Jay Daniel Thompson
Jay Daniel Thompson reviews 'Midnight Empire' by Andrew Croome
Midnight Empire, the second novel by Canberra author Andrew Croome, depicts political intrigue and acts of violence that play out against the backdrop of the so-called ‘war on terror’.
... (read more)Jay Daniel Thompson reviews 'To the Highlands' by Jon Doust
In To the Highlands, the second instalment in a trilogy entitled ‘One Boy’s Journey to Man’, Jon Doust provides a gripping examination of racism and male sexuality in 1960s Australia.
... (read more)Jay Daniel Thompson reviews 'fourW twenty-two' edited by David Gilbey
f ourW twenty-two is an initiative of the Booranga Writers’ Centre in Wagga Wagga. This current edition features short stories and poems by (predominantly) Australian writers. Some of these writers are prominent names; others are relatively unknown.
... (read more)Jay Daniel Thompson reviews 'The Meaning of Grace' by Deborah Forster
Three years after her first novel, The Book of Emmett, which chronicled the trials and tribulations of a troubled family, Melbourne writer Deborah Forster covers similar territory in her second, The Meaning of Grace. It opens with an elderly woman named Grace dying of cancer in hospital, then rewinds several decades, back to when a much younger Grace and her children moved to the seaside town of Yarrabeen. They have left behind Ian, Grace’s husband and the children’s father, who suffers from chronic depression and has lost his job. He commits suicide shortly after his family leaves. In the following pages, readers learn about the tumultuous lives of Grace and her offspring. We follow Grace as she holds down two jobs to support her children. We learn about the rivalry between her daughters Edie and Juliet, and about the breakdown of her son Ted’s marriage. We follow Grace as she comes to terms with her illness.
... (read more)Jay Daniel Thompson reviews 'La Trobe Journal, No. 87' edited by John Arnold
The most recent edition of La Trobe Journal is an exploration of Melbourne’s gay and lesbian past. Amusingly titled Queen City of the South, it investigates an aspect of this city’s history that has frequently been overlooked or ‘hidden’. In the Introduction, guest editor Graham Willett argues that the compilation will help bring to light ‘striking stories and deep insights’ about the ‘sexual subcultures’ of Melbourne. These ‘stories’ will enrich not only our understanding of the city’s history, but also the history of homosexuality in Australia. There are essays on gay male networks in Melbourne during the interwar years, the gay liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the queer presence in our museums, and the (in)visibility of homosexuality in the Australian Communist Party.
... (read more)Jay Daniel Thompson reviews 'When We Have Wings' by Claire Corbett
When We Have Wings, the first novel by Blue Mountains journalist Claire Corbett, offers an ambitious and politically engaged blend of detective narrative, family melodrama, and futuristic thriller. In the dystopian world that Corbett depicts, social élites are distinguished by their ability to fly. These elect ‘fliers’ soar through the air using genuine wings. One such flier is th ...
Jay Daniel Thompson reviews ' The Blood Countess' by Tara Moss
he Blood Countess is the latest novel by author and media identity Tara Moss. The book promises to be the first in a series about Pandora English, a fashion journalist who socialises with the undead ...
... (read more)Jay Daniel Thompson reviews 'The Indignities' by Graeme Aitken
Applause
Jay Daniel Thompson
The Indignities is the sequel to Vanity Fierce (1998). In this new book, Graeme Aitken provides another provocative perspective on love and other catastrophes in Sydney’s gay male community.
...Prime Cut sounds like the title of a glossy Hollywood thriller. Fortunately, Alan Carter’s début novel is a gritty and engrossing look at crime and racism in a small Western Australian town. Cato Kwong is a Chinese-Australian detective who has been working in the lowly ‘Stock Squad’ since a disastrous arrest some years before. In the novel’s openin ...
Jay Daniel Thompson reviews 'Vanda and Young' by John Tait and 'Behind the Rock and Beyond' by Jon Hayton and Leon Isackson
The history of Australian rock music is rich and eclectic. Vanda and Young: Inside Australia’s Hit Factory and Behind the Rock and Beyond: The Diary of a Rock Band, 1956–1980 provide two perspectives on the early years of rock music in this country. John Tait, owner of a second-hand record and bookshop in Melbourne and a self-confessed ...