Books – Page 3

Texture alpha – exploring surfaces

First published in June 2014, Texture alpha – exploring surfaces, was designed to showcase the potential in producing photo-essays for consumption via an iPad. Textures alpha features eighty stunning full-page images grouped in five chapters.

All the images in Texture alpha involve surfaces that are patterned. Some of those patterns are integral to the surface being photographed, with others the ‘surface’ has acquired its pattern through an event or over time. The other key element is how light plays across, or is reflected by, that surface to reveal it’s texture.

Test readers for Texture alpha were intrigued by the book’s more abstract images. Guessing the subject of those images became a challenge, and in one instance a competition. To support readers wishing to play ‘guess the subject‘ we have added a discrete link – on the less-obvious images – to a glossary entry that holds a short explanatory note.

A second title in the Textures series is in production, as are other photo essay titles which are building on what we have learned in our photo-essay publishing journey.

Texture alpha – exploring surfaces is available for purchase through Apple Books.

A Child Escapes

In A Child Escapes Francis Deng chronicles his dangerous and frightening journey after being removed from his family, at gunpoint, at the age of nine.

Too many young boys suffered extraordinary deprivation as forced child-soldiers during the civil war that raged across the South Sudan. This is a story of physical and mental suffering that, for Francis, was compounded by the tragic loss of his mother and younger siblings.

Many boys died. Miraculously, Francis survived. His harrowing story as one of the ‘Lost Boys’, redemption through the opportunities Australia offered, contributions to his adopted country, and support for those within this community facing transition and cultural challenges, is important and gripping.

A Child Escapes is a chronicle of redemption and persistence told by a courageous young man. It is now available as an ebook through Apple Books in some 50 regions, and as a paperback.

This is Not a Violin, it is a Doorway

The first ‘arts’ title under the Make Books imprint, This is Not a Violin, it is a Doorway celebrates ReVerse Butcher’s arresting and innovative achievements that were unleashed through Sarah Curro’s perceptive patronage. A process that began with Sarah asking ‘Can you paint a violin for me?’.

The canvas ReVerse Butcher used was provided by innovative luthier, Paul Davies in the form of a Spur Semi-Acoustic violin – a ground-breaking instrument that he has developed to bridge the gap between acoustic and electric violins.

ReVerse Butcher’s concept was to create a nine-part graphic score of a movement from Sarah Curro’s favourite piece of music, and to install that score on the violin. Sarah’s favourite is the War Requiem by Benjamin Britten.

This is Not a Violin, it is a Doorway offers readers a rich visual and audio experience as it chronicles an imaginative act in creating a unique doorway into the mysteries of Art.

Angels, like laundry

Angels, like laundry is a collection of 44 contemporary Australian poems by author and barrister Brian Walters. Each poem has something to say; each draws on a strong individual voice to explore its insight. The poems are gathered under six headings: beginnings, legends and warnings, memories, journeys, reflections and farewells. Each of these groups is complemented by several full-page images to create a rich visual setting.

Angels, like laundry contains a video clip of an event that informed one poem, while two other poems were the inspiration for contemporary Australian musical compositions, with a recording of those works also to be found in the book.