Best Selling Books by John Birmingham

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.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from John Birmingham''s After America. In Kuwait, American forces are locked and loaded for the invasion of Iraq. In Paris, a covert agent is close to cracking a terrorist cell. And just north of the equator, a sailboat manned by a drug runner and a pirate is witness to the unspeakable. In one instant, all around the world, everything will change. A wave of inexplicable energy slams into the continental United States. America as we know it vanishes. From a Texas lawyer who happens to be in the right place at the right time to an engineer in Seattle who becomes his city’s only hope, from a combat journalist trapped in the Middle East to a drug runner off the Mexican coast, Without Warning tells a fast, furious story of survival, violence, and a new, soul-shattering reality.

“The action is nonstop, the characters very real—and very different from each other—and, to coin a phrase, it makes you think.”—S. M. Stirling, author of Island in the Sea of Time In the year 2021, a multinational fleet—experimenting with untested weapons technology—pitched through time, crash-landing in 1942. The world is thrown into chaos as Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, Tojo, and Stalin scramble to adapt to new, high-tech killing tools, and twenty-first-century ways of war. For “uptimers” like Britain’s Prince Harry and the men and women who serve aboard the supercarrier USS Hillary Clinton, war is a constant struggle with their own downtime allies, who are mired in ignorance and bigotry. As the Allies counter the Nazi assault and set off for the coast of France, Japan begins to buckle, soon every battle will be played out in a lethal dance of might and intelligence, unholy alliances and desperate gambles, and each clash will be fought with the ultimate weapon; knowledge from the future. Thanks to the historical records, all sides know that two superpowers will emerge while the losers will be pounded into submission. But time has shifted on its axis, so none know who will survive or how peace will take hold in a world turned upside down. These are the questions that John Birmingham brilliantly answers in his critically acclaimed adventure of war and imagination.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from John Birmingham''s Angels of Vengeance. 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.

An electrifying, epic history of the city of Sydney as you have never seen her before. ''To peer deeply into this ghost city, the one lying beneath the surface, is to understand that Sydney has a soul and that it is a very dark place indeed.'' Beneath the shining harbour, amid the towers of global greed and deep inside the bad-drugs madness of the suburban wastelands, lies Sydney''s shadow history. Terrifying tsunamis, corpse-robbing morgue staff, killer cops, neo-Nazis, power junkies and bumbling SWOS teams electrify this epic tale of a city with a cold vacuum for a moral core. Birmingham drills beneath the cover story of a successful multicultural metropolis and melts the boundaries between past and present to reveal a ghost city beneath the surface of concrete and glass. In Birmingham''s alternative history of Sydney, the yawning chasm between the megarich and the lumpen masses is as evident in the insane wealth of the new elites as it was in the head-spinning rapacity of the NSW Rum Corps. This is a city shattered by the nexus between government, big money and the underworld, where the glittering prizes go to the strong, not the just. Combining intensive research with the pace of a techno-thriller, John Birmingham creates a rich portrait of a city too dazzled by its own gorgeous reflection to care much for what lies at its dark, corrupted heart. Illuminated by wild flashes of black humour, violent, ghoulish and utterly compelling, Leviathan is history for the Tarantino generation.

He died with a felafel in his hand.

"It?s World War II and the A-bomb is here to stay. The only question: Who?s going to drop it first?" -- publisher website (April 2007).

On the eve of America’s greatest victory in the Pacific, a catastrophic event disrupts the course of World War II, forever changing the rules of combat. . . . The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. A military experiment in the year 2021 has thrust an American-led multinational armada back to 1942, right into the middle of the U.S. naval task force speeding toward Midway Atoll—and what was to be the most spectacular U.S. triumph of the entire war. Thousands died in the chaos, but the ripples had only begun. For these veterans of Pearl Harbor—led by Admirals Nimitz, Halsey, and Spruance—have never seen a helicopter, or a satellite link, or a nuclear weapon. And they’ve never encountered an African American colonel or a British naval commander who was a woman and half-Pakistani. While they embrace the armada’s awesome firepower, they may find the twenty-first century sailors themselves far from acceptable. Initial jubilation at news the Allies would win the war is quickly doused by the chilling realization that the time travelers themselves—by their very presence—have rendered history null and void. Celebration turns to dread when the possibility arises that other elements of the twenty-first century task force may have also made the trip—and might now be aiding Yamamoto and the Japanese. What happens next is anybody’s guess—and everybody’s nightmare. . . .

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?

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.

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.

“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)

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 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.

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.

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!

In this epic sci-fi adventure for fans of The Expanse and Battlestar Galactica, five intrepid heroes must unite to save civilization after a long-dormant enemy awakens and strikes a devastating blow “This jarring, engrossing story of a species-wide fight for survival is recommended for all science fiction readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) The galaxy was once terrorized by the Sturm, a group of “species purists” intent on destroying any human with genetic or cybernetic enhancements. Fashioning themselves as the one true “Human Republic,” the Sturm cut a bloody swath across the stars, killing billions before finally being defeated and driven into the far reaches of Dark Space. Centuries of peace bred complacency. Everyone believed the Sturm had died out in the Dark. They were wrong. The enemy has returned and, with a brutal and decisive attack, knocks out almost all of humanity’s defenses. Now on the brink of annihilation, humankind’s only hope is a few brave souls who survived the initial attack: Commander Lucinda Hardy, thrust into uncertain command of the Royal Armadalen Navy’s only surviving warship. Booker3, a soldier of Earth, sentenced to die for treason, whose time on death row is cut short when the Sturm attack his prison compound. Princess Alessia, a young royal of the Montanblanc Corporation, forced to flee when her home planet is overrun and her entire family executed. Sephina L’trel, the leader of an outlaw band who must call on all of her criminal skills to resist the invasion. And, finally, Admiral Frazer McLennan, the infamous hero of the first war with the Sturm hundreds of years ago, who hopes to rout his old foes once and for all—or die trying. These five flawed, reluctant heroes must band together to prevail against a relentless enemy and near-impossible odds. For if they fail, the future itself is doomed. “Frenetic action viewed in a black fun-house mirror.”—Kirkus Reviews

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.

The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. A near-future military experiment has thrust a US-led multinational armada back to 1942, right into the middle of the naval task force speeding towards Midway Atoll-and what was to be a spectacular Allied triumph in the war in the Pacific. In the chaos that ensues, thousands are killed, but the ripples have only just begun. For these veterans of Pearl Harbor have never seen a helicopter, or a satellite link, or a nuclear weapon. And they''ve never encountered an African American colonel or a female Australian submarine commander. While they embrace the armada''s awesome firepower, they may find the twenty-first-century sailors themselves far from acceptable. Initial jubilation at news the Allies would win the war is quickly doused by the chilling realisation that the time-travellers themselves-by their very presence-have rendered history null and void. Celebration turns to dread when the possibility arises that other elements of the twenty-first-century task force may also have made the trip-and might now be aiding the enemy forces. What happens next is anybody''s guess - and everybody''s nightmare...

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.

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.

''THE NATION''S PREMIER GONZO JOURNALIST...Happy is the country that has its history written and interpreted by writers of the calibre of Birmingham.'' PETER CRAVEN, THE AUSTRALIAN ''A FINE JOURNALIST with an eye for the blended spaces between black and white, RELENTLESS CERTAINTY AND A FORMIDABLE VOICE.'' GRAEME BLUNDELL, THE AUSTRALIAN In OFF ONE''S TITS, hilarious social observer and fearless investigator John Birmingham turns his attention to what has made this country great - its men and women - and what has made it an embarrassment - its politicians, big business and law enforcement agencies. Half the book is an exploration and celebration of the wonderful world of men and the things they hold dear- booze, badness, bachelorhood, boxing, grog, misbehaving, masculinity, alcohol, footy, pork, piss and women. Scary stuff. The other half is a sobering, hard-hitting, searing account of injustice of the worst kind, police violence, political inertia, political slime and political evil. REALLY scary stuff. Intoxicatingly funny and soberingly compelling writing from both sides of one of our best and most surprising writers - enjoy!

On his tour of Australia Birmingham meets the dope smokers of Australia - and finds that they''re not what you might expect. Yes there are some sci-fi geeks, some student activists, and the obligatory Nimbin ferals, but he also finds himself smoking with conservative politicians, lawyers, cops, bankers and school teachers.

In the fourth Quarterly Essay of 2005, John Birmingham ponders the Australian way of war. After East Timor and Bali, a combination of primal fear and primal ambition has transformed attitudes to our region, to security and to war as an instrument of politics. Australian defence policy has become more assertive and our armed forces are being radically restructured and hardened. Australia now has the capacity, and even the will, to act as a military power in its region. A Time for War begins with a gripping account of Operation Anaconda, the 2002 battle in Afghanistan to which Australian special forces made a crucial contribution. Birmingham also looks at our war dreaming: the sanctification of Anzac Day and the eclipse of the Vietnam Syndrome. Ranging from Sir John Monash to Peter Cosgrove, from Rudyard Kipling to The One Day of the Year, he finds that our armed forces can now do no wrong, and that politicians have taken note. The new militarism is not simply a response to September 11, he argues - it marks a deeper shift in the culture. "It being an RSL, we would stand each night at six o''clock for the prayer of remembrance. It was always a moving occasion, a strange suspended moment when the pokies and racing channel, the piped music and the drunken bullshitting all fell away ... Friends from overseas who witnessed the quiet ceremony never failed to be impressed. One, a poet from Czechoslovakia, had always thought Australians to be a shallow, soulless, materialistic people, but she changed her mind after her first experience of the ode to the fallen among the half-empty schooners and chip packets." —John Birmingham, A Time For War

The hilarious follow up to bestseller He Died With a Felafel in His Hand.