NEWS
TAKT Berlin 2025 Artist Residency
It can’t always be speculative fiction, right? Of course it can - but this time - it isn’t! For the first few months of 2025 I’ve been fortunate enough to secure an artist residency with the wonderful creative people at TAKT Berlin.
In Berlin I’ll be working on a literary / historical fiction novel that is LOOSELY based on the experiences of my grandparents before, during and after the Second World War. It also draws in threads that reference my grandfather’s time in Indonesia where he served as a mechanic in the Dutch Army during the Indonesian War of Independence. At the moment, the book is a family saga that explores themes of war, homeland, colonialism, language and love. Of course, it will change and grow in the telling and I’m interested to see where the story takes me.
One of the best parts about being in Berlin (along with the enormous gift of time and space to work) is being able to undertake short research trips to locations in the novel, without having to fly from Australia each time. I am a writer who loves to take historical events and then run with them, using them as a springboard for my own imagination so for me, research is LIFE!
For this story, some of the books that have inspired me (and I highly recommend!) are:
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (this book most of all - wow!)
A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Happy reading and see you on the page!
Daniel
Year of the Orphan - US Edition
Year of the Orphan, complete with a brilliant new cover, arrives in the US on May 7 and my newly minted Amazon Author Page showcases exactly why I usually stick to writing instead of video! If you’d like to check out my cinematic masterpiece, know more about the book or pick up a copy, just hit the cover image, or here!
Writing Year of the Orphan - an interview with IGN
A couple of beers and a whole lotta conversation on how this book got made, recommendations in the genre and just how much of this story is based on real events. Listen here.
Year of the Orphan shortlisted for Best Science Fiction Novel - Aurealis Awards
https://aurealisawards.org/2018/02/15/2017-aurealis-awards-shortlist-announcement/
Year of the Orphan
Outback Australia. Hundreds of years from now. After the end. A girl races across the desert pursued by the reckoner, scavenged spoils held close. In a blasted landscape of abandoned mines and the crumbling bones of civilisation, she survives by picking over the dead past. She trades her scraps at the only known settlement, a ramshackle fortress of greed, corruption and disease. An outpost whose only purpose is survival – refuge from the creatures that hunt beyond.
Sold then raised hard in the System, the Orphan has a mission, carries secrets about the destruction that brought the world to its knees. And she's about to discover that the past still holds power over the present.
Given an impossible choice, will the Orphan save the only home she knows or see it returned to dust? Both paths lead to blood, but whose will be spilled?
In a post-apocalyptic future, survivors scavenge in the harsh Australian outback. Living rough in the remnants of our ruined world, an orphan with her own brutal past must decide if what’s left of humanity is worth saving.
SELECTED PRAISE FOR YEAR OF THE ORPHAN
‘Dystopian tale-telling at its absolute best. A worthy successor to The Chrysalids and Riddley Walker.’ David Hunt
'The ravaged land and the intense, visceral voice of the Orphan make this an extraordinary and compelling read.' Isobelle Carmody
‘A brilliantly chilling post-apocalyptic world, evoked in a voice of spare, compelling beauty . . . every moment of the story is gripping and immediate. An all-around great novel.’ Sandra Newman
'Leaves you feeling like you’ve woken from a feverish dream.' Adrian J Walker