New Releases by John Birmingham

Dive into the hilarious, chaotic world of Australian share houses with John Birmingham''s cult classic, "He Died With a Felafel in His Hand" - now celebrating its 30th anniversary with this special edition! Birmingham''s raw, unfiltered account of his decade-long odyssey through the underbelly of communal living has captivated readers worldwide for three decades. This isn''t just a book; it''s a rite of passage, a time capsule of youth culture, and a mirror reflecting the universal experiences of anyone who''s ever shared a roof with strangers. From Brisbane to Melbourne, Sydney to Perth, Birmingham introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters: the albino moon-tanner, the fridge-stealing Baldy, Crazy Nina with her lists, and the infamous Lizard Man. Each page crackles with energy, humor, and the kind of absurd situations that could only happen in real life. But "Felafel" is more than just a collection of outrageous anecdotes. It''s a keen observation of human nature, a snapshot of a generation, and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit (and stomach) in the face of questionable hygiene, dubious financial decisions, and an ever-present cloud of marijuana smoke. Whether you''re reliving your own share house days or marveling at a world you never knew existed, Birmingham''s wit and insight will keep you laughing, cringing, and turning pages late into the night. This 30th anniversary edition includes new footnotes from the author, providing fresh perspective and hilarious commentary on his youthful adventures. "He Died With a Felafel in His Hand" isn''t just a book - it''s an experience. It''s a passport to a time and place where the rules were different, the nights were long, and the stories were unforgettable. Don''t miss your chance to join the millions of readers who have made this Australian classic a global phenomenon. Grab your copy today and prepare for a wild ride through the best worst times of your life!

" On Zero Day of the first and last cyberwar in human history, the internet went dark, transport and power grids collapsed and cities began to starve, showing just how vulnerable the world could be to a targeted campaign of online sabotage. This final instalment of this prescient epic of civilisation collapse finds the small ragtag band of survivors come together to face a new, but familiar threat - the rise of a fascist militia among the ruins of a failing country. With American Kill Switch, John Birmingham’s End of Days trilogy comes to a high-octane, thrilling conclusion. "

In the town of Gainesville, Cooper Fox has a special place in people''s hearts. Since the car accident that wiped his memories, Cooper has been...a little foggy. Cooper doesn''t know how to do much, but one thing he instinctively seems to know about is strength training, and with his help, Gainesville High''s football team has just won the Mid-States final. With Cooper the hero of the hour, the whole town is getting ready to celebrate in style. When three strangers crash the party and decide to pick on the harmless-looking guy carrying a cooler full of sodas, they trigger something inside Cooper. Afterwards, the folks in Gainesville can never look at him in quite the same way. Is he really just a regular guy who suffered a brain injury in a car crash, or is he someone else? Or something else? As Cooper tries to come to terms with baffling new memories, he''s about to be plunged into a terrifying world of secret experiments and covert assassins that will test his new-found abilities to the limit.

WORLD WAR 3.1 The year is 1954. A decade has passed since Berlin and Tokyo were consumed by nuclear fire, but war claws its way back to a world forever altered. The ailing Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, strikes NATO with a colossal orbital assault, propelling waves of tanks and over a million soldiers westward - all armed with 21st-century tech plundered from a future they never knew. Admiral Kolhammer, Prince Harry, and Charlotte Francois are compelled to once again take arms. They''re fighting not only to save the world but history itself. Yet, in this complex web of time and conflict, not everybody wants to be saved. Brimming with the raw combat intensity and high-octane alternate history that fans adored in "Weapons of Choice," this fresh instalment revitalizes the groundbreaking Axis of Time series for both returning readers and newcomers. Praise for the Axis of Time. "Insanely clever alt-history mash-up of WWII and the twenty-first century war on terror isn''t your typical time-travelling technothriller." - Wired magazine. "Birmingham is exemplary. The descriptions of combat - both from an executive remove and a close - are terrifyingly gruesome and detailed... Birmingham succeeds in restaging World War II in a manner as gripping as, say, Herman Wouk''s The Winds of War and War and Remembrance." - Sci-fi Weekly. "Weapons-grade military techno-thriller... It''s like a Clive Cussler novel fell into a transporter beam with a Stephen Ambrose hisotry and they came out all fused together." Time magazine. "Birmingham''s enthralling battleground mixes provocative historical fiction with socially, conscious futurism." Entertainment Weekly.

On Zero Day of the first and last cyberwar in human history, the internet went dark, transport and power grids collapsed, and cities began to starve. Ten days later, millions have died from thirst and starvation, from violence and from the simple failure of the world''s machines to keep them alive. This second instalment of John Birmingham''s End of Days trilogy finds James O''Donnell and his friends Rick, Michelle and Melissa hunkered down in the wilderness, where they know a horde of starving, desperate exiles from the graveyard of the US East Coast is heading their way. On the far side of the continent, in the Pacific Northwest, Jonas Murdoch helps lead the good folk of Silverton in defending themselves from waves of starving and desperate refugees pouring out of Seattle. And slowly, cautiously navigating the inland waterways of California, Jodi Sarjanan and Ellie Jabbarah negotiate an apocalyptic landscape of burning skyscrapers and marauding gangs. All of them are seeking sanctuary. A safe place where the madness hasn''t penetrated. But does such a place exist? And what if they need to sacrifice their very humanity in the struggle to reach it? Praise for John Birmingham''s novels. "Birmingham displays an exuberance and virtuosity that is positively Clancyesque." Time "Plenty of grist and humour." Sunday Times "Mesmeric readability." Weekend Australian "Birmingham''s status as a leading action-adventure novelist continues to grow." The Age "If there was a Booker for explosive alternative history techno-thrillers with guts and brains, it would be a cinch." Sydney Morning Herald

A modern city can feed itself for nine days. No more. And when the panic starts... In the pulse-pounding thriller Zero Day Code by best-selling author John Birmingham, civilization unravels at a keystroke. Chinese cyber strikes pierce the heart of the free world-no food, no water, no power. America starves, and darkness descends, igniting a global cataclysm. From the chaos, a small band of survivors emerges. James O''Donnell, a shrewd farm boy turned market analyst, unearths the truth behind the digital Pearl Harbor. Michele Nguyen, enigmatic agent of the Deep State, carves a path out of a crippled capital. And Jodie Sarjanen, a fierce single mother, navigates the ruins of San Francisco. As society reaches breaking point, unlikely heroes brave a treacherous world of newfound friends and ruthless enemies like Jonas Murdoch, a charismatic firebrand who leads the dangerous Legion of Freedom. Not since Stephen King''s monumental epic ''The Stand'' has a novelist worked on such a grand scale, where the end of days is just the beginning-when every choice could be your last, and the battle for tomorrow is waged today. Praise for John Birmingham''s books. "Brilliant... a tour de force... John Birmingham''s ability to seamlessly merge the gritty realism of Tom Clancy with the raw speculation of Michael Crichton is like nothing else I''ve ever read." James Rollins, author of The Doomsday Key. "Bucketloads of action." Sunday Mail. "Frenetic action viewed in a black fun-house mirror." Kirkus Reviews. "Insanely clever." Wired. "Birmingham''s inspired speculation is ingenious and engrossing." Publishers Weekly.

Humanity’s last surviving heroes must protect a shattered civilization from an all-conquering enemy in this thrilling sequel to The Cruel Stars. “[The Shattered Skies] is a delightful military space adventure that runs at full tilt.”—Booklist The Sturm, an empire of “species purists,” have returned from the farthest reaches of Dark Space to wage a war against what they call mutants and borgs: any human being with genetic or neural engineering. In a sneak attack, they overwhelmed almost all of humanity’s defenses, blasting vicious malware across galaxy-spanning networks, dark code that transformed anyone connected to the system into a mindless psychotic killer. The Sturm’s victory seemed complete, their final triumph inevitable, until one small band of intrepid, unlikely heroes struck back. Commander Lucinda Hardy and Admiral Frazer McLennan used the Armadalen Navy’s final surviving warship to fend off the Sturm, destroying the massed power of an entire Attack Fleet. With brilliant tactics—and support from drunken, grief-ravaged pirate Sephina L’trel and treasonous battle-rig operator Booker—this ragtag crew sent the Sturm running, managing to save Princess Alessia, the sole surviving heir to the gigantic Montanblanc ul Haq Corporation and perhaps Earth’s only remaining senator. Now left with the remains of a fallen civilization, they must work together to rebuild what was lost and root out the numberless enemies of Earth. The Sturm invaders remain vastly more powerful—and they may not be the only threat lurking in the darkness of space.

Fünf Helden wider Willen machen sich auf, die Menschheit vor einer Bedrohung aus den Tiefen des Alls zu retten Vor hundert Jahren herrschte Krieg zwischen den Menschen der Galaxis und den Sturm, einer radikalen Vereinigung, die jede Form von Cyber-Implantaten ablehnt. Die Menschen gewannen und verbannten die Sturm ins Dunkel zwischen den Sternen. Der Feind war zwar besiegt, aber nicht geschlagen. Während die Galaxis immer nachlässiger wurde, bereiteten die Sturm sich auf ihren verheerendsten Angriff vor. Mit einem Schlag zerstörten sie die Verteidigungsanlagen und Raumflotten. Die Menschheit steht am Rande der Vernichtung, als Lucinda Hardy das Kommando über das letzte Schiff der Königlichen Raumflotte von Armadalen übernimmt. Mit einer bunt zusammengewürfelten Truppe aus Soldaten, Gaunern und Adeligen will sie sich den Sturm entgegenstellen. Wenn sie versagt, ist das Schicksal der Galaxis besiegelt ...

John Birmingham''s father died. And his life fell apart. The next six months were spent grinding through the black forests of depression until he finally emerged out of the darkness onto sunlit upland. A unique yet universal story, On Father reaches out to everyone who has experienced and survived deep grief. ''Deeply moving. Beautifully written. I wept. For John''s dad, and anew - for the loss of my own.'' PETER FITZSIMONS

This book follows the Indonesian Army''s Battalion 745 as it withdrew from East Timor after the 1999 independence vote, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. Birmingham''s unflinching account reveals the scorched-earth tactics of the retreating troops, and shows just how close Australia came to armed conflict with Indonesia.

Cady McCall, a foul-mouthed geek grrl of the Twenty-First Century teams up with Deputy US Marshal John Titanic Smith to search the centuries for the daughter he lost in 1874. Standing in their way? A Puritan Jihad, actual Nazis, and the mysterious, murderous keepers of time itself.

"John Birmingham is a master of good writing and funny lines. He has written a thousand stories, some true, some not so much. These are the best ones and they''re so good, and so funny, there has been no barrel-scraping involved. Really, this book could have been much longer. The pieces contained within these pages run the gamut from the early felafel days to the shiny age we live in where Donald Trump is the President of the USA. And it does not shy away from the greatest controversy of our age: potato cake vs potato scallop. These hilarious pieces cover a wide range of topics from food to fitness and politics to pork, in all its glories. And, of course, fashion. Ever the equal opportunist, John Birmingham skewers them all."

The epic alternate history of WW2 becomes a fiery reimagining of the Cold War. Prince Harry-yes, that Prince Harry-travels through time to punch Nazis and commies and save the world. Continues the best-selling Axis of Time series.

On the eve of a huge, breakout success, a poor but brilliant young game developer is pulled out of her world, and time itself, by a cowboy desperately searching for the daughter he lost two hundred years ago. Cady McCall is ready to be rich and famous. She has sacrificed everything, putting her work ahead of family and friends. Now with breakout success and huge, insane wealth so close she can taste it, her life is blown apart by Deputy Marshal John ''Titanic'' Smith, the man who rescues her from two muggers, only to carry her off into history. Lost on the seas of time, Smith is desperate to get home to his family in 1876, and now Cady is lost along with him, facing danger and finding love in Victorian London, Ancient Rome and in the near-future America of President for Life Donald Trump.

This gonzo guide isnt for the faint-hearted but in high-octane style, John Birmingham provides tried-and-tested tips for writing well and getting paid. Topics covered include how to slay writers block, what the hell is workflow, how to write 10,000 words in a day and the best apps for writers. How to Be a Writer is a writing guide with a tough-love approach, written for the internet generation. John Birmingham is lauded as a prolific writer working across multiple genres. Here he shares his secrets.

The much anticipated companion volume to Emergence, the story of Dave Hooper''s superhero embiggening. When an oil rig drills too deep under the Gulf of Mexico it breaks the capstone separating our world from the UnderRealms - home to monsters, daemons and dark magiks. The nightmares of our long ago come flooding back into the world where they are met by automatic weapons fire, heating seeking missiles (they''re hell on dragons, don''tcha know) and one drunken, dissolute son of a bitch called Dave.But this is not Dave''s story. This is the story of the poor bastards who had to put up with him while he saved the world and acted like a jerk.

''As the convoy growled and squeaked to a halt in the dark, angry militiamen and soldiers began to shout and wave at the Australians, demanding they move aside. The Brave Ones'' vanguard presented as a B-movie vision of some pirate biker gang from Hell, a rat bastard outfit in black tee-shirts, camouflage pants, long hair and bandanas, with axes in their eyes and guns at the ready.'' The Brave Ones follows the Indonesian Army''s Battalion 745 as it withdrew from East Timor after the 1999 independence vote, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. Birmingham''s unflinching account reveals the scorched-earth tactics of the retreating troops, and shows just how close Australia came to armed conflict with Indonesia.

For fans of Jim Butcher and Kevin Hearne comes an exhilarating new urban fantasy series featuring monster-slayer Dave Hooper and his magical splitting maul. Kids, there are no monsters under the bed. They’re in the front yard. As a hardworking monster-slayer, Dave Hooper tries not to bring his work home with him. But nowadays it’s hard to keep them separate. Email, cellphones, empath daemons, they never let a guy rest. The Horde has been raising hell and leveling cities from New York to Los Angeles, keeping Dave and his fellow monster-killer, Russian spy Karin Varatchevsky, very busy. But when the legions of hell invade the small seaside town his boys call home, Dave has to make a call. Save the world? Or save his family? Not as easy a choice as you’d think, since Dave’s ex-wife expects to be saved too. And there’s no convincing her that the supersexy Russian spy isn’t his girlfriend. She’s just his sidekick—and an assassin.

As a hardworking monster-slayer, Dave Hooper tries not to bring his work home with him. But nowadays it''s hard to keep them separate. Email, cellphones, empath daemons, they never let a guy rest. The Horde has been raising hell and leveling cities from New York to Los Angeles, keeping Dave and his fellow monster-killer, Russian spy Karin Varatschevsky, very busy. But when the legions of hell invade the small seaside town his boys call home, Dave has to make a call. Save the world? Or save his family? Not as easy a choice as you''d think, since Dave''s ex-wife expects to be saved too. And there''s no convincing her that the supersexy Russian spy isn''t his girlfriend. She''s just his sidekick—and an assassin.

For fans of Jim Butcher and Kevin Hearne comes a heart-pounding new urban fantasy series featuring monster slayer Dave Hooper and his magical splitting maul. When you drop a monster-killer on the Strip, all bets are off. Holed up in Las Vegas after the tumultuous Battle of New Orleans, Dave is enjoying the VIP perks afforded a champion monster-slayer. He may be a superhero of swag and the toast of the town, but if some fire-breathing dragons have their way, odds are everyone will soon be toast. As the hordes from the UnderRealms regroup for their next attack, Dave parties with celebrities, lunches with A-listers, and gets his ass lawyered up—because his hellacious ex is looking for a piece of that sweet, sweet action. It’s all good, until new monsters roll in, looking to parley with “the Dave.” WTF, monsters. Do you think the Dave can’t spot a trap before he falls into it? And when things go to hell at warp 10, a suit from a shadow operation swoops in to offer Dave a deal he can’t refuse. Now Dave’s about to face off against an opponent who makes battling bloodthirsty behemoths look like child’s play—a ravishing Russian spy with a few superpowers of her own.

For fans of Jim Butcher and Kevin Hearne comes an action-packed new urban fantasy series featuring a tough, bleakly funny, down-on-his luck oil rig worker with an unlikely destiny as a monster-slayer and savior of the planet. “Monsters,” said Vince Martinelli. “There are monsters on the rig, Dave.” Dave Hooper has a hangover from hell, a horrible ex-wife, and the fangs of the IRS deep in his side. The last thing he needs is an explosion at work. A real explosion. On his off-shore oil rig. But this is no accident, and despite the news reports, Dave knows that terrorists aren’t to blame. He knows because he killed one of the things responsible. When he wakes up in a hospital bed guarded by Navy SEALs, he realizes this is more than just a bad acid trip. Yeah, Dave’s had a few. This trip is way weirder. Killing a seven-foot-tall, tattooed demon has transformed the overweight, balding safety manager into something else entirely. A foul-mouthed, beer-loving monster slayer, and humanity’s least worthy Champion.

Two bright geometric shapes, metallic flashes picked out in the morning sun, moving impossibly fast and straight amidst the visual clutter and chaos of forest and rock... ''Is it dragons, Dave, is that what it is? Because I''m not ready for dragons...''A dragon brings down the Vice President''s plane, a monster army is camped outside Omaha, and an empath demon springs an undercover operation in New York.New Orleans was just the beginning. New and different demons are breaking through all over America, and Dave Hooper has a new enemy with more guile and guts than the celebrity superhero, still stumbling in his role as Champion. While his agent fields offers for movies and merchandise, Dave is tasked with ending a siege in Omaha, saving his friends and deciphering the underrealms'' plans to take over the earth.As an ancient and legion evil threatens to destroy mankind, Dave has to decide what kind of man he wants to be and the nature of his role in this new world. He may not be the hero humanity deserves, but he''s the only one we''ve got.''Birmingham''s status as a leading action-adventure novelist continues to grow.'' - The Age''Weapons-grade military techno-thriller . . . [Birmingham] describes military hardware with an exuberance and virtuosity that''s positively Clancyesque.'' - Time on Without Warning

The first book in an edge-of-your-seat trilogy PRAISE FOR JOHN BIRMINGHAM "mesmeric readability" Weekend Australian "[Birmingham displays] an exuberance and virtuosity that is positively Clancyesque" Time ''Monsters,'' said Vince Martinelli. ''There are monsters on the rig, Dave.'' Dave Hooper has the hangover from hell, a demonic ex-wife and the claws of the tax office sinking into him. So the last thing he needs is an explosion at the off-shore oil rig where he works. But this is no ordinary industrial accident, and despite the news reports, Dave knows that terrorists aren''t to blame for the disaster. He knows because he has killed one of the things responsible. When he wakes up in a hospital bed guarded by Navy SEALs, he realises he hasn''t been on a bad acid trip. It all really happened. Yet his shock is cut short by a startling self-discovery; his contact with the creature has transformed the overweight, balding safety manager into something else entirely. A goddamned superhero. Then he learns the attack on the rig is only the first. THE DAVE HOOPER TRILOGY Book One: Emergence Book Two: Resistance Book Three: Ascendance

Alternate history master John Birmingham unleashes an astounding new installment in his Axis of Time series: an original eBook novella that begins when the future and the past collide. The year is 1955, ten years after a battle fleet from 2021 exploded through a wormhole in space—straight into the Battle of Midway. A staggered, war-torn world catches its balance. Uptimers, with their extraordinary technology and strange styles, mingle with the real timers. Universities study the effects on the future. And men like Prince Harry of England find themselves playing pivotal roles in a history that has already happened. Or has it? In the starkly partitioned city of Rome, spies, killers, and mafia foot soldiers cross the dividing line between Allied and Russian Zones. Somewhere in the ancient, underground catacombs two men hunt for one another. One is Stalin’s personal assassin, the other a murderous, disillusioned acolyte of the Communist ideal, allied by fate and history with the OSS, MI6, and England’s swashbuckling Prince Harry. Harry’s own mission takes him to a glittering dinner party and a prize over which the two Russian killers are fighting—a factory owner with a terrifying secret. As the forces of West and East are locked in a stalemate, what this man knows could change everything: Josef Stalin, hiding in a Siberian bunker, is ready to hit the world with a thunderous blow.

On March 14, 2003, the world changed forever. A wave of energy slammed into North America and devastated the continent. The U.S. military, poised to invade Baghdad, was left without a commander in chief. Global order spiralled into chaos. Now, while a skeleton U.S. government tries to reconstruct the nation, swarms of pirates and foreign militias plunder the lawless wasteland of the East Coast, where even the president is fair prey. With New York clutched in the grip of thousands of heavily armed predators, is an all-out attack on the city the only way to save it?

When an inexplicable wave of energy slammed into North America, millions died. Around the globe, wars erupted, borders vanished and a new reality was born. From shattered streets to gleaming new cities, three women are fighting wars of their own—for survival, justice and revenge. In South America, a special agent trails a ruthless terrorist, in Texas, a teenager vows to avenge a brutal murder and in Australia, a smuggler is hunted by unknown assassins. As a conflicted U.S. president struggles to make momentous decisions in the face of rebellion, the final battle for America and the new world begins.

“A seamless fusion of alternate history, postapocalyptic fiction, and espionage-fueled thriller.”—Publishers Weekly When an inexplicable wave of energy slams into North America, the world is plunged into turmoil—as wars erupt, borders vanish, and the great and powerful fall. Against this dramatic backdrop, three very different women navigate the chaos. Deep in a South American jungle, special agent Caitlin Monroe will stop at nothing to discover how a master terrorist escaped a secret detention center in French Guadeloupe to strike a fatal blow in New York City. Sofia Peiraro, a grieving teenager trying to rebuild her life in Kansas City, is drawn back to Texas by a vicious murder. And in the fashionable bars and boutiques of Darwin, the seething, growing freeport in Australia’s deep north, the British-born aristocrat-turned-smuggler Lady Julianne Balwyn hides a pistol in the small of her lovely back. She is hunting for the man who is hunting her. As these women fight for survival, justice, and revenge, humanity itself struggles toward its better angels—and to purge its worst demons. “Birmingham knows how to write action. . . . I enjoy world building stories as well as post-apocalyptic tales. This is definitely a little of both.”—Bill Lawhorn, SFRevu “A rollicking ride . . . fast-paced and thought-provoking.”—The Sun-Herald (Sydney, Australia)

John Birmingham, a worldwide bestselling author, with a fabulous story in the ''Without Warning'' trilogy. A ''What if'' story of the Cold War ... a small piece of alternate history of the period told via a biography of one of its players, Lieutenant Branch McKinnon, an adventurer in a different post-WWII world of American isolationism. this alternate history from a very popular and bestselling Australian writer gives the reader a different perspective on history and where we are now!

Jed Culver, President Kipper''s sword and shield, knows that what is right and what is best are rarely the same thing. To some, Mad Jackson Blackstone, rogue governor of the Republic of Texas, is slowly but surely destroying the United States. In New York, Caitlin Monroe''s one shot at vengeance may lie buried beneath the rubble of the city, but she has to be certain. Unknown killers hunt Lady Julianne Balwyn in the anarchic, violent freeport of Darwin. Sofia Pieraro is all alone in the empty heart of a haunted land, revenge her only reason to keep moving. After many years the long trail of the dead will bring them all together. The final battle for America and the new world will not be fought with armies, but in the quiet and the dark, by individuals, driven towards vengeance and annihilation.

The world changed forever when a massive wave of energy slammed into North America and wiped out 99 percent of the population. As the United States lay in ruins, chaos erupted across the globe. Now, while a skeleton American government tries to reconstruct the nation, swarms of pirates and foreign militias plunder the lawless wasteland where even the president is fair prey. In New York City, armies of heavily armed predators hold sway—and hold off a struggling U.S. military. In Texas, a rogue general bent on secession leads a brutal campaign against immigrants. And in England, a U.S. special ops agent enters a shadow war against a deadly enemy who has made the fight personal. While the president ponders a blitz attack on America’s once greatest city, the forces of order and anarchy wage all-out war for postapocalyptic dominance—and a handful of survivors must decide how far to go to salvage whatever uncertain future awaits . . . after America.