2024
2023 was a big year. The Caretaker hit shelves and became a bestseller. I went on my first ever book tour. I wrote a short film that is now very close to release-ready. I wrote The Lodger, a sequel to maybe the biggest hit of my career. I signed a contract for my first non-fiction book. I got 50,000 words into my next adult novel before taking a self-enforced break over Christmas. And that’s just the stuff I can talk about.
The mad thing is, 2024 looks set to not just be bigger, but my biggest year yet. Later this month Andromache Between Worlds will hit shelves (more on that below). In April, The Lodger is out on Audible. In August, The Hitchhiker will finally be getting a print release. Somewhere in all that, both The Retirement Plan and The Lecter Variations will see the light of day. I’m already doing booked in for heaps of events. And that’s just the stuff I can talk about.
Look, the truth is that it’s always impossible to predict how these things will go. In 2019, I had every reason to believe that 2020, with the release of The Hunted and the theoretical shooting of the film version, would be the most wild year of my life. And in many ways it was, but the one thing I didn’t plan for was that I’d be spending so much of it stuck in my own house. I’m super proud of all the above projects, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not staring down the barrel of a string of flops.
But look, at a certain point there isn’t a lot to be gained from stomping on your hopes in the interests of preparing for disappointment that might not come. I’m really excited for 2024. I can’t wait to share the new stuff with the world just as I can’t wait for the old stuff to find new audiences. And to my readers who’ve followed me all along or only recently started, I think I’ve got something for everyone ahead. If you were a fan of The Hunted, The Inheritance, The Hitchhiker or The Caretaker, then The Lodger is sort of a sequel to all of them. If you were keen to read The Hitchhiker but weren’t an audiobook person, that’s covered. If you liked my Boone Shepard series back in the day, then Andromache Between Worlds is a return to that kind of swashbuckling, semi-absurd adventure yarn (and even features a few familiar faces). If you know me more from my film/TV criticism, then The Lecter Variations is the book for you, a long-form work of passionate analysis and pop-culture history.
It’s not just my biggest year yet, but my most varied slate of work. And I guess the main feeling I have coming into it all is immense gratitude that I’m still lucky enough to be in a position where I can explore so many different creative directions.
Get ready – we’re hitting the ground running this year. And on that note…
Come launch Andromache Between Worlds with me!
On Tuesday January 30 I’ll be launching Andromache Between Worlds at St Kilda’s iconic Dog’s Bar, one of my favourite writing spots - not least because both of my dogs have photos on the wall. Books will be sold by Charlotte from my hometown’s beloved bookstore Ink, and I’ll be in conversation with The Retirement Plan star and voice of the Andromache audiobook Ayesha Gibson, delving into all the big questions before I deface some books and we all get a few drinks drank.
It's a free event and all are welcome – come along and celebrate with me!
Podcast Chat with Jack Heath and Adrian Beck
I’ve not been shy about my love for Jack Heath’s darkly comedic crime thriller Kill Your Husbands, and so I was stoked to join Jack and Adrian Beck on the Be More Bookish podcast to dive deep into just what makes this book so damn good. Check it out here!
The Inheritance – French Cover
The Hunted, or La Chasse, made quite an impact in France and so I’m very excited that Sonatine Editions will be following it up with The Inheritance this year. Check out the amazing cover above!
Events
Events are already starting to book up from the year ahead. In the week before the Andromache launch I’ll be heading up to the High Country for back to back talks at the Benalla and Wangaratta libraries – Benalla on January 24, Wangaratta January 25. As soon as there’s a link for Wanagratta I’ll post it, but for now if you’re in the area grab your Benalla tickets here!
And jumping a little further ahead now, on April 11 I’ll be at Wheeler’s Hill library for another talk, so mark that down if you’re a local.
Recommendations
I wouldn’t say I’m a big Godzilla fan, at least not the way I am of King Kong (the 1933 original remains one of my favourite ever movies and I have time for just about any of his other appearances). But still, I have a fair bit of nostalgia for hiring movies like Godzilla vs the Sea Monster on VHS back in the 90s and so I’m always going to be at least a little interested in any new film that the big lizard headlines.
Minus-One, the latest Japanese film to do so, didn’t originally grab me. It seemed not enormously dissimilar to the last standalone quasi reboot/remake, 2016’s Shin Godzilla and so while I figured I would check it out at some point I wasn’t in any rush.
And then that slow sense of this being a word-of-mouth sensation started to grow and with it so did my curiosity. So I went and caught it at a full-house IMAX screening and was blown away.
The reality is that my own praise of Godzilla Minus-One won’t include anything you haven’t heard before if you’ve got even mild interest in the movie. It grapples with the state of postwar Japan in ways that feel both organic and uncompromising. It makes Godzilla a terrifying spectacle again. It contains moments of horrifying devastation and punch the air catharsis. It makes you care about the human characters which in turn makes the destruction feel like it actually matters. It’s rollicking entertainment that never once feels weightless. Basically, it’s what a blockbuster should be. Even Gareth Edwards, director of Hollywood’s pretty dull 2014 Godzilla, admitted as much, claiming that watching Minus-One made him feel ‘jealous’.
The last time I felt so thoroughly satisfied by such a broad-appeal film was Top Gun: Maverick. I recommend this one highly.
Andromache Between Words - Deleted Prologue
Early on in the writing process for Andromache, this was the book’s first scene. I still really like it and it’s very much canon to the finished book, but ultimately it was suggested that the story would be stronger starting from the perspective of Andromache herself, and that was entirely the right move.
Still, as a little appetiser, I think it’s a fun glimpse of what’s to come.
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It had all gone wrong and now he was out of time. The air was thick with the smell of smoke and the sound of sirens. Somewhere under it all he could hear yelling, maybe his own name. But it didn’t matter. None of that mattered now.
One hand in front of the other he dragged himself up the metal stairs, away from the broken equipment and spilled chemicals, away from the flames spreading across the lab. He should have known. The world didn’t change easily.
His name, louder now. Somebody was coming after him. To help him or stop him, it didn’t matter. The platform was just ahead.
Another explosion. The metal below him groaned and shook. He didn’t have long. Seconds, maybe. The edge of the stairs was just ahead. He knew better than to try to stand. The first blast had hit his leg. But that would not, could not stop him now.
He reached the top and there it was. He’d seen it from below of course, seen what happened when the gigantic cannons set into the wall had fired their beams of light, all hitting the same spot. He’d seen the air split but then the systems had overloaded and the chaos had begun. Down there it had been a distant glimpse but here…
A hole had been torn in the very air in front of him, the edges shifting and waving, as though trying to pull themselves closed. But they hadn’t yet. The calculations had worked. For a moment his racing fear and desperation slipped away. For a moment all he felt was awe.
Despite the pain he managed to stand. He limped forwards. A hole in the air, and through it…
Tears in his eyes. He knew what had to be done.
And then his name, right behind him. He turned as something slammed into him and the loudest explosion yet rocked the room and the whole world disappeared.
He whispered a name and then he was gone.