Mike McKenny Boeken

‘There’s no one I trust more with my club’s yarn than Martin Flanagan’ – Bob Murphy The Western Bulldogs’ 2016 premiership came from nowhere – they were the club with no luck, no stars, no right to win, no culture of success. They were the rank underdogs and they swept to victory on an unprecedented tide of goodwill that washed over the nation. Only Martin Flanagan could bring to life this particular miracle. The club’s two guiding spirits – captain Bob Murphy and coach Luke Beveridge – welcomed him in, Beveridge making available his match diaries, pre-match notes and video highlights. Flanagan interviewed every player, watched every match, talked with the trainers, the women in the football department, the fans who never miss a training session, the cheer squad. What Flanagan shows is that the Bulldogs found a new way to play partly because they found a new way to be a team – a new way to support each other, even a new way to be. A Wink from the Universe takes us into the heart of the community Luke Beveridge and Bob Murphy dreamt into being with the support of the Bulldog people around them. This is a classic of sports writing – a book for fans of the club, and of the game, but also a book for anyone who wants to know how a group of people can will a miracle to happen.

Marvel Studios has provided some of the biggest worldwide cinematic hits of the last eight years, from Iron Man (2008) to the record-breaking The Avengers (2012), and beyond. Having announced plans to extend its production of connected texts in cinema, network and online television until at least 2028, the new aesthetic patterns brought about by Marvel's 'shared' media universe demand analysis and understanding. The Marvel Studios Phenomenon evaluates the studio's identity, as well as its status within the structures of parent Disney. In a new set of readings of key texts such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the thematics of superhero fiction and the role of fandom are considered. The authors identify milestones from Marvel's complex and controversial business history, allowing us to appraise its industrial status: from a comic publisher keen to exploit its intellectual property, to an independent producer, to successful subsidiary of a vast entertainment empire.

A prison diary, a story of brotherly love, a journey of redemption, Martin Flanagan’ s compelling book about his boarding school days goes inside an experience many have had but few have talked about. In 1966, at the age of 10, Martin Flanagan was sent to a Catholic boarding school in north-west Tasmania. Of the 12 priests on the staff, three have since gone to prison for sexual crimes committed against boys in their care. In 2018 and 2019, a series of disclosures about the school appeared on the ABC Tasmania website. Then came the Pell case. What followed was a frenzy of opinions, none of which represented Flanagan’ s view. The Empty Honour Board is part memoir, a reflection on truth and memory, and what is lost in rushing to judgement. Flanagan’ s school abounds in memorable characters. There’ s a kid who escapes and gets as far as Surfers Paradise, and two boys who hold a competition during evening chapel to see who can confess more times. A wild boy receives a ‘ Bradmanesque’ 234 strokes of the cane in one year.