Back in the Day: Tales from NZ's Own Paradise Island (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780994101570)

52 stories, one for every week of the year. Some light and frothy, some dark and devious, some sweet and magical, and some just downright cheeky, here's a book of stories for those who might have given up on stories.

Consider them the truffles at the feast, to savour and enjoy! These stories will lighten up any holiday or dull moment en route to your own paradise island.

Meet Harry the hobbit, who receives a most unusual gift; a magical typewriter on a mission; a criminally inclined fantail; an art thief with a moral imperative; three bewitching beach beauties and their victim; a group of smokers making their last stand; a man who can't stop walking in circles; a taniwha trapped in an elevator shaft; Stock Car Sally who'll go all the way, bumper to bumper; an amateur realtor from hell; a political sausage; a boatie with a mist that won't go away; a suitcase with its own agenda; a drunk reporter who sobers up at his own funeral, and many more.

'Those of us who live on islands know the remote, bounded world they inhabit and will recognise the unbearable closeness of being they endure. We have found our freedom in confinement. But don't take our word for it - we are storytellers of the most unreliable kind. Mike Johnson's Paradise Island is a place where memory and nostalgia mix and reality is lapped at every day by the tides of rediscovery. Back in the day, of course, it would have been so much simpler.' Greg Treadwell, ex-editor of the Gulf News, Hauraki Gulf.

'Written with wit, charm and colourful layers that peel off to reveal an island full of characters and events that raise a laugh amid whimsical reflections.' John Hawkesby.