JAI BAIDELL

Genre: Science Fiction Published: 2017 Date read: June 2018 A story of a future Australia where the inland is in permanent drought and the inhabitants have been forcefully relocated or herded into camps. But there are hold-outs, people who hide from the Creeps and eke out a precarious living. The story begins with a football match against a passing First People caravan, and the return of Bill’s friend Tobe from his wanderings. Bill and Tobe are close, and share a tragic past. Bill’s loyalty is tested when Tobe insists on an exploratory trip into the badlands, but he follows Tobe faithfully, even when they must abandon their bolthole, only to be betrayed in the end. (I hope this isn’t too much of a spoiler). This is an interesting book. I enjoyed it as a writer, seeing how Walter has varied the pace to create atmosphere. The structure of the book is interesting too, a classic story structure with a strong inciting incident which I didn’t identify until the very end, even tho

My favourite read for 2016 was Australian author Sulari Gentill’s Rowland Sinclair series. Highly recommended. The first book in the wonderful Rowland Sinclair series Rowland Sinclair is an artist living in Sydney, Australia, in the 1930s. He has a straight-laced wealthy grazier family pushing him in one direction and his own inclinations, aided and abetted by an eclectic and unsuitable collection of friends, pushing him the other way, into trouble. 1930s Sydney wasn’t for the fainthearted. From politics (communists, right wing militias, the Riverina separatist movement) to street gangs, criminal opportunists, and social upheaval resulting from the economic Depression, Rowland Sinclair finds a way to get into difficulty no matter which way he turns. Alternate cover for A Few Right Thinking Men. I prefer the other one. The author has woven interesting historical facts into the stories, especially intriguing for those of us with little knowledge of Australian history. Sa