Hey Ares vampire blood thirsty Lord of War stay clear of these shores when is enough enough you don't seem to know. On second thought better still, sod off and never come back on Earth at all, -ere you do, come clean, where only laid are the bones of our slain young men?

Included in the anthology are previously published poems contained within SECTOR#7 and of Ares and Men, also Sketches and Reflections of 2012. This covers in full the poetic output of the author since 2009. The overall design is a deliberate step away from the abstract modern poetry preoccupied with syllabic dissection and abstract notions to the intentional exclusion of tangible subjects. Modern poetry isn't supposed to make sense, we're told, and it is more a play with words and sounds. The free-flowing style here, whilst of variable meter, does no more than serve the purpose. Substance rule over style first and last. It is how it used be before modernists turned it on the head. In this book, preoccupation is with here and now; real people in all kinds of predicament and lifelike situations. It will be instantly recognized. It comes down on sham democracy, war mongers, banksters, and other vermin. Spared is none, least of all the author himself. His sporting inadequacies exposed for one should tickle the funny bone. Above all, the book is an antiwar crusade. On second level, it is on side of those creating the wealth, not those cashing in on the fat spoils. It is poetry of the common man in the street. Enough for young and old and young at heart

Hey Ares vampire blood thirsty Lord of War stay clear of these shores when is enough enough you don't seem to know. On second thought better still, sod off and never come back on Earth at all, -ere you do, come clean, where only laid are the bones of our slain young men?

Max Horvat, our anti-hero ex scientist cum free lance reporter manages to escape the torture masters in a communist jail to find himself in the West all at sea. He signs up for a South African gold mine working underground. A mine accident where he renders capably first help saves life of a Polish mining engineer Adam Malik, later to become Dr Malik and one of the leading gold explorer geologists in Africa. War once more breaks out in the Balkans. Mark's homeland Croatia is being invaded by its arch enemy Serbia. Threatening the ultimate disaster, Max with his younger brother volunteer with many others to fight. They are thrown into the worst of it. Defence of the city of Vukovar. He is one of a few survivors, and manages to take a boat ride though the fogged up Danube into Hungary. Along the way his brother Kresho is cut to pieces in a real act of butchery by Serb nationalist the Chetniks. Max gets there in time to watch his brothers mutilated body begging to finish him off. The memory of this never lets go and gives Max nightmares for the rest of his life. Worse is to come. Returning to Zagreb in Croatia he gets promoted and dispatched to fight on in a free for all Bosnia's war. He refuses to go until he finds his only child Daria is in a Serbs concentration camp. More war, more senseless stupid butchery .Our anti-hero refuses further promotion and the medals. Sick of war he finds Australia on the map. As far away as possible And still the memories and nightmares linger on to torment Max. There he saves up enough to buy an ageing sloop and sets out on a voyage to his birth place, the island of Mljet in the Adriatic.

Once more nothing goes to plan. Far from it. In fact, the real adventure begins in his dropping anchor in Zanzibar Harbour. Here an Arab Christian damsel in distress and confrontation with a shady gun runner Hamoud ensue in a high drama, until only one of them remains . Max's yacht Sounion is sunk in Farquhar Lagoon Seychelles, and he arrested and sentenced for illegal entry and manslaughter with diminished responsibility.

He gets out of jail in four years having served half of the sentence due to what must be the luckiest of breaks, and rejoins the human race as a man reborn.

In act four he meets Vivian de Viliers a Science Master and the two hit it off. Vivian's twin sisters form a "Sisterhood Circle,"draw the men in, which unravels in unforeseen developments.

Other lively characters join in. Ian McLarty a dying mining engineer for one. Max is on overload. The black dog won't let go. He is about to blow his brains out .With Vivian delivering a black baby the last straw. Only last minute intervention of the Circle members saves Max at the end of his sufferings and determined to end it all by committing suicide.

The Bitter Harvest combining author's literary output since 2010 in three distinct parts touches on running sores of our society.

Two short Australiana novels form PART ONE: 'The Wombat Flats Cotton Farm', and 'The Fortune Seekers' guide the reader to parts of the Outback tourists are not likely see; home to a breed of rugged colourful individuals ready to defend their turf from enchroaching Big Money and

punishing weather by all means at hand..

PART TWO, the poetry section beginns with 'The American Trilogy'' daring to ask taboo questions. Whereto did the trillions vanish in the GFC smoke? Remaining poems are reflections from the heart and soul of a common pilgrim.

PART THREE in 'Borneo Desert' presents a dark prediction for the near planet's future, as seen through the eyes of a scientist cum adventurer. who had done his homework. In the final analysis we can only expect to reap what we sow-thence the Bitter Harvest.