January 1st, 2012
I now have three ebooks available in my Military Orders series of novels. They are Brother Half Angel, The Maria Kannon and Military Orders. Read more here.
September 12th, 2011
“Top Stocks 2012” will be published in about a month. I am sometimes asked - in advance of publication - if I can give out a list of companies in the book. I am afraid I am under strict instructions from my publisher not to do this. I can say there are 102 stocks in the book, and, once again, I am surprised and impressed at how many Australian companies continue to do so well, despite all the surrounding gloom.
For those keen to get the book as quickly as possible, I know that the Educated Investor bookstore in Melbourne often has them in advance of other stores, and offers a mail order service.
July 20th, 2011
My new novel “Military Orders” is available as an ebook download, from the Amazon Kindle bookstore, or from Smashwords. It asks the question - with persecution dramatically on the rise, do Christians fight back? Or do we continue to turn the other cheek? Read more at the Military Orders website.
June 30th, 2011
Good News! “Hot Rock Dreaming” is one of seven books - and the only novel - on the short list for the 2011 Australian Christian Book of the Year award. A total of 67 books were entered. The winner will be announced in mid-August.
April 30th, 2011
“Journey”, from the Queensland Uniting Church, has given a good review to “Hot Rock Dreaming”. An excerpt:
This highly readable book adds the elements of mystery, spirituality, Aboriginal Dreaming, celebrity endorsement and commercial business together to create a uniquely Australian story.
It is refreshing and somewhat disconcerting at times to read a mystery novel written specifically in the Australian context.
You will be both entertained and educated as you meet characters such as the East Timorese PI Johnny Ravine, the aging rock star and social justice advocate Wolfstead Gannon, the famous Aboriginal artist Old Albert Wallaby Walker and the beautiful and mysterious Korean pastor, Mi-Young.
January 29th, 2011
Thanks to Sean Dostal of the Moneybags financial website who included “Top Stocks” in an article “Best Sharemarket Books” in the ASX Investor Update. He said that the book has “again been Moneybags’ best-selling book of the year”.
December 3rd, 2010
A friendly review of “Hot Rock Dreaming” at the Salvation Army magazine On Fire. It is not yet online. An excerpt:
Roth is a Christian author and, although spiritual warfare is crucial to the plot, this book is still a murder mystery, not a heavy-handed ‘Christian novel’.
One character...makes some cutting observations about faith, prayer, discernment and spiritual attacks. A great discussion starter, ‘Hot Rock Dreaming’ is both thought-provoking and an enjoyable read.
November 7th, 2010
This morning’s Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) carries a one-page feature on “Top Stocks 2011” titled “The Science of Smart Investing”. It is not (so far) online.
November 7th, 2010
I’ve written an article, here, for the ASX monthly newsletter, titled “Top Stocks for 2011”, and based on various ideas that came out of the book. Here is the introduction/summary, written by the newsletter’s editor:
In the latest instalment of Top Stocks, author MARTIN ROTH says astute investors who buy quality companies, rather than worrying about the direction of the overall market, could realise some impressive long-term gains. This story also lists 50 companies that achieved growth in after-tax profit and earnings per share at a faster pace than revenues.
November 7th, 2010
“Annual sharemarket guide always a good read” is the headline to a fine review of “Top Stocks 2011” at the WA Today website. Here is a brief excerpt:
It's that time of the year again. Time to take a step back from our minute-by-minute examination of events on the financial markets, and ponder what we're doing.
Yes, it's time for the annual edition of Top Stocks, the trusty tome penned by Martin Roth.
The 2011 volume is the seventeenth in the series that might never change, but still gets better with age.
...All in all, as always, a great read.
October 8th, 2010
“Top Stocks 2011” is out. Wiley have typically produced a very attractive book. I’ve had several emails asking where to find the book. I understand that one of the first stores with a large number of copies is Educated Investor, here in Melbourne. They offer a mail order service.
August 8th, 2010
Will Owen writes the internet’s best commentary on Aboriginal art. The fact that he is an American librarian in North Carolina is irrelevant. His knowledge, passion and literacy shine through in everything he posts. He has just written a great review of “Hot Rock Dreaming”.
An excerpt:
“Hot Rock Dreaming” is the second novel featuring detective Johnny Ravine, an East Timorese former freedom fighter, relocated to Melbourne but for this outing swept away to Alice Springs and caught up in a plot that mixes environmental politics and Aboriginal art. It’s not quite a roman à clef, but readers will no doubt be amused by a former rock star who finds himself caught in a struggle between a geothermal energy company and the need for Indigenous cultural preservation, or an Alice-based senior artist whose best days are behind him, despite his connections to the early days of the Papunya painting school.
...I can’t describe too much more of the plot without giving away the details that point to the solution of the crime, other than to say that there’s plenty of venality to be had and that Roth seems to have imbibed the seamier side of the Aboriginal art market both in Alice and in the capital cities and brought it to bear on his plot and characters.
...Roth makes good use of the Outback locations, especially as the story races to its conclusion amidst a torrential rainstorm that washes out the roads and seems to be the vengeance of Kurtal for the despoiling of the Dreaming. As I said before, Roth has clearly been paying attention to the intrigues of desert art dealing and shows a surprisingly subtle understanding of the power plays that animate the hostilities and jealousies that in real life, luckily, produce only strife and not genuine homicide.
We’ve been sweltering through Top End temperatures here lately in the northern summer, and the thunderstorms in the evenings this week have been severe enough to rattle the windows and quite literally shake the floors. Perfect weather for some “Hot Rock Dreaming”.
July 1st, 2010
I’ve been slack about updating the site. With the publication of my second Johnny Ravine thriller, “Hot Rock Dreaming”, I plan to be more active.
October 19th, 2009
“Top Stocks 2010” hits the bookstores this week. I am biased, but I think it looks very attractive.
October 3rd, 2009
A blog called “Unthinking Anglicans” has poked fun at yesterday’s SydneyAnglicans.net review of “Prophets and Loss” -
Calvinists in Sydney spend most days with their noses stuck in the Bible. So it's a refreshing change to see the Sydney Diocese recommending other light reading for Jensenites to enjoy. Those bored with Scripture would do well to read Prophets and Loss by Martin Roth. It's edifying theme will delight everyone in Mr Jensen's Mission: "Grant Stonelea has been found murdered in the bondage room of a Melbourne brothel, his hands bound with leather straps and a page from the Bible stuffed in his mouth. Pastor Ron Thomas enlists Johnny Ravine, private detective and friend to the Stonelea’s, to find out what really happened". Gosh. That sounds just like Sydney Diocese! Having Holy Scripture stuck in one's gob in a bondage room may be a regular occurence in the darkest recesses of Jensenland. But most Anglicans would take offence at such salacious reading material. Not every Diocesan Web Page recommends books about brothels and bondage. We know Sydney Calvinists are mad. But their bedtime reading is disgusting!
October 2nd, 2009
SydneyAnglicans.net has published a generous review of “Prophets and Loss”.
Prophets and Loss is Martin Roth’s first published novel. In it Roth, an accomplished financial writer, takes his readers on a thrilling ride that begins as a story of murder and revenge and ends as a reflection on loss and forgiveness. Readers are hurried between Melbourne brothels, global stock markets and East Timorese mountains as the murdered Grant’s pre-conversion life is graphically seen to come back and haunt him.
But it is the story of Johnny Ravine which occupies the greater emotional involvement of the reader. And as the story unfolds it becomes apparent that his past and Grant’s past are dangerously intertwined. By the end of the story Melissa’s quest for revenge has given way to Ravine’s own internal struggle.
Prophets and Loss is fast paced and edgy without being vulgar or gratuitous (which is saying a lot given the graphic circumstances surrounding Grant Stonelea’s death!). Roth’s stock market knowledge shines through without being ostentatious. And the story’s setting within the suburbs of Melbourne is a natural and believable one. The book is attractive, well set out and at just over 200 pages not overly long.
September 29th, 2009
Clayton Bjelan interviewed me for his programme on Light FM, Melbourne’s Christian radio station, about “Prophets and Loss” and about my journey to Christianity. You can listen online here.