panel of critical readers: 120-plus commentators who have helped Garner reassess and update the text, so that every page has been improved. Bryan A. Garner is a writer, grammarian, lexicographer, teacher, and lawyer. He has written professionally about English usage for more than 28 years, and his work has achieved widespread renown. David Foster Wallace proclaimed that Bryan Garner is a genius and William Safire called the book excellent. In fact, due to the strength of his work on GMAU, Garner was the grammarian asked to write the grammar-and-usage chapter for the venerable Chicago Manual of Style. His advice on language matters is second to none.

The most original and authoritative voice of today's English lexicography presents a fully revised new edition of his beloved usage dictionary When Bryan Garner published the first edition of A Dictionary of Modern American Usage in 1999, the book quickly became one of the most influential style guides ever written for the English language. After four previous editions and over twenty years, our language has evolved in many ways, and the powerful tool of big data has revolutionized lexicography. This extensively revised new edition fully captures these changes, featuring a thousand new entries and over two hundred replacement entries, thoroughly updated usage data and ratios on word frequency based on the Google Ngram Viewer, a more balanced coverage of World Englishes, not just American and British, and the inclusion of gender-neutral language. However, one thing has not changed: in no sense is this a regular dictionary but a masterpiece of lexicography written with wit and personality by one of the preeminent authorities on the English language. To put it in David Foster Wallace's words, Garner's discussion of rhetoric and style still borders on genius. From the (lost) battle between self-deprecating and self-depreciating to the misuse of it's for its, from the variant spelling patty-cake taking over pat-a-cake in American English to the singular uses of they, Garner explains the nuances of grammar and vocabulary and the linguistic blunders to which modern writers and speakers are prone, whether in word choice, syntax, phrasing, punctuation, or pronunciation. His empirical approach liberates English from two extremes: from the purists who maintain that split infinitives and sentence-ending prepositions are malfeasances and from the linguistic relativists who believe that whatever people say or write must necessarily be accepted. The purpose of Garner's dictionary is to help writers, editors, and speakers use the language effectively. And it does so in a playful and persuasive way that will help you sound grammatical but relaxed, refined but natural, correct but unpedantic.

Third Language Dictionary is a guide to everyday language that is peculiar to and used by Australian folks from all walks of life no matter what or who they are or the level of success, education, credence, or place in society they have attained.

Join a fellow traveler on a walkabout through Paris and London, and then travel with him across England, Scotland and Wales. After those walkabouts, accompany him as he journeys across America and follows the equator to Australia. Finally, wander with him along the corridors of modern and postmodern philosophy, and as he travels with old and new Philosophes, who all voiced an opinion as regards this travel book. It is a book that people won't buy, won't read and won't praise. Mark Twain After reading only a few pages, I gave up the study of philosophy forever. Voltaire I cannot look upon the book without shedding tears. Bertrand Russell If I could only make a travel book like that, I would be perfectly willing to die-even anxious. John Dewey I have seen a great many travel books in my time, but none that this one reminds me of. Will Durant This travel book is one-third fabrication, one-third prevarication and one-third barefaced lies. However, the rest of the book is the unadulterated truth. Dr. Morris A. Nussbaum

Australian detective Scobie Malone is asked to investigate what seems like an easy case: Norma Glaze has been strangled in her bedroom and her husband Ron has disappeared. What appears cut-and-dry on the surface is complicated by the fact that the night before involved a one-night stand and a killer with a twisted right hand. Four years later, Malone finds and arrests Ron Glaze in a bush town, but the man insists he is innocent even as the evidence makes his conviction in court a cinch. The young prosecutor, Tim Pierpont, is a well-respected community member, too, which makes for an easy sentence of Glaze's guilt. Meanwhile, the capital city of Sydney is dealing with the kidnapping of a child model, Lucybelle Vanheusen, and her hysterical family. Malone doesn't take the case seriously until a body turns up-and only then does Malone realize that Lucybelle's family life does not at all resemble his own caring household. Finally, a witness comes forward in the Glaze case and implicates a new suspect-and the deeper that Malone digs into both murders, the more he wishes he had not.