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Great Australian Mysteries 2 : Unsolved; Unexplained ; Unknown
- GenresNonfictionMystery
Paperback
Published January 1, 2006
About the author
John Pinkney
34 books46 followersJOHN PINKNEY is a bestselling Australian author, screenwriter and journalist.
*His newest ebook is the novel Grave Injustice: An Afterlife Odyssey.
This dark, pacy science fiction thriller draws on John's career-long research into the paranormal - and the strange phenomena that may occur beyond the barriers of death.
Over the years, he has spoken to numerous people who clinically died and were then resuscitated - returning to describe landscapes and events of breathtaking beauty. The testimonies of these returnees from the brink inspired John to write Grave Injustice.
The narrative extends far beyond NDEs (near-death experiences.) It's set in Sydney and tropical Queensland; describing human love, courage and sacrifice, both earthly and transcendental.
Ranged against the young lovers are a corporate cell of scientifically accomplished soul-thieves,who draw their ideas from Dante's nine circles of Hell.
Terrifyingly, the novel portrays brutal conflict between good and evil. And it's hard, for a host of reasons, to predict which will prevail.
John Pinkney's other ebooks include Haunted: the Ghosts that Share Our World...Australia's Strangest Mysteries #1 and #2...A Paranormal File: An Australian Investigator's Casebook...The Mary Celeste Syndrome...Alien Airships Over Old America...Thirst: an Inheritance of Evil...The Girl Who Touched Infinity...The Key and the Fountain.
John's original screenplay Thirst, directed by Rod Hardy and produced by Anthony I. Ginnane won Best Horror
Film prize at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival. His 3-act drama, The Face in the Mirror, was co-awarded Best Stage Play in the General Motors/Elizabethan Theatre Trust competition.
He has written several hundred drama episodes for TV - and his paperbooks, including such titles as Great Australian Mysteries 1 & 2, Haunted, Unexplained and Unsolved have been numerously reprinted. His 3-volume Mazeworld series has appeared in USA and UK and in translation through Europe. His logic puzzle books Think!, Think Again! and Wordgames have also been published internationally.
For many years John was a prominent writer with Australia's Age newspaper, subsequently moving his column, Pinkney Place to Rupert Murdoch's national daily The Australian. Here he covered the century's most extraordinary UFO case: the disappearance without trace of young pilot Frederick Valentich, after radioing Flight Services that he was being 'orbited' by a gigantic craft. [full story and photographs are in A Paranormal File.]
John has had a lifelong interest in the unsolved and unexplained. His fascination with the unknown took its most practical form when, with lawyer-friend Peter Norris, he co-founded the organization known today as VUFORS - the Victorian UFO Research Society. John and Peter collaborated to host the weekly radio series The Truth Behind UFOs and Do You Believe in Ghosts?
Over the years John Pinkney's broadcasts and columns have attracted a large mail from listeners and readers describing their brushes with the bizarre. Readers of his books continue the input.
*His newest ebook is the novel Grave Injustice: An Afterlife Odyssey.
This dark, pacy science fiction thriller draws on John's career-long research into the paranormal - and the strange phenomena that may occur beyond the barriers of death.
Over the years, he has spoken to numerous people who clinically died and were then resuscitated - returning to describe landscapes and events of breathtaking beauty. The testimonies of these returnees from the brink inspired John to write Grave Injustice.
The narrative extends far beyond NDEs (near-death experiences.) It's set in Sydney and tropical Queensland; describing human love, courage and sacrifice, both earthly and transcendental.
Ranged against the young lovers are a corporate cell of scientifically accomplished soul-thieves,who draw their ideas from Dante's nine circles of Hell.
Terrifyingly, the novel portrays brutal conflict between good and evil. And it's hard, for a host of reasons, to predict which will prevail.
John Pinkney's other ebooks include Haunted: the Ghosts that Share Our World...Australia's Strangest Mysteries #1 and #2...A Paranormal File: An Australian Investigator's Casebook...The Mary Celeste Syndrome...Alien Airships Over Old America...Thirst: an Inheritance of Evil...The Girl Who Touched Infinity...The Key and the Fountain.
John's original screenplay Thirst, directed by Rod Hardy and produced by Anthony I. Ginnane won Best Horror
Film prize at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival. His 3-act drama, The Face in the Mirror, was co-awarded Best Stage Play in the General Motors/Elizabethan Theatre Trust competition.
He has written several hundred drama episodes for TV - and his paperbooks, including such titles as Great Australian Mysteries 1 & 2, Haunted, Unexplained and Unsolved have been numerously reprinted. His 3-volume Mazeworld series has appeared in USA and UK and in translation through Europe. His logic puzzle books Think!, Think Again! and Wordgames have also been published internationally.
For many years John was a prominent writer with Australia's Age newspaper, subsequently moving his column, Pinkney Place to Rupert Murdoch's national daily The Australian. Here he covered the century's most extraordinary UFO case: the disappearance without trace of young pilot Frederick Valentich, after radioing Flight Services that he was being 'orbited' by a gigantic craft. [full story and photographs are in A Paranormal File.]
John has had a lifelong interest in the unsolved and unexplained. His fascination with the unknown took its most practical form when, with lawyer-friend Peter Norris, he co-founded the organization known today as VUFORS - the Victorian UFO Research Society. John and Peter collaborated to host the weekly radio series The Truth Behind UFOs and Do You Believe in Ghosts?
Over the years John Pinkney's broadcasts and columns have attracted a large mail from listeners and readers describing their brushes with the bizarre. Readers of his books continue the input.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 22, 2012
To say I adore mysteries is an understatement. I think I own most of John Pinkney's books, so to find this treasure in an op shop over the week was probably the best part of my week. This one specifically follows Australian mysteries, and I felt the hairs rise up on the back of my neck a few times, and had to glance around my lounge room to make sure no 'Nurse' aliens were watching me. The stories, as with all his books, are well told and backed up by sources such as newspapers and personal accounts. Do I believe every one? No, but it sure is interesting to read them!
November 22, 2018
A fun read despite the underhanded snipes at science as unimaginative. Still an interesting read and full of life.
September 22, 2022
A collection of stories about some Australian mysteries. Ranges from paranormal and UFO sightings through to missing persons and murder mysteries. Some were more interesting than others.
November 18, 2012
I read the synopsis.. and was intrigued by the story about the scientist who was mysteriously murdered.. along with a nurse.. and the ODD fact.. that the USA FBI investigated the murders for over 7 months.. and to this day.. will NOT reveal WHY they investigated it.
The novel gives VERY intimate details of what is known about the timeline of the scientist and the nurse. (they estimate they died roughly an hour and a half apart and were NOT having any type of relations) They saved tissue samples.. hoping that someday.. a forensic test would be invented for determining what was in the bloodstream of the deceased. As they died on New Year's Day in 1963. Forensic science DID finally catch up.. and confirmed what the police thought at the time.. that the two died from an LSD overdose. Oddly.. they'd been covered up.. so, it indicates they were murdered rather than overdosed. The scientist was about to take a job in the USA. From the sounds of his job title.. he would have been involved in helping develop some type of Star Wars technology using lasers.
The book has many other strange mysteries that have happened in Australia's long history. From Aboriginal tribal death curses that only ONE person condemned to death has managed to survive without the aid of someone removing the "curse"... to this day! A story about the odd disappearance of Australia's Prime Minister (personally.. I think he was eaten whole by a shark). The story about the falling stones.. now, that one.. has really peaked my interest. As it's occurred in a few other places on Earth.. and lasted for months and months.. of steady stones falling on a particular home or person. Just SO weird.. with many MANY known cases.. that have all been well documented.. and yet.. no reasonable explanation at all of the stone shower.
The book was well written and well researched! I really enjoyed reading about the various mysteries. Some of which.. I will be seeking further information.. to hopefully satisfy my curiosity as to the causes of some of them. Especially the shower of warm stones.
The novel gives VERY intimate details of what is known about the timeline of the scientist and the nurse. (they estimate they died roughly an hour and a half apart and were NOT having any type of relations) They saved tissue samples.. hoping that someday.. a forensic test would be invented for determining what was in the bloodstream of the deceased. As they died on New Year's Day in 1963. Forensic science DID finally catch up.. and confirmed what the police thought at the time.. that the two died from an LSD overdose. Oddly.. they'd been covered up.. so, it indicates they were murdered rather than overdosed. The scientist was about to take a job in the USA. From the sounds of his job title.. he would have been involved in helping develop some type of Star Wars technology using lasers.
The book has many other strange mysteries that have happened in Australia's long history. From Aboriginal tribal death curses that only ONE person condemned to death has managed to survive without the aid of someone removing the "curse"... to this day! A story about the odd disappearance of Australia's Prime Minister (personally.. I think he was eaten whole by a shark). The story about the falling stones.. now, that one.. has really peaked my interest. As it's occurred in a few other places on Earth.. and lasted for months and months.. of steady stones falling on a particular home or person. Just SO weird.. with many MANY known cases.. that have all been well documented.. and yet.. no reasonable explanation at all of the stone shower.
The book was well written and well researched! I really enjoyed reading about the various mysteries. Some of which.. I will be seeking further information.. to hopefully satisfy my curiosity as to the causes of some of them. Especially the shower of warm stones.
December 25, 2022
An eclectic mix of UFO stories, ghost stories, unexplained phenomena, spy scandal stories and true crime stories intermingled, like the National Crime Commission story and the UFO story of Nullarbor. Very easy to read.
July 8, 2010
lots of mysteries very interesting
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews