Exisle Publishing

Ray Johnston and his best friend Tom, nearing the end of their first year in high school in Melbourne's vibrant inner-western suburbs, develop a fascination with Melbourne's new West Gate Bridge. After school, they regularly go to the bustling construction site to talk to the workers and collect mementos from the debris.  To Ray and the community, the bridge symbolizes more than a mere transportation link from the western suburbs to Melbourne's central business district. It represents progress, superiority, and power, filling Ray with immense pride as his father, Doug Johnston, serves as the lead rigger, and his neighbor, George Demetriou, works as an ironworker.  One fateful day, Ray stumbles upon a conversation between a bridge engineer and a foreman. They express serious concern about a buckle in the bridge and discuss plans to loosen the bridge’s bolts the following day. 

Tormented by this secret, Ray confides in Tom and ultimately decides to share his fears with his father. But his father tells him to keep quiet about it. Although Ray fears for his father’s and George’s safety, he agrees.  The next day, shortly before noon, Ray is in his class at school when he hears piercing sirens wailing. He sprints toward the bridge, only to find a scene of utter devastation and chaos. Driven by desperation, he joins the courageous team of workers, relentlessly searching for his father amidst the wreckage—fighting against time to save lives.  Hours pass like an eternity as Ray, with his torn and dirt-streaked shirt, abandons his identity as a schoolboy. And then, a glimmer of hope—the unimaginable happens—Ray finds his father alive and well. 

As months pass, Ray is haunted by the bridge as it hooks his fragmented heart, and he refuses to pass it on his way to Tom’s house. Although he feels somewhat older since the accident, it’s not until Ray learns the biggest lesson of all—to forgive himself—that he is finally free.  And just like the weathered, stressed and damaged pieces of glass he loves to collect, Ray begins to notice they too can be reshaped and strengthened into something new, ultimately reflecting a new perspective and a new way of looking at the world.   

On the cusp of adulthood, the two young friends face their own individual rites of passage as they wrestle with tragedy, justice, and a loss of innocence, which will not only define them but change their lives forever. 

Reading age of 12+, Interest age 14+ Rhiza Shorts are teen novellas for reluctant readers. 

Flip is a contemporary Australian young adult drama that explores big issues with soul and sensitivity. Its high-low content and feel-good finale make it a perfect read for both lovers of the genre and non-confident readers.

Issues and themes flowing through Flip are timely and relevant, including a housing crisis, bullying, loss and grief, finding yourself and a sense of belonging, friendship and family dynamics, starting over in a new town and school, and the impacts of cancer and dementia. 

Denim Davies wishes he could flip his life, just like the vintage items and clothing he finds at garage sales and thrift stores and sells online. With the worsening housing crisis, Denim and his dad have spent a year moving from town to town in search of sustainable work and a home they can call their own. Every move means starting over in a new school. Denim feels he’s drifting through life without an anchor.

When Denim and his dad arrive in the coastal town of Driftwood Heights, Denim knows things are only going to get worse. The only accommodation is in the trailer park, he’s just started Year 10, and in this small town where everyone knows each other he feels more of a misfit than ever. Besides, what’s the point of getting close to anyone if you’re just going to move away again?

When Denim befriends Mina, a quirky girl with a carefree attitude, Driftwood Heights starts to look a little brighter. But then a vintage find that seems too good to be true goes horribly wrong, and he has a tough decision to make—one that could ruin his friendship forever.  What do you do when flipping your life has too high a price? 

Reading age of 10 +, Interest age 14+. Rhiza Shorts are teen novellas for reluctant readers.

After being expelled, Joey is sent to the country to help an old man. Will it turn his life around or will his past follow him?   Joey is sent to the country where his phone won’t work, he’ll be far away from his buddies, and has to live with his great-aunt. His mother must be nuts if she thinks he’ll go.  But there isn’t any choice. This is the third school he’s been asked to leave. For fighting. Which is  stupid because he doesn’t fight. It’s an unfortunate case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure, he disrupts every class he attends—a skill he’s proud of. Or at least he pretends to be proud of. 

He has to disrupt them to keep everyone from realizing he can’t read.  But it turns out that Auntie Belle is not so old and not so bad, and when she asks him to help out a neighbor who’s recovering from a bad accident, Joey finds a world he can understand.  Young Harry has horses and dogs and a bull. And he has a garden that produces more food than Joey  has seen in the city supermarket. It looks like Young Harry will become his new best friend—better  than the ones he hung out with on the streets in the city.  Young Harry is eighty-five years old. He doesn’t have a phone either—or anything else from the  21st century. But even without electricity and the internet, Joey has never felt more at home. He likes the trust Harry has in him, hopes to join the local football team and he enjoys going for rides with Emily, the girl who looks after Harry’s horses. 

But that’s until the break-ins start. Robbie, who thinks Emily is his girl, points the finger of blame at Joey and the locals turn against him. And when one of his friends from the city is revealed as the culprit, he wants to recruit Joey in his break and enters.   After all, he can’t change who he is, can he? And the locals will never accept him as one of them.  Or will they? And will Joey betray Young Harry?  Last Chance Joey is a great read for every kid who struggles to find acceptance and their place in the world. Joey finds not only somewhere that he belongs, but also the courage to stand up for what’s important to him and the people he cares about. 

Fifteen-year-old Becca questions the influencer life that supports her family when an unexpected friendship in an online writing community challenges her to step into the 'real' life she craves.

Becca has been online influencer since she helped make promotional baking videos for her mom’s patisserie as a toddler. Now at fifteen, cutting online comments remind Becca she is no longer the cute flour-covered kid her followers first subscribed to. Her business-driven manager fuels Becca’s self-doubt by pressuring her to rebrand to a health and weight-conscious influencer. Becca vents her frustration in her poetry journal, questioning if the online life is worth sacrificing real friendships.

A teacher encourages Becca to sign up to the online writing community Poet’s Portal and there she meets @notmylife, another poster feeling trapped by family expectations. Becca and @notmylife confide in each other without giving away their identities and Becca feels like she has finally met someone who really understands her. When the two win a writing contest with their verse story 'Your dream not mine,' they receive entry to a writing workshop.

Becca and @notmylife agree to meet in person before the workshop. But Becca’s manager has booked her for a TV show on the same day as the workshop. Becca is torn as her influencer work supports her whole family. Now, she has to decide between the online life that’s never been her dream and the real-world connection she so desperately craves.

With teens increasingly aspiring to become online influencers, Like, Comment, Subscribe? aims to show the less glamorous side of the influencing lifestyle, particularly when the decision to be thrust in front of the camera is not made by themselves.
Rhiza Shorts are teen novellas for reluctant readers.

Public speaking phenom, Lexie, is on her way to represent her school at the Speech state finals, with dreams of reaching nationals. But that is before a freckle on her cheek turns out to be a rare form of melanoma, skin cancer, that requires surgery. Now, with a large scar on her face, her world changes and she no longer recognizes herself.

Her confidence has vanished, her friendships are changing and the very thing she has always loved—public speaking—now strikes terror into her heart. When a chance encounter turns into an unexpected friendship, Lexie's feelings about her scar, and herself, are challenged. Can she find a way to explore her ordeal with her ambitions for winning the state Speech competition?

A relatable and easy read for teenagers and young adults about overcoming obstacles, navigating friendships and finding out that our worth is far more than just skin deep.

In an extraordinary stroke of luck, six high school students – Luke, Alex, Harriet, Meg, Kye, and outcast Cassie – find themselves thrust into unimaginable wealth after winning a staggering 50 million-dollar Megaball prize. Overnight, their ordinary lives transform into a world where anything is attainable, and shopping becomes difficult - not because you can’t afford anything, but because you can afford everything.

As the group begin to discover the truth behind their extraordinary good fortune, they unwittingly unravel a complex web of lies concealing not only their improbable win but also other so-called luck happening around them.

In this heart-pounding tale of wealth, deceit, and moral reckoning, the millionaires club find themselves entangled in a treacherous game where the price of fortune is higher than they ever imagined. As they attempt to shield their newfound riches and each other from the relentless pursuit of the truth, they begin to realize that luck can be far from good, and lies, once buried, have a way of clawing their way back to the surface.

In Ways to Die Right, Joel's life is steeped in loss, with his mom’s battle with cancer not the first time his family has faced death. When he discovers the environmental harm of traditional burials, he decides to champion 'green burials' through a science presentation.

Joel’s mom is diagnosed with cancer, again, sending him into a spiral. He is already feeling the burden of caring for his sister’s grave, how could he possibly care for his mom’s grave as well? Then, at the cemetery, his most sacred space, he is confronted by his arch-nemesis, Trent. While Joel is striving to understand how family members can ‘forget’ their loved one by abandoning their graves, Trent wants everyone to know that graves are an important part of our human community. When Joel is given the opportunity, he champions green burials in a science presentation. The public opposition from Trent is almost more than he can take. Joel is forced to fight for himself and his beliefs, while trying to hide his biggest secret. New and old friends support him in his quest to protect the environment and find peace, while his parents see his struggles and make changes to support him.

Tarni can’t wait for her Senior Prom and is counting down the days. She has a checklist for everything—the shoes, the makeup, the friends, the photos, and most importantly, the dress. But Tarni’s perfect dress is a whopping $950 and she has to work extra shifts at her job to pay for it. While she slowly marks off her checklist, the elusive dress remains too expensive. Beside the dance, she still has to pay for her driver’s license and driving lessons. Add on the pressure of trying to decide what she’s going to do once school is over, and Tarni is becoming a nervous wreck.

Then the worst happens, by the time she saves enough for the dress, it’s sold out. How can she find her perfect dress—and in the right size in time? And will she ever get a clue on what to do after school? She will have to rely on her fashion sense and courage to make her dreams come true.

Fifteen-year-old Nick is a shy homeschooler whose best friend is his younger sister. Growing up on a farm, they both like the Australian horse-riding sport campdrafting, but Nick is too nervous around other people to compete. Tired of watching his sister making friends wherever she goes, Nick joins a local swim squad to challenge himself.

There he begins to come out of his shell, especially when he is befriended by four of his teammates who show him how to be friendly and self-confident. He soon discovers that he is great at swimming the breaststroke and finds the assurance to compete in meets. As his friendships and self-esteem grows, his shyness diminishes, but will that be enough to help him compete in the next campdraft event?

Written by a homeschooling mother of six, Holding Back provides an authentic look at what homeschooling is like and how hard it can be for homeschooled kids to challenge themselves in social situations.
Rhiza Shorts are teen novellas for reluctant readers.

From Noahs Flood to the imprisonment of Paul the Apostle and everything in between, come on a journey through Bible times. Each story listed below is told through the eyes of characters which you may or may not recognise, as they face decisions and experience life-changing encounters.

The Gift: A lamb called Lucky discovers the most valuable treasure of all.

Is This How It Ends? After the trauma of surviving a worldwide flood, how would you react when it starts to rain again?

Burdens: A young boy must find a way to let go of the past and trust in a new hope and a new future.

LMort de Lazarus: Step inside Lazarus tomb and watch him raised to life from the other side.

Murder At My Feet: Eli has a choice – obey his father and watch another die, or save a mans life and risk the rejection of his family.

Claudia Procula: A recurring dream torments the wife of the most powerful Roman in Judea. Could it come true?

My Brother's Keeper: Joseph is responsible for wrecking his brother's life. Will he ever forgive himself?

When Charlies grandmother is murdered, she is plunged into the world of the Temporal Sinistrum. A secretive organisation of time travellers tasked with maintaining the historical timeline. Her grandmother was once one of their star agents, and Charlie must step into her footsteps and solve the mystery of her death, in an adventure that takes her from Australia in 1966 to the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Los Angeles in 2120.

Charlie is a teenage girl, coming-of-age, across multiple timelines as she investigates her grandmothers past as part of the Sinistrum, while still dealing with her complicated feelings for the boyfriend she left behind in 2016.

This is a novel for fans of Dr Who, Marvel and Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children. Its for those who love big mind-bending adventures where the historical past of the Blitz and the Chernobyl disaster mixes with the dystopian future of Los Angeles and a cult sheltering in missile silo.

A secret. A holiday. A summer like never before. Shae knows her parents are keeping something from her and is determined to find out what. But nothing can prepare her for what they are hiding. 17-year-old Shae is learning that relationships, deception, secrets and love can sometimes blend together and change everything.

Shae and her family have a vacation of a lifetime planned, until it is cancelled unexpectedly. No warning. No explanation. Nothing. Instead, she is left to spend the summer holidays at her cousins. Shae knows her parents are keeping something from her and shes determined to find out what. As Shae tries to uncover the mystery, she must also navigate the deteriorating relationship with her favorite cousin, Lexi, whos been acting differently. To makes things more complicated, Shae meets Callen, the perplexing neighbor who manages to get under her skin every time she sees him. Then, Shae receives a mysterious letter. It includes a photograph of her father and another woman. An anonymous caller claims they sent it and have the answers Shae seeks. But does Shae really want the truth?

As Shae fights to keep her world the same, she soon realizes that some things are out of her control. It seems everybody she cares about is hiding something. But nothing can prepare her for the secret her parents are guarding. Shaes world will never be the same again by summers end.