AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Space Demons is a computer game with a difference - a prototype directly imported from Japan, and designed to lock four unlikely protagonists, Andrew Hayford, Elaine Taylor, Ben Challis and Mario Ferrone, in deadly combat with the sinister forces of its artificial intelligence. As the game draws them into its powerful ambit, Andrew, Elaine, Ben, and Mario must confront the darker sides of their own natures.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Braille.
Works about this Work
-
10 ‘Lost’ Australian Literary Treasures You Should Read – and Can Soon Borrow from Any Library
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 24 November 2020; -
y
Elements of Carnival and the Carnivalesque in Contemporary Australian Children's Literature
Sydney
:
2009
27495428
2009
single work
thesis
'This thesis discusses the influence of elements of Bakhtinian camivalesque in selected contemporary Australian children’s literature. Many of the Bakhtinian ideas are centred on the work of Franqois Rabelais, particularly his five books collectively entitled Gargantua and Pantagruel. Aspects of the complex field of Bakhtinian camivalesque that have been considered include: attitudes to authority, the grotesque body and its working, the importance of feasting and the associated concepts of bodily functioning, customs in relation to food, and ritual and specific language such as the use of curses and oaths. The role of humour and the manifest forms this takes within carnival are intrinsic and are discussed at some length. These central tenets are explored in two ways: first, in relation to their connection and use within the narrative structures of a selection of books short listed (and thus critically acclaimed) by the Australian Children’s Book Council from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, and second, by means of contrast, to the commercially popular but generally less critically acclaimed works of other Australian writers such as Paul Jennings and Andy Griffiths. The thesis concludes by considering the ways in which camivalesque freedom is encouraged through and by new media.'
Source: Abstract.
-
Cutting it in New Times : The Future of Children's Literature
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , December vol. 16 no. 2 2006; (p. 5-16) In regards to the future of children's literature, 'both its fiction and its scholarship' (5), Kerry Mallan considers three questions: 'How are new times impacting upon scholars in children's literature?; what new directions are offered by children's cultural texts?; what new tasks can we set ourselves [critics of children's literature] before they are set for us? (5). Mallan's main concern is that new skills are needed to navigate a course through 'the turbulent seas of research priorities' and 'appear relevant to new students and university administration' (6). In her discussion of how Internet fiction has 'contributed to the demise of traditional narrative authority and opened up new formulations of the role of readership in narrative' (10) Mallen refers to a number of International and Australians texts, including Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing (2000) and Gillian Rubinsteins' Space Demons (1986) and Sky Maze (1989). For Mallan, it is imperative that scholars in the field of children's literary criticism 'find new ways of making its presence felt both within the academy and outside of it' without adopting a 'defensive position'(14) however, she concludes by drawing attention to the 'lure of new texts, new technologies, new readings, new readers' suggesting it is equally important to consider just what exactly makes us always desire the 'new' over the 'old' (14). -
'We Has Found the Enemy and They Is Us' : Virtual War and Empathy in Four Children's Science Fiction Novels
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Lion and the Unicorn , April vol. 28 no. 2 2004; (p. 171-185) An examination of four novels, two British, one American and one Australian, from the perspective of postmodern virtual war and through the concepts of empathy and alterity. -
Gillian Rubinstein : 'Playing the Game of Life'
1997
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Adolescent Novel : Australian Perspectives 1997; (p. 197-204)
-
[Review] Space Demons
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 2 no. 2 1987; (p. 24)
— Review of Space Demons 1986 single work novel -
Australian Children's Book Awards : The 1987 shortlist
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 91 1987; (p. 29-32)
— Review of Riverman 1986 single work novel ; Creatures in the Beard 1986 single work picture book ; Kojuro and the Bears Helen Smith (translator), 1987 single work picture book ; The Wild 1986 single work picture book ; All About Anna and Harriet and Christopher and Me 1986 single work children's fiction ; Melissa's Ghost 1986 single work children's fiction ; Blue Days 1986 single work novel ; Space Demons 1986 single work novel ; Taronga 1986 single work novel ; My Sister Sif 1986 single work novel ; All We Know 1986 single work children's fiction ; Animalia 1986 single work picture book ; Farmer Schulz's Ducks 1986 single work picture book ; Pigs Might Fly 1986 single work children's fiction ; Sister Madge's Book of Nuns 1986 selected work poetry ; Boss of the Pool 1986 single work children's fiction ; Murgatroyd's Garden 1986 single work picture book ; The Nativity 1986 single work picture book -
[Review] Space Demons
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: Review Bulletin , vol. 87 no. 1 1987; (p. 28)
— Review of Space Demons 1986 single work novel -
Demons Made Him Do It
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: Times on Sunday , 1 June 1987; (p. 33)
— Review of Space Demons 1986 single work novel -
Scary and Serious Books for Young Adults
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Boston Globe , 4 September 1988; (p. A13)
— Review of Space Demons 1986 single work novel -
The Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards 1987 : The Short Lists
1987
single work
column
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 2 no. 2 1987; (p. 12-13) -
Know the Author : Gillian Rubinstein
Alfred R. Mappin
(interviewer),
1989
single work
interview
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , July vol. 4 no. 3 1989; (p. 18-20) -
A Hero is a Man...???
1993
single work
column
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 8 no. 2 1993; (p. 5-9) -
form
y
Meet the Author : Gillian Rubinstein
Meet Gillian Rubinstein
Sue Wighton
(interviewer),
( dir. Sue Wighton
)
Brisbane
:
Queensland Department of Education
,
1993
Z1376174
1993
single work
film/TV
interview
Children's author Gillian Rubinstein discusses the inspiration behind some of her stories, notably Space Demons and Answers to Brut. She also answers questions from students.
-
Living with Ourselves : Recent Australian Science Fiction for Children and Young People
1990
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , vol. 15 no. 4 1990; (p. 185-189) Nimon observes that Australian science fiction for children tends to present futuristic narratives that are 'earthbound' rather than 'launching into the void between the stars or touching down on remote and wonderous planets' (185). She claims that writers of juvenile science fiction 'find Australia itself to be a challenging terrain...a continent whose people are neither comfortable nor assured in their possession of it' (185). Following a discussion of novels by Lee Harding (Displaced Persons, Waiting for the End of the World), Victor Kelleher (Taronga, The Makers), and Gillian Rubinstein (Beyond the Labyrinth, Skymaze and Space Demons), Nimon claims that as well as the tendency of Australian science fiction for children to remain earthbound, there is a pervasive theme of individualization, 'where the dangers encountered and the foes met are the powers of our own desires and weaknesses; we battle to control our unruly selves' and as such, 'the future lies in our own hands' (188).
Awards
- 1990 winner YABBA — Fiction for Older Readers
- 1988 winner Festival Awards for Literature (SA) Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature South Australian Literary Awards — Children's Literature Award
- 1987 winner Children's Peace Literature Award
- 1987 honour book CBCA Book of the Year Awards — Book of the Year: Older Readers