Part fiver in "Of a Note in a Cosmic Song".Despite the odds, the colony on Kun DJar has survived. Two new settlements have been established and the settlers on the far coast enjoy luxuries they've not had since landing on the planet.The mild weather makes it easy to live and to love and preparations for the first truly Kunjari babies to be born to the colony bring the women together. Now the prosperity of the colony seems assured, unofficial leader, Benjamar, prepares to retire and Aryan looks forward to explore the oceans.Yet not everyone is satisfied with this new order and with strife once again on the horizon, and the eerie, lethal red fog descending upon the village, it seems this brief peace was merely the eye of a final, brutal storm.

Part three in "Of a Note in a Cosmic Song".It had seemed so easy, to return to 'the simple life'. DJar's criminals, adventurers, farmers and scientists had left their world in the hope of a better life, a new social order and freedom.But that required a planet with trees for firewood and timber, good soil for the crops, strong blue rivers to use for power and clement weather, like home.Kun DJar has none of this. The lifeforms are unspeakably strange, the storms vicious and the delicate DJar seedlings too vulnerable. The eerie fog almost seems to stalk the colonists as it sweeps about the continent.Yet it may be the people themselves who are their own greatest enemy. With political dissent and skirmishes a constant threat, the question is not whether life can be better on Kun DJar, but whether there will be any colonists left when disaster chooses to strike.

Part one in "Of a Note in a Cosmic Song".To stay behind safely or to risk everything: this is the choice the inhabitants of the planet DJar are faced with. Their home world has advanced technology and certain life expectancy (65 years, no more), harsh procreation laws and an oppressive social structure. But the alternative is risking everything in an unprecedented journey through unknown dangers to colonize the only other inhabitable planet within reach.Brave explorers, abandoned convicts, desperate grandparents, dying grandchildren, torn mothers, sundered families – for those who have the choice and for those who do not, the daunting decision is hardly the end of the trouble.If someone you loved was staying, and someone else you loved going, could you even choose before the decision was out of your hands forever?

This novella starts with a seven year old boy who has been admitted to hospital in a coma. He is alone; his mother is detained on charges of child abuse.The book then follows the events in reverse order, from the circumstances surrounding the abuse to the initial incident that caused the series of emotional reactions that lead to the abuse.The story is told through the eyes of five point of view characters - the attending nurse, the mother, a reporter, an eleven year old school girl and a neighbor - but many more characters have a hand in the tragic outcome.Today it takes only one anonymous phone call to ruin somebody's life and in a society where everybody has their hand on their cell phone, ready to dob in their neighbors, parents, teachers or partners, the results are disastrous, not only for the families, but for the next generation. The inquisition is back - but this time they're after parents.

For 16 year olds, Jerome and Mariette, wars were events of history and faraway countries, until, during an Anzac Day family reunion, their boys-against-girls prank 'war' gets totally out of hand. – "It was run by hormones", Grandpa Will says.To make matters worse, Jerome, who is forced to move in with his cousin while his father is in hospital, feels like a prisoner in enemy camps.But it is not just Jerome who becomes the victim of Mariette's need for revenge. Soon the entire school is involved, with the students standing together against the oppression of uniforms and busy work.For a while, it seems they will finally get their voice heard, but is rebellion the solution and can they maintain their solidarity once the school involves the police?In a lesson that can only be learned in the real world, they begin to see that it isn't the acts of people, but their emotions that are ultimately responsible for the choice between war and peace.

Part four in "Of a Note in a Cosmic Song".A devastating disease has left the colony on the planet Kun DJar in tatters. The possibility of starting a new settlement on the other coast is the only hope they now cling to.For Nini and Kunag, joining the expedition begins as an escape from the misery, but soon the myriad of apparently sentient life forms begins to lead them into a wondrous and deeply alien world.Left behind in the crippled town, Benjamar struggles to uphold law and order – the law and order which many colonists fled their home world to escape. Yet, without books or written rules, the imminent rebellion of those who have gained control of the remaining DJar weapons, threatens every attempt at civilization.Will the expedition return before the colony finishes tearing itself apart?