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New Releases and Other Books by Sleepers

The Danger Game by Kalinda Ashton – release August 2009 (RRP: $24.95)

"Sometimes the only way to manage the daily percolating drip of fear, the corrosive dread of debt and humiliation, is to embrace another sort of terror, to put oneself in danger."

Alice and Louise are sisters united by a distrant tragedy - the house fire their brother burnt to death in fourteen years ago. Alice teaches dirt-poor students at a state high school that the government wants to close while she pursues a tumultuouse relationship with a married man. Louse, a habitual liar and recovering heroin addict, has been playing 'the danger game' since she was a child, and she can't stop. But when Louise decides to unravel the truth about her twin brother's death, and seeks out the mother that abandoned them, everything changes.

"Four-and-a-half stars. While big Australian publishers are busy fighting each other with vampires and gangsters, small presses are quietly putting out some of the most impressive literary fiction of recent years. Melbourne-based Sleepers Publishing have uncovered a writer of exceptional skill and poise, whose debut novel is as outstanding an example of a contemporary realist narrative as you're likely to find. With echoes of Australian literary heavyweights such as Elliot Perlman or Anson Cameron, Ashton's story deftly explores the psychological damage of unspoken family history... Ashton allows us to understand the extraordinary importance of ordinary lives."– Bookseller and Publisher

An unflinching examination of familial and communal bonds. It is masterful, poignant, powerful and true. Ashton's is a remarkable voice and this is a wonderful novel. – Christos Tsiolkas

SOLD by Brendan Gullifer –release April 2009 (RRP: $24.95)

Money. Lust. Real estate. SOLD takes a fly-on-the-wall look at Melbourne's property industry. Set in the leafy, prosperous inner suburbs, it follows the fortunes and misfortunes of three agents as they jostle, thrive and try to survive. It reveals the routines, the agents' listing tricks and the subtle intimidation used to motivate staff and prospective vendors at Prender and Prender Real Estate. Failed AFL footballer, Will Pittman, now a junior agent, is looking for redemption. Former Auckland car dealer Harry 'The Fox' Osbourne just wants to pay the kids' school fees. And Dally Love, the smiling assassin, wants it all: money, the girl, and the warm glow that comes from being seen as a good bloke.

"FOUR STARS. Gullifer's novel exposes a lot of what we suspected might be the level of integrity of the real estate world. This novel reminded me of Richard Beasley's Hell Has Harbour Views. It's a fun ride."– Bookseller and Publisher

"Scary, hilarious and really well written." – Peter Moon

"If you like your satire funny, clever and extra sharp, you'll love SOLD." – Toni Jordan

"This perfect reading opportunity contains f/f characters, elec plot lines, and wall to wall quality writing. Stunning debut, perfect for entertaining." – Tony Wilson

Read more of Brendan's words here.

Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam – release March 2009 (RRP: $24.95)

It's the anxious eve of the millennium. The car is packed to capacity, and as midnight approaches, a family flees the city in a fit of panic and paranoid, conflicting emotions.

'I'll get fired.'

'No one will know.'

'Central will find out.'

'Anything named Central doesn't even know what you look like. I do, and I'm watching you to see that you make the right decision here.'

He waved us through.

"FIVE STARS. This is the first novel released by Sleepers Publishing... and an inspired choice. Things We Didn't See Coming is an assured piece of writing by Amsterdam, and will appeal to lovers of good literary fiction."– Bookseller and Publisher

"Bold, original and sneakily affecting,Things We Didn't See Comingis about keeping your head in the midst of an apocalypse and how to make a decent life out of whatever's left over. It's about finding something to cling to when everything around you falls apart, and then finding a way to let go of even that. And it's about accepting that it's all going to end and striving to connect, to love and be loved anyway." – Emily Maguire

"Celebrate. Here is a voice both authentic and absorbing. A brilliant choice for Sleepers' first venture into the novel." – Helen Elliott

Visit the official site here.

Conceived on a Tram: a book of cartoons, illustrations and graphic stories done in Melbourne ISBN: 978-0-9756991-4-0 Across Melbourne, just after teatime, thousands of people begin doodling; people at their kitchen/coffee/stable tables start drawing. Purchase one right here through our bookshop.

Toast: The Best Thing Since, Well... By Daylan James. ISBN: 978-0-9756991-3-3 "Without toast can there be art? Science? Love? Of course not. Late at night, or sometime well after lunch, and, it goes with saying, at breakfast too, toast is hip, toast is always there for you, toast cares. Life would not be worth living without it, or without this, the official companion volume for the world's most reliable meal." – John Birmingham, He Died with a Felafel in his Hand You can purchase one right here through our bookshop.

Sales and Distribution Enquiries

For all books excluding Toast (see below) distribution occurs through Hardie Grant Books care of Random House: 16 Dalmore Drive, Scoresby VIC, (ph) 03-9753 4511, (fax) 03-9753 3944.

Toast – the best thing since, well... is distributed through Dennis Jones and Associates: 19a Michellan Court, Bayswater VIC 3153 – (ph) 03-9720 6761, (fax) 03-9720 4472

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