New Releases by Stephanie Johnson

Its more than blood that binds a family. Jackson Alexander lives two lives. In the world of fashion, he is an up and coming stylist to some of the biggest names on the runway and silver screen. At home, he lives in constant fear of the abuse that has plagued him for years. While working a routine photo shoot, Jackson''s life is forever changed the moment Luke O''Neill, star of the show Living Pretty, saunters on set. A colourfully inked and auburn-haired Irishman, Luke is instantly attracted to Jackson, and persists on getting to know him. Their immediate chemistry causes heads to turn, including those of some members of Jackson''s homophobic family. As their relationship grows, so does the physical abuse at the hands of Jackson''s father and brothers. After a series of horrific and avoidable events, will Luke and his family be enough to help Jackson find the strength and confidence within himself to survive it all? Or is he already too broken that not even his Superman can save him?

Motor vehicle safety is developed through the testing of anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs). The goal of ATD manufacturers is to ensure that these devices are as biofidelic as possible. Pediatric ATDs were originally created as scaled-down adults, although currently research has been implemented to update these models to be more realistic to mimic an actual pediatric response. Unlike with adults, pediatric cadavers cannot be used to verify the impact properties such as force, deflection, and stiffness. Thus, other methods must be used to predict a pediatric response during a collision. This study developed a transformation sequence to predict the oblique y-direction pediatric shoulder response based on data gathered from adult PMHS and adult and child volunteers. Based on this method, the estimated shoulder stiffness for a 6yo is 59 N/mm and for a 10yo is 106 N/mm.

Using comprehensive high-frequency state and local sales tax data, we show that household spending responds strongly to changes in sales tax rates. Even though sales taxes are not observed in posted prices and have a wide range of rates and exemptions, households adjust in many dimensions, stocking up on storable goods before taxes rise and increasing online and cross-border shopping. Interestingly, households adjust spending similarly for both taxable and tax-exempt goods. We embed an inventory problem into a continuous-time consumption-savings model and demonstrate that this seemingly irrational behavior is optimal in the presence of shopping trip fixed costs. The model successfully matches estimated short-run and long-run tax elasticities with a reasonable implied reservation wage of $7-10. We provide additional empirical evidence in favor of this new shopping-complementarity mechanism. While our results reject non-salience of sales tax changes, on average, we also show that upcoming tax changes that are more salient prompt larger responses.

For novelist Stephanie Johnson, her relationship with Australia and Australians has been an ambivalent one. She has lived there for periods in her life, and her first book, a collection of short stories, was actually published in Australia. She was described then as a young Australian writer, something she says she agreed to ‘for reasons that are complex and some of them hardly honourable’. For Johnson the longing to return has waxed and waned. ‘Why don’t I live there?’ she often asks herself. Yet she is a sixth-generation New Zealander. In this BWB Text Johnson explores her elusive and ambivalent feelings about the sunburnt country – which includes a musician’s road trip there with her singer-songwriter son Skyscraper Stan – and in so doing casts fascinating light on some of the formative influences that have shaped the work of this award-winning New Zealand writer.

Community garden involvement in the Capital District of New York is helping to improve the nutritional, physical, and mental health, social participation, and self-efficacy of participants in the region, and promotes social capital within the community for overall improved healh outcomes. The end results of community gardens are beautification of the area, increased sense of ownership and pride, and increased sense of a stronger, safer, and more united extended community which contributes to happier and healthier communities. This research provides a foundation for occupational therapists interested in facilitating the creation of more community gardens in their communities or among underserved populations. This study educates occupational therapy professionals on the gardener role which many people find meaningful. In this manner, gardening can be considered a potential evidence based practice for occupational therapy and an intervention of choice for people who are facing current difficulties in social participation, mental health, healthy lifestyle and sense of self-efficacy.

High School Romance is about a couple who has up''s and downs throughout high school. In high school you go through a range of emotions and that is what this book tells. The fact that Tina and Keith go through so much they always get through every obstacle that is thrown their way no matter what it is. High School Romance will make you laugh, cry and I am sure it is going to be relatable when reading this book. Get into the lives of Tina and Keith and read how their lives are turned upside down with all the obstacles thrown their way.

Wit, compassion and insight combine in this entertaining novel that explores the politics and human comedy behind writers’ festivals and the publishing industry. Writers’ festivals can be hotbeds of literary and romantic intrigue, and the Oceania is up there with the best of them. Rookie director Rae McKay, recently returned from New York, fears she has bitten off more than she can chew. Pressure comes not only from local and international writers but also from the prestigious Opus Book Award, which this year is being hosted by the festival. Add to that high-level diplomatic fallout surrounding a dissident Chinese writer, Rae’s slowly disintegrating private life and ongoing dramas involving much loved characters of The Writing Class, and the result is a wise and witty novel that explores the contemporary phenomenon of the public face of the writer. This lively, stand-alone novel is as ‘intelligent, tender and funny’ as readers found The Writing Class. ''. . . a book that''s sophisticated, witty and - best of all - generous in its attitudes to its characters. It''s a love letter to reading and writing and things readers and writers share, especially the mutual effort to understand the world and the people in it.'' - Paul Little, North & South on The Writing Class

Humor is the topic of many psychological, social, and cultural studies, but this project examines humor under a new lens. Humor''s unique qualities explored in this study prove that humor is capable of more than just causing laughter; the nature of humor allows it to unveil truths about humanity, both spiritual and physical, through exposing man''s flaws. This quality is especially important to consider when analyzing humor in the context of literature, in which humor also works as an aesthetic element. This study searches several short stories by Eudora Welty and Flannery O''Connor along with Marilynne Robinson''s Gilead to reveal that each author implements in her works the element of humor in her own style, making humor an integral component in her fiction. Considering the unique qualities of humor and recognizing humor as an aesthetic element in the selected works show that these authors use humor as more than a mere literary element; their uses of humor, though they vary in form, work to convey significant themes of redemption throughout their stories. The term redemption defined in this thesis refers to a new and truthful perspective that humor creates for the characters, audience, or both. Since this new perspective ultimately points to spiritual truths about man''s nature, this discovery lends more credit to humor than other scholars have previously offered.

Romantic, funny and surprising, this novel is a bold exploration of love in a time of confusion. In Fiji at the end of 1918, the distant Great War is drawing to a close and Spanish flu is raging. Twelve-year-old Olive McNab is sent from Suva to stay wih her aunt and uncle on a plantation on Tavenui. On this magical and mysterious island she uncovers some startling, well-kept secrets. The death of her mother, her friendship with two independent women, and a series of adventures change Olive''s life for ever. ''Johnson''s work is marked by a dry irony, a sharp-edged humour that focuses unerringly on the frailties and foolishness of her characters . . . There is compassion, though, and sensitivity in the development of complex situations . . . A purposeful sense of such larger concerns balances Johnson''s precision with the small details of situation, character and voice that give veracity and colour.'' - The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature

"I Believe" is a collection of poetry from Orlando Florida and the surrounding areas that takes an artistic look at what people believe in. Poem topics were inspired by visual artists and then picked by talented poets who felt a connection to those topics.

A brilliant novel about history, the forgetting and rewriting of it, and a satire on a society that has lost compassion in the process. Smooch is a ''Whistler'', a genetically altered lapdog with special talents, including the ability to remember his previous incarnations and to communicate directly from his brain by electronically downloading his thoughts onto disc. Smooch has been reincarnated many times, and has lived on many of the great laps of history, past and future. He can recall many of history''s key moments, such as the birth of Jesus and the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots. The Whistler is a virtuosic feat: wise, funny and intelligent. Smooch''s current reincarnation is in Sydney in the year 2318. The world has gone to hell: democratic government worldwide has given way to a society run by corporations, pollution is everywhere, and society is heavily stratified between the haves and have nots.

This unique novel is both a compelling love story and an insightful writing manual. ''Writers take what we learn of human nature and, fuelled by our longings for other existences and other times, forge new identities that can be as real as she is, sitting with her dog on the weathered step of the old house, stories that move us to tears or laughter.'' Merle Carbury, an author in her own right, also teaches Creative Writing. Amid the tension of the final semester of the year, her many and varied students prepare to submit their manuscripts. As Merle mentors their assorted ambitions, observes the romantic entanglements of her colleague, worries about her husband and is intrigued by their mysterious German lodger, she both imparts and embodies how to write a novel. Written by a prize-winning author, who is also an experienced teacher, the overarching intelligence, compassion and wicked humour in this inventive book make it a joy to read.

Wry and insightful, this short story is told by a young American girl, who is all too knowing about her own world, but ignorant about the Kiwi strangers she meets. When Ruthie''s father needs a drink, he takes his young daughter with him. She sits in the bar, with her pink panther, watching the drinkers and fending off unwanted approaches. One day there are strangers at the bar, with an unusual accent, saying they are from ''Nyu Zillun''. They give Ruthie a ''little green monster'' they call a ''tuckie'' and ask her about herself . . .

A moving novel about a blind son with a love for music that surpassed sight and gave him a vision uniquely his own. A fortnight after jazz pianist Carl Tyler''s funeral, his lover Tamara has one week to go before she leaves New Zealand to return to her native Chicago. His mother Nola wants to solve the mystery of her son''s death, to know everything Tamara might be able tell her, so she begins an account of Carl''s early life, in the hope that Tamara will remember a clue to what happened at its end. Nola was a dental nurse in the 1960s. Her life revolved around her spotless dental clinic at the local school, the ''murder house'' the kids called it. She didn''t know it, but by taking an interest in young Brett''s bruises, and meeting his father Bernie, her life would be changed for ever.

An epic novel of love and religion that sweeps across New Zealand and America at the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1899 William McQuiggan leaves his young Australian wife and new-born twins in New Zealand and travels to America in search of God. Belief is the story of his journey and of his marriage to Myra, who follows him from Auckland to Salt Lake City, Utah, and to Zion City, Illinois. With each leg of the journey the family grows until William is the reluctant father of six, and Myra''s understanding of her husband deepens and matures. Belief is a vivid evocation of a way of life that has passed, a tale told on a grand scale: the story spans seventeen years, three countries and three religions. More than that, it is the story of how love and patience may triumph over violence and despair.

Returning to the biting and hilarious satire of contemporary New Zealand conveyed so well in the prize-winning The Shag Incident, this is a daring, astute and rollicking novel. John Tomb saw more of the world than most Englishmen of the early nineteenth century. From England to Australia to New Zealand, he led a life of adventure and romance. Two hundred years after his death, his tattooed head is discovered in an American museum. His spirit reawakened, John Tomb wryly observes those who would lay claim to his relic. Among others, there''s the New Zealand delegation headed by the Prime Minister and including Tomb''s Maori descendants, a leading historian, a prominent carver, the Diplomatic Protection Squad and the Prime Minister''s fifteen-year-old daughter. From England come Tomb''s English descendants and supporters, eager to take the head back to the land of his birth and their family museum. There is also a wealthy private collector and his clever wife ...

A collection of short stories to dip into and devour, by a prize-winning writer. These 23 stories show the breadth of Stephanie Johnson''s fine writing. It features poignant insights as well as her sharp wit, with characters as diverse as a woman arranging a second wife for her husband, a criminal returning to the care of his mother, and a widow who hears an octopus call her name.

Darkly satirical and wickedly funny, this prize-winning novel takes a tilt at a wide range of contemporary matters. What happened that connects a diverse group of characters, along with an ex-All Black and an elephant? The people who committed the act of revenge in 1985 thought it was perfectly executed. Twenty years on, the truth is revealed, the truth about the deception that started it all. From sexual stereotyping to militant feminism, the machismo of the All Blacks to new age beliefs, psychiatry to womb burial and naming ceremonies, nothing is safe from the razor-sharp wit of this superb writer. This novel won the Deutz Medal for Fiction in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

A fascinating novel about secrets, finding a home and early colonial New Zealand. ''I miss my smiling son more than any other man before or since.'' London 1866. Elizabeth Smith is struggling to survive when she hears that her former New Zealand employers, Judge and Lady Martin, are returning to England. Accompanied by her dear friend, the lunatic Reverend Cotton, she makes a pilgrimage to settle old scores. Elizabeth is also accompanied by liberal doses of opiates and two small ghosts, walking by her side, whispering, murmuring, calling her. Award-winning writer Stephanie Johnson lovingly peoples a landscape of the past. Mid-century New Zealand, London and the spa town of Buxton are vividly evoked in a novel about motherhood, earliest colonial days, pharmacology and poreirewa - the yearning for absent loved ones.

Beulah, a dedicated nurse, wife and mother is forced to choose between the survival of her family or her sanity. All she''s ever known was to take care of her husband Teddy and children Shelly and Wallace. Sacrificing both her physical and mental health, she diligently strived to make sure they didn''t lack or want for anything. It wasn''t until a stream of unfortunate events unraveled that Beulah realized her family didn''t need her and was forced to make a choice on whether to stick it out and save her family or throw caution to the wind and save herself. After being humiliated at work by a patient who tries to sexually assault her at the bequest of a few security guards, finding out her husband Teddy lives a double life as a gay man and cross dresser, the promiscuous behavior her daughter Shelly strives to perfect, being assaulted and arrested on drug charges because of her son Wallace''s affiliation with gangs, Beulah''s life was its lowest of lows. Once released from jail, she walks out of the police station and keeps going, never to return to her home or family. Shortly on her journey, she is picked up by Jose a passerby, who is able to convince Beulah to allow him to take her to a nearby homeless shelter. Once there, Beulah experiences unadulterated mental despair and becomes borderline psychotic. Jose, who remains close to her, soon becomes the key to Beulah''s recovery and leads her down a road that not only allows Beulah to learn her self worth, but gives her the strength to live again. Dying for Life is the story of a woman who lost herself in her family. What she thought was rock bottom was a self revelation and golden second chance at life, love and internal peace. No longer dying for life, Beulah is able to take the broken pieces of her past and create a collage of new beginnings; beginnings of internal acceptance, unconditional love and acceptance of a new relationship with her estrange family.

A powerful novel about friendship, guilt and sex and our changing notions of loyalty and culpability. Friends since childhood, Norman and Lyn grow up as next-door neighbours at the turn of the twentieth century. When Lyn is sent to manage a central North Island timber mill at the tender age of fourteen, Norman goes to visit him. There he is forced to confront a mysterious adult truth. Later, in their twenties, the two men commit an act so appalling that it ruptures their friendship for many years. In 1972 the elderly Norman meets a young woman in a pub. Burdened by the memory he must at long last assuage, he presses Bronwyn into becoming his unwilling confessor.

A book for everyone, including; therapists, social workers, psychologists and allied health professionals.This exciting new book by Stephanie Johnson promises to be a breath of fresh air in the brief family therapy arena. Solution focused counselling....Keeping it Real, discusses the philosophy of solution focused framework with step by step examples of the techniques and principles of solution focused. This is a great book for those who are interested in using solution focus in their work and want to know more. It gives a concise guide to the steps in solution focused by using case studies, examples, interventions and clearly demonstrates a brilliant first session outline. For those who want a ¿one-stop¿ shop of the techniques of solution focused discussed in a clear and practical way, this book is for you!www.solutionfocusedcounselling.com

Five miniature dolls come to life in Great Britain during the Second World War. Explores ideas of history, storytelling, and imagination. Suggested level: primary.

When their husbands stop paying attention to them, three best friends take matters into their own hands as they engage in anonymous sexual encounters and passionate one-night stands. Reprint.