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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Following global starvation, water wars and the collapse of nation-states, Western Australia in 2258 has reverted to fundamentalist, tech-hating, feudal enclaves vying for supremacy. Serving a local warlord and using forbidden tech found in a Perth observatory, free-thinker Morgan Welwyn discovers an inhabited orbiting biosphere, iolated since 2024 and facing problems of its own'. Source: 'A Valuable History of Horror'.
Notes
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This novel was written as a requirement for the completion of a Master of Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Western Australia.
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Dedication: In memory of Grant and Jenny For some, dreams are not possible
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Epigraph: ... the destiny of [hu]mankind evokes in us all those beneficent forces that ever and anon have enabled humanity to find a refuge from every peril and to outlive the longest night. Jung.
Affiliation Notes
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Preppers and Survivalism in the AustLit Database
This work has been affiliated with the Preppers and Survivalism project due to its relationship to either prepping or prepper-inflected survivalism more generally, and contains one or more of the following:
1. A strong belief in some imminent threat
2. Taking active steps to prepare for that perceived threat- A range of activities not necessarily associated with ‘prepping’ take on new significance, when they are undertaken with the express purpose of preparing for and/or surviving perceived threats, e.g., gardening, abseiling.
- The plausibility of the threat, and the relative “reasonable-ness” of the response, don’t affect this definition. E.g., if someone is worried about climate change and climate disasters, and they respond by moving from a riverbank location in Cairns, or to a highland region of New Zealand, this makes them a prepper. If someone else is worried about brainwashing rays from outer space, and they respond by making a tinfoil hat, that makes them a prepper.
3. A character or characters (or text) who self-identify as a ‘prepper’, or some synonymous/modified term: ‘financial preppers’, ‘weekend preppers’, ‘fitness preppers’, etc.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
An Apocalyptic Map : New Worlds and the Colonization of Australia
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film : A Critical Study 2011; (p. 23-53) 'This chapter examines the map that preceded, and eventually superseded, the territory of Australia, in order to demonstrate that early maps of the south land established an apocalyptic tradition that still resonates in contemporary fictions. If one reinterprets Jean Baudrillard's comments in the context of colonization and Australia, it is possible to see how European imagination delineated an apocalyptic map of the country before explorers and settlers even arrived, a map that located Australia as a tabula rasa, a blank slate where heaven and hell might equally be feasible. This chapter surveys the dialectic emerging from these confliction visions.' (24)
-
SF Worlds in Darkness and Joy : An Interview with Tess Williams
Van Ikin
(interviewer),
Helen Merrick
(interviewer),
2000
single work
interview
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 15 no. 2 (Issue 42) 2000; (p. 2-13) -
[Review] Map of Power [and] Metal Fatigue
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 14 no. 1 (Issue 39) 1997; (p. 29-33)
— Review of Map of Power 1996 single work novel ; Metal Fatigue 1996 single work novel -
Williams and Williams, the Way of the Future
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8 March 1997; (p. 10s)
— Review of Metal Fatigue 1996 single work novel ; Map of Power 1996 single work novel -
Untitled
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: Aurealis : Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction , no. 18 1996; (p. 73-74)
— Review of Map of Power 1996 single work novel
-
[Review] Map of Power [and] Metal Fatigue
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 14 no. 1 (Issue 39) 1997; (p. 29-33)
— Review of Map of Power 1996 single work novel ; Metal Fatigue 1996 single work novel -
A Valuable History of Horror
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16-17 November 1996; (p. rev 7)
— Review of Metal Fatigue 1996 single work novel ; Map of Power 1996 single work novel ; Bonescribes : The Year's Best Australian Horror 1995 1996 anthology short story -
Williams and Williams, the Way of the Future
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8 March 1997; (p. 10s)
— Review of Metal Fatigue 1996 single work novel ; Map of Power 1996 single work novel -
Local Flavour for Life in New World
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 11 December 1996; (p. 7)
— Review of Whaleroad 1996 single work novel ; Map of Power 1996 single work novel -
Untitled
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: Aurealis : Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction , no. 18 1996; (p. 73-74)
— Review of Map of Power 1996 single work novel -
SF Worlds in Darkness and Joy : An Interview with Tess Williams
Van Ikin
(interviewer),
Helen Merrick
(interviewer),
2000
single work
interview
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 15 no. 2 (Issue 42) 2000; (p. 2-13) -
An Apocalyptic Map : New Worlds and the Colonization of Australia
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film : A Critical Study 2011; (p. 23-53) 'This chapter examines the map that preceded, and eventually superseded, the territory of Australia, in order to demonstrate that early maps of the south land established an apocalyptic tradition that still resonates in contemporary fictions. If one reinterprets Jean Baudrillard's comments in the context of colonization and Australia, it is possible to see how European imagination delineated an apocalyptic map of the country before explorers and settlers even arrived, a map that located Australia as a tabula rasa, a blank slate where heaven and hell might equally be feasible. This chapter surveys the dialectic emerging from these confliction visions.' (24)
Awards
- 1996 shortlisted Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction — Science Fiction Division — Best Novel
Last amended 26 Feb 2024 14:28:32
Settings:
- Antarctica,
- Western Australia,
- Perth, Western Australia,
- 2200-2299
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