HUNTER ‘Hunter’ follows the
stories of three principle characters: two old men, one a Nazi from
Austria and the other a soldier from northern Germany, and a teenage
boy Eric. Having just moved from the country to the coastal town of
Crescent Bay, south of Perth, Eric has difficulty adjusting to the new
life and to gain acceptance from his peers. To earn some money, he
begins doing odd jobs for seniors and comes into contact with the two
old men. Of Germany descent himself, Eric becomes fascinated by the men
and the stories they tell. Are they Nazis? Should he contact the
police? But they are just old men now, harmless, not long for the world
anyway. It becomes clear that one of the men has damning evidence
against the other and Eric is forced to choose who to turn over to the
police. Set during the Gulf War and with a backdrop of middle
class Australian coastal life, ‘Hunter’ is a coming of age story but
one which poses some interesting questions about nationality, social
acceptance, middle class suburban life in Australia, and conformity. Buy it online. Read an extract in the March 2009 issue of Ether Magazine. Reviews - Grumpy Dan, Bestsellersworld, Kat Bryan's Corner, Gramma's Reads, Bibliophile23. 
Did the Australian government really bring known Nazi party members to Australia and protected them until their deaths? The
government sponsored immigration after the Second World War had
dramatic effects on Australia. The Japanese attack and the threat of
future attacks resulted in the formulation of the government plan to
‘populate or perish’. The Employment of Scientific and Technical Aliens
Scheme ran between 1946 and 1951. In August 1999, the Sydney Morning
Herald uncovered documents detailing how a number of known Nazis and
Nazi Party members had been brought to Australia under this program. No
doubt, there were many others who had renounced their Nazi affiliations
or had taken other identities who also came in via this route, and
still more who were migrants. Few were hunted down and none were caught
and put on trial. No wonder the Jerusalem Post once called Australia ‘a
haven for some of Hitler’s worst henchmen.’
THE BICYCLE TEACHER
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 went the culture and identity of millions of people. Through the story of Michael Smith, an Australian who moved to East Germany in 1981, a different side of communism was shown, a more positive side focusing on the people who lived there, good people who had no ideological position. Michael married an East Berliner and began to raise a family. He further educated himself and became a teacher whereas he had been previously a mechanic. His life was fulfilling and satisfying; he succeeded in ways he could never have hoped to in Australia. The fall of the wall brought his happiness to a crashing halt, especially because he had supported the protest to reform but feared a selling-out to the West. For him, the unification was an end and not a beginning. He could not reconcile that his happiness had been taken away from him by the West. His secret life as a Stasi (secret police) informer had him riddled with guilt. He uprooted his family back to Australia, and to a much better life than the one he had left behind, but not nearly as satisfying as it had been in East Germany.
Buy it online.
Look inside the book. Or join the group on Facebook.
Reviews - Ether Magazine, Exberliner, amazon, reviewcentre, overstock, buzzillions, reviewscout