An unruly and stubborn helicopter pilot takes on a mercenary contract flying medical/famine relief aid and armed protection for the UN and a demanding Irish Nun in war-torn East Africa. What could possibly go wrong? An awkward and humorous tale of unrequited love.

Impressionistic and dreamy, a nine-year-old girl immediately feels that she might be called by God when a Catholic missionary speaks to her third grade class at a Catholic school. The idea of this calling embeds itself into her, haunting her through elementary and high school, after which she chooses to enter the convent. Her story follows the five years she spent as an Adrian Dominican nun struggling to balance her desire for a secular life with her great fear of turning her back on God's call. Her stories are sad as well as joyous, inspiring as well as unsettling.

The inside story of New Zealand's iconic independent record label by the man who made it happen. I wanted to be more than just an observer. I wanted to be a part of what was going on. I had told someone and the word was out, and now I had to actually do this thing. Start a record label. I must have been drunk. Roger Shepherd was working in a Christchurch record shop when he realised the local bands he loved needed someone to make their records. Flying Nun was born. Those records and the bands that created them – The Chills, The Clean, Chris Knox and the Tall Dwarfs, The Verlaines, Sneaky Feelings, The Bats, Straitjacket Fits and many more – went on to define an era and create what became known as “the Dunedin Sound”. In truth it was less a unified sound than a spirit of adventure and independence that characterised the Flying Nun ethos. In this long-awaited memoir, label founder Roger Shepherd describes the idealism and passion that drove the project in the first place, the hard realities of the music industry, and the constant tension between art and commerce. Filled with revealing anecdote and insight, this is the definitive insider history of the one of the most innovative and original record labels of the modern era. "Surely the label with the highest quality output per capita in pop history." – Guardian UK. "Something inexplicably special happened in the Southern Hemisphere a quarter of a century or so ago, the ripples still rumbling, and without it, all the music you love today would sound ever so slightly, and indefinably, different.” - British comedian Stewart Lee.

In this remarkable tale of creativity and chaos, do-it-yourself innovation and extraordinary attempts at world domination, Needles and Plastic tells the inside story of one of New Zealand - and the world's - great independent music labels. Hundreds of full color & black and white photos illustrate the story! Founded in 1981 by Roger Shepherd in Christchurch, New Zealand, Flying Nun Records unleashed an extraordinary wave of music that had an impact around the world. Needles and Plastic is the first comprehensive history of the early years of the label and its bands covering the critical period from 1981-1988 when many of the most influential and critically acclaimed artists emerged on Flying Nun, bands like - from The Clean, The Chills, The Verlaines, Straitjacket Fits and Bailter Space. The influence of the obscure label became apparent in the 1990s, when big-time indie acts like Pavement, Cat Power or Yo La Tengo started covering Flying Nun bands. In entries on over 140 records from The Clean's 'Tally Ho!' 7" in 1981 to The Verlaines Bird-Dog LP in 1988, Matthew Goody tells the story through the records themselves. His book draws on years of in-depth research to reveal the stories of the bands, the recordings, the songs, and the audience, with a host of significant characters contributing along the way - Shepherd, Chris Knox, Doug Hood, Hamish Kilgour and many more. In this remarkable tale of creativity and chaos, do-it-yourself innovation and extraordinary attempts at world domination, Needles and Plastic tells the inside story of one the world's great independent music labels.

A National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" Honoree “An enchanting, sparkling book about the many meanings of sisterhood.” —Kristin Iversen, Refinery29 Claire Luchette's debut, Agatha of Little Neon, is a novel about yearning and sisterhood, figuring out how you fit in (or don’t), and the unexpected friends who help you find your truest self Agatha has lived every day of the last nine years with her sisters: they work together, laugh together, pray together. Their world is contained within the little house they share. The four of them are devoted to Mother Roberta and to their quiet, purposeful life. But when the parish goes broke, the sisters are forced to move. They land in Woonsocket, a former mill town now dotted with wind turbines. They take over the care of a halfway house, where they live alongside their charges, such as the jawless Tim Gary and the headstrong Lawnmower Jill. Agatha is forced to venture out into the world alone to teach math at a local all-girls high school, where for the first time in years she has to reckon all on her own with what she sees and feels. Who will she be if she isn’t with her sisters? These women, the church, have been her home. Or has she just been hiding? Disarming, delightfully deadpan, and full of searching, Claire Luchette’s Agatha of Little Neon offers a view into the lives of women and the choices they make.

A Sunday Times Book of the Year ‘A memoir as soulful, wryly witty, and lyrical as it is candid and courageous’ – Booklist, starred review ‘Impressive, candid and vivid’ The Times ‘Beautifully written’ Sunday Times Sally Field is one of the most celebrated, beloved and enduring actors of our time, and now she tells her story for the first time in this intimate and haunting literary memoir. In her own words, she writes about a challenging and lonely childhood, the craft that helped her find her voice, and a powerful emotional legacy that shaped her journey as a daughter and a mother. Sally Field has an infectious charm that has captivated audiences for more than five decades, beginning with her first television role at the age of 17. From Gidget’s sweet-faced ‘girl next door’ to the dazzling complexity of Sybil to the Academy Award-winning ferocity and depth of her role in Norma Rae and Mary Todd Lincoln, Field has stunned audiences time and time again with her artistic range and emotional acuity. Yet there is one character who always remained hidden: the shy and anxious little girl within. With raw honesty and the fresh, pitch-perfect prose of a natural-born writer, and with all the humility and authenticity her fans have come to expect, Field brings readers behind the scenes for not only the highs and lows of her star-studded early career in Hollywood, but deep into the truth of her lifelong relationships including, most importantly, her complicated love for her own mother. Powerful and unforgettable, In Pieces is an inspiring and important account of life as a woman in the second half of the twentieth century.

Ravaged by the fury of a terrifying storm, an ancient sorcerer falls from the sky and crashes into a farm upon the English countryside. Powerless but determined, the wily Rowan Blaize must make his way to London and seek the help of his eccentric Aunt Ariadne, unaware that supernatural perils lurk around every corner. Even more daunting is the ultimate war he must wage against a vengeful goddess in order to reclaim his enchanted heritage. Told in the epic narrative tradition of classics like 'Hiawatha' and 'The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, ' 'Rowan Blaize' is a one-of-a-kind fantasy tale to be cherished for the ages. Lavish illustrations enhance a magical story that traverses a breathtaking journey through mystical worlds and encounters with a host of unforgettable characters. A sumptuous feast of enchantment to be savored by readers of all descriptions, 'Rowan Blaize' is the cornerstone work and the "key" that opens the door to the entire series of novels in the Enchanted Heritage Chronicles.

A druid-turned-nun writes of faith, love, loss, and religion in this “beautifully written and thought-provoking book” set at the dawn of Ireland’s Christian era (Library Journal) Cloistered in a stone cell at the monastery of Saint Brigit, a sixth-century Irish nun secretly records the memories of her Pagan youth, interrupting her assigned task of transcribing Augustine and Patrick. She revisits her past, piece by piece—her fiercely independent mother, whose skill with healing plants and inner strength she inherited; her druid teacher, the brusque and magnetic Giannon, who introduced her to the mysteries of the written language. But disturbing events at the cloister keep intervening. As the monastery is rent by vague and fantastic accusations, Gwynneve's words become the one force that can save her from annihilation. “As a slant of sunlight illuminates jewels long buried, Kate Horsley's novel brings words to an ancient silence and a living, vivid presence to people who lived in that time of great changes and estrangements we call the Dark Ages.” —Ursula K. Le Guin

'Thank goodness for Pope John Paul and the Second Vatican because wearing a long medieval-style habit complete with veil and stockings would hardly be the right outfit for climbing in and out of my Cessna three or four times a day in forty degree plus heat. Nor would it be suitable for attending the Birdsville races, helping a publican's wife pull beers in an outback pub or joining in the odd bit of boot scootin' and line dancing. ' Sister Anne Maree JensenA baseball cap, riding boots and a Cessna aeroplane are not usually part of the image that comes to mind when we think of nuns - but then, Sister Anne Maree Jensen's 'Aerial Ministry' is not a conventional calling either. For the past ten years, Sister Anne Maree has been flying over some of the most remote parts of outback southwest Queensland, bringing companionship to the women who live in her bush parish. (Her parish includes more than 250,000 square kilometres of sheep and cattle stations, roughly the size of West Germany.) The stoic resilience of these women 'who battle against drought and loneliness in a harsh environment' provides the 'Flying Nun' with the inspiration to pursue her unusual mission. But the The Flying Nun is not the story of Sister Anne Maree alone. It is also the story of the 13 women to whom her life and work are devoted. With humour, fatalism and hope, these women of the west share their own experiences: solitude, happiness, tragedy, the battle that is everyday life in the middle of nowhere. Their stories bring alive the sense of communion and wonder which the bush never ceases to awaken in them. Inspired by the acclaimed documentary on Sister Ann Maree, The Flying Nun is the story of a true blue heroine, a blue stocking bush battler of the cloth, a woman who performs extraordinary feats in the name of God and humanity. Nuns usually invoke the image of wimples; Sally Field, the original flying nun, or Audrey Hepburn - but Sister Anne Maree is the antithesis. She looks like an airborne E. Annie Proulx! From The Drover's Wife through to Sara and Bonnie Henderson, Australian history is replete with the stories of remarkable women battling the odds in the harsh outback. Sister Anne Maree's life if the stuff of legend. Combined with the 13 accouts of women who live in her parish, The Flying Nun provides a glimpse into a world of reslient and courageous women, of enduring relationships and of Australian lives barely understood and rarely seen by our largely urban populace. Author biographyJeanne Ryckmans spent six years in Paris where she worked for French television. In 1993 she returned to Australia to work for SBS TV as a reporter. In 1995, she produced and directed the acclaimed TV documentary about Sister Anne Maree called The Flying Nun, which provided the starting point for this book. Jeanne lives in Sydney. Sales Points*** Sister Anne Maree was Australian Achiever of the Year in 1995. ***Sister Wendy, Mary Loudon's Nun's Unveiled, Sara and Bonnie Henderson and Caroline Jones - Sister Ann Maree's story is all of these and more - religion, spirituality and determination all rolled into one. In a time of declining faith and lack of belief in traditional religion, readers are captivated by those who live within a strong religious framework, and by people who work ceaselessly and selflessly for others.*** The Flying Nun is also a glimpse into the lives of rural women - how they live in and survive the rigours of the outback. *** Sister Anne Maree will be available for all publicity for The Flying Nun.*** The women interviewed will also be available for interviews for the book.

From The Nun's Story to The Flying Nun to The Singing Nun, nuns were a major presence in the mainstream media. Sullivan discusses these images in the context of the period's seemingly unlimited potential for social change.