Ali Bryan – författare

“Sports fans and reluctant readers alike will enjoy the detailed, fast-paced wrestling matches and blow-by-blow MMA fight scenes. … Visceral and violent yet ultimately hopeful.” — Kirkus ReviewsSixteen-year-old star wrestler Rowan Harper’s biggest fan is her father.But he has ALS, and his symptoms are getting worse. Saving his life will cost more money than the family has, but Rowan finds a solution. Will she risk her chances at a scholarship by competing in a lucrative, but illegal, underground MMA fight?Takedown is a high-intensity coming-of-age story about family illness and competitive combat, with lots of heart, hope, and headlocks.

A year after forest fires ravaged the town of Crow Valley and claimed the life of Dale Jepson - karaoke legend, local prison guard, and all-around good guy - the community hosts a high-stakes karaoke competition. But when a convicted murderer escapes from nearby Crow Valley Correctional, residents discover there’s more on the line than local, perhaps even national, karaoke fame.In this darkly comedic, fast-paced ride through an unforgettable small town, five residents with intimate connections to Dale and drastically different goals for the night will collide into, conspire with, and aid one another as they scramble to make it successfully through the evening under the scrutinising watch of neighbours.To the soundtrack of classics belted out with abandon, voices will crack, cars will be stolen, marriages will falter, and kids will slip away in search of trouble. And maybe, just maybe, lives will be transformed for the better.

Gen X wore a lot of black clothing and ate a lot of Kraft Dinner, but who are they? Twenty Gen X authors answer that question in fiction.Is X, the unknown variable, the middle child of generations? Born when the Boomers seemed to run the world, or at least official culture, Xers grew up skeptical of causes. They are the last generation to come of age free-range, without smart phones and without constant parental supervision. Their dark humour and their hard-edged music made them alarming to the pious millennials who followed them. Have they become invisible? Now they’re grown up and trying to care for aging parents and trying to understand their kids. What can Gen X’s irreverent voices offer the world? This collection features rule-bending fiction from the rag-tag voices of the class without a cause — latchkey kids, slackers, chillers, punks at the back of the bus who would rather laugh than scold.

In the near future, a group of girls survive by their own wits and follow the laws of the Manual on the Hill, a reclaimed garbage dump they call home. The cardinal rule? Men and boys spell danger.After a Departure Ceremony releases the eleven oldest girls back to the Mainland, Wren becomes their new leader, and she's desperate to do a good job.So when one of the girls goes missing only a few hours into her new position, Wren makes the fateful decision to leave the Hill in search of the girl—only to encounter boys for the first time in her life. Is it a coincidence, then, that the Hill is attacked while she's gone?In order to survive and lead her community, Wren must sort fact from fiction, ally from enemy, and opportunity from threat. The Hill is a feminist dystopian novel that explores gender, power, and the search for truth in a world defined by scarcity, distrust, and gender politics. Gritty and compassionate, Bryan's unforgettable novel shines a light on the consequences of consumerism and environmental neglect while reminding us what it takes to be a girl in this world.Hits all the right apocalyptic notes. A great pick for forward-thinking feminist teens. —BOOKLISTLyrical writing and deep worldbuilding make for an immersive reading experience. —KIRKUS REVIEWS

In the near future, a group of girls survive by their own wits and follow the laws of the Manual on the Hill, a reclaimed garbage dump they call home. The cardinal rule? Men and boys spell danger.After a Departure Ceremony releases the eleven oldest girls back to the Mainland, Wren becomes their new leader, and she's desperate to do a good job.So when one of the girls goes missing only a few hours into her new position, Wren makes the fateful decision to leave the Hill in search of the girl only to encounter boys for the first time in her life. Is it a coincidence, then, that the Hill is attacked while she's gone?In order to survive and lead her community, Wren must sort fact from fiction, ally from enemy, and opportunity from threat. The Hill is a feminist dystopian novel that explores gender, power, and the search for truth in a world defined by scarcity, distrust, and gender politics. Gritty and compassionate, Bryan's unforgettable novel shines a light on the consequences of consumerism and environmental neglect while reminding us what it takes to be a girl in this world.Hits all the right apocalyptic notes. A great pick for forward-thinking feminist teens. BOOKLISTLyrical writing and deep worldbuilding make for an immersive reading experience. KIRKUS REVIEWS