He is excited and afraid; he wants to recapture the love he knew with his parents before they died and become a doctor like his father. But in his new home of celebrities, crooks, untrustworthiness, and excessively wealthy deviants, lust and want thwart his search for selfless caring love, and in his quest to become a doctor, he discovers the altruism of health care and scientific discovery riddled with profit motivation and deficient moral standards. A finalist in the 2012 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition.

    . .This summer is different because there's a new girl in town. It's different because she's Tanika Bell - occasional bus driver, regular optimist and, it turns out, woman of the world.But expecting life to play by the rules is like making laws for clouds. Kane's whole family has never worked by the rules. His dad ran off years ago, his mother's still chafing and drinking, and she's really bad on her bad days. Summer sets in, hot and humid, and Kane works the road verges. But he's got lofty ambitions, he's got Tanika on his mind and he's going to make this summer count, whatever it takes.Once again Nick Earls is poignant, sharp, very funny and sometimes achingly sad. Making Laws for Clouds gives us the good times, shows us the bad, and - just like Kane - looks to making something hopeful for the future.

    Fourteen-year-old Victoria Keats is horrified when her father demands that she go to work for wealthy Mr Preston – everyone knows why he takes young girls into his house. But her violent father, who’s never let her forget she’s not the son he wanted, won’t listen to her concerns – and when she stands up for herself, he throws her out of their dingy little house in the slums.Intelligent, book-loving Vicki vows to make her father regret this day; but she is all alone in the world. Despite her courage and quick wits, it seems likely she will starve – until two men, both complete strangers, provide her with no-strings-attached help.As Vicki’s life improves beyond all recognition, she can’t help but fixate on the mystery of these two good Samaritans: who were they? And why did they help her? She determines to find the men and thank them, but tracking them down may be harder – and more life-changing – than she thinks . . .