Praise for 'This Ragged, Wastrel Thing'
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“This Ragged, Wastrel Thing is alive with colour, energy and vibrant language. Marcantonio possesses the rare ability of enticing the reader to turn the page, not only to discover what happens next, but to experience yet another visceral and original turn of phrase. A beautifully vicious read.”
– Adam Lock – Author of Dinosaur
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“This Ragged, Wastrel Thing is a neon distorted, gritty reflection of humanity and its quest to find belonging – dystopian novels haven’t had it this good since Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale.”
– Ross Jeffery – Author of Juniper and Tethered
“A beautiful mash up of grim noir and Japanese flare with a beating heart of motorhead vigilantes. It’s Sons of Anarchy meets Sin City.”
– Dan Stubbings – The Dimension Between Worlds
This Ragged, Wastrel Thing
After serving eleven years in The Heights for the murder of his childhood sweetheart, one-eared vagabond Daganae Kawasaki is finally free. But beneath the neon glare of a sprawling Sonaya, he soon discovers the backstreets are bursting with strange new shadows. Confronting plucky street orphans, bitter biker girls and down-and-out expats, Dag is swiftly embroiled in a fresh homicide case – and finds his murky past isn’t done with him yet.
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This Ragged, Wastrel Thing is the first instalment of the Sonaya Nights trilogy; a new dystopian noir series set in the fictional city of Sonaya. Deep in The Rivers, through the winding web of neon alleys, we follow our troubled protagonist, Daganae Kawasaki, as he scours the streets to uncover the truth behind his eleven-year stint in The Heights. But will his search for answers in the dingy basement bars and seedy homework clubs finally distinguish friend from foe, right from wrong, or will he uncover more bitter untruths than ever before? Will he finally find freedom from the pain of his past or will new revelations ignite a lust for revenge? Discover a new voice in modern noir fiction and join Dag on his painful pursuit for salvation and sake.
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How Not To Live Your Twenties
Romance on the Nile, food poisoning in Bolivia, heartbreak in small-town Australia. Leeches in Laos, close encounters with Great White sharks and mountain gorillas, breath-taking trips to Machu Picchu and the Amazon. Camping in the Serengeti, teaching in South Korea, partying in South-east Asia.
In between all of these once-in-a-lifetime experiences spanning twenty-something countries across five continents, Tomas Marcantonio explores the universal themes from the most formative decade of a person's life. Love, lost and found; unlikely friendships and brief encounters with exceptional characters; the balance of work life and happiness, and the choices that determine a person's future. Above all, these bittersweet vignettes celebrate the life-changing loneliness, camaraderie and discovery of travel.
The Leap of Grebes
Emilia had never planned on going travelling; she wanted to go to Bristol to study Statistics. But when her best friend Finn gets dumped, she reluctantly defers her place at uni and agrees to join him on a six month trip around the world.
Arriving in Huian, a pristine country tucked away in Southeast Asia and newly open to backpackers, Emilia and Finn begin to explore the neon cities and remote jungles that surround them. But among the wilds and rumours and strange peoples of Huian, Emilia soon finds that the travelling life is not what she expected; and neither is the boy she calls her best friend.
“You're a grebe, my girl. You'll be a flamingo by the end.”
Gift of the Gap
Travelling has become more than just a trend for backpackers; it's a rite of passage. But what happens when three introverts with no plans head off on a huge adventure that spans three continents and half a year?
Gift of the Gap is an honest and amusing account of three friends and the journey that changed their lives.