Bob Murphy – footballer, music fan, dog walker, coffee drinker, hand shaker, train traveller and tree lover – has been a favourite of footy followers for many a year. Now captain of his beloved Western Bulldogs, he’s showing the young pups at the Kennel how to play the great game the right way. Collected here for the first time are the best of Bob’s much-loved weekly newspaper columns – including his ‘Fantasy Football League’ teams of film stars, musos and pollies. From the strange joy of a wet Melbourne winter to the challenge of playing on the sublime Stevie J, Murphy’s Lore shines with the warmth, wisdom and charm of the Dogs’ evergreen champion.

Legends belly up to the bar at the end of the rainbow to help the troubled.

James Murphy strides across the pages of Sutherland Shire history as a prominent but enigmatic figure. Manager of the Holt-Sutherland Estate Land Company and named in every local history for a century, his life before and after holding that position has, until now, remained shrouded in mystery.Here, for the first time, long-held myths and misconceptions about his achievements are untangled and a wealth of unknown biographical information revealed. Comprehensively researched and referenced, Murphy's Lore offers the most complete portrait yet compiled of this pivotal figure in the story of Sutherland Shire.

The legendary gang from Bulfinche's Pub in New York City returns in new stories in which: A bridge jumper is saved by a god in winged sneakers while the goddess of suicides & a guardian of graves hunt a beast that feeds on death; the cosmic chicken lays an egg as toilet goddesses & a god help Murphy out with a problem; a priest manages to stop a murder without breaking the seal of the confessional; talking babies reveal that some gods feast on certain souls in the afterlife & we find the succubus Ryth & angel Mathew are expecting; a foolish criminal tries to start a protection racket in the neighborhood of Bulfinche's Pub; a woman gets a last chance in a game of bingo where Death & The Fates are playing; a date rapist learns that Hell hath no fury like a baby shower; Hercules & other warriors learn it takes more than strength to be a hero; the satyr Fred saves a girl enslaved to a news anchor; The Mother of the Streets gets a job; & the only one who can save Paddy Moran & the world from the rising of an elder evil is... bartender John Murphy? PATRONS OF BULFINCHE'S PUB SPEAK OUT ON BARTENDER OF THE GODS: "IF EVERYONE IN THE WORLD READ THIS BOOK, IT WOULD BE A MUCH BETTER PLACE. It would mean that my son would have more royalties to spend on his mother," -Murphy's Mom. "I FOUND IT FASCINATING. THEN AGAIN, ALL I USUALLY HAVE TO READ IS TOMBSTONES," Moni, Lasa guardian of graves. "MUCH MORE PLEASANT THAN THE PROSPECT OF LABOR," Ryth, pregnant succubus. "I COULDN'T WISH FOR BETTER," Tommy, jinn, hot dog vender. "I COULD," Edgar Tonic, hot dog vender. PRAISE FOR THE MURPHY'S LORE SERIES: "THE CAST OF CHARACTERS AT BULFINCHE'S PUB IS ALWAYS CHANGING, BRINGING NEW LAUGHS, PERILS, & ADVENTURE. DON'T MISS THE LATEST INSTALLMENT OF THIS WONDERFUL SERIES." -Edward McFadden, FANTASTIC STORIES "JOIN HEX, PADDY & THE GANG IN THEIR RACE TO UNDO THE FUTURE IN PATRICK THOMAS'S FOOLS' DAY, PART OF HIS COMIC MURPHY'S LORE SERIES." PUBLISHER'S 'S WEEKLY "HUMOR, OUTRAGEOUS ADVENTURES, & SOME CLEVER PLOT TWISTS." -Don D'Ammassa, SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE