Book reviews
Chris Maher
Writer, journalist and editor
Australia
I write across a variety of fields including travel, architecture, swimming, literature and science fiction.
Australia
I write across a variety of fields including travel, architecture, swimming, literature and science fiction.
Book reviews
Becky Chambers assembles an intriguing cast of species in a spacecraft on a mission into deep space. Compared in its publicity to cult TV sci-fi show Firefly, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is both more and less than that cowboy western in space.
Boy Swallows Universe is a first novel rich in adventure, description and plot. Mark Twain famously said that truth is stranger than fiction, and the parts of Boy Swallows Universe that draw on Trent Dalton's actual boyhood are as intriguing as the fictional plot involving drug czars, prison break-ins and prescient siblings.
Cixin Liu takes the tropes of science fiction and looks at them with new eyes in this ambitious and imaginative series. 'Hard' science fiction doesn't have to be hard to read, and even though Cixin Liu admits The Three-Body Problem is more about ideas than character, it is quite easy to be drawn along by ...
Street continues to blend fact and witticisms as he takes on Captain Abbott's mutinous replacement. As your humble scribe suggested when reviewing The Short and Excruciatingly Embarrassing Reign of Captain Abbott, Andrew P Street could well have embarked upon a sequel if his captain had remained on deck.
Underground Airlines is set in modern day USA - basically the same except for one overwhelming difference: the Civil War never happened, and slavery still exists. This novel is quite a feat.Ben H Winters has woven a provocative idea into a compelling narrative, driven fast and hard by a deeply conflicted protagonist.
Travel stories
Chris Maher discovers renaissance beauty in everyday Rome.
Chris Maher witnesses evolution in action during Heron Island's turtle hatching season.
Chris Maher relaxes into the cool vibe of the Bellingen Global Festival.
It's a smoky Sunday morning. All along the roadside, small boys tend fizzing black logs, manufacturing coke for the umu, the post-church feast that occupies most of the day.
THE packed stadium pulses like the insides of a gigantic red-and-blue anemone. Down on the sparkling green pitch, a lone figure in orange awaits his fate, like a man forcing his eyes open in front of a firing squad. A dark-haired goliath places a ball on the turf.
Kids books
The Time Tube is the first book in a futuristic speculative fiction adventure for middle school children for upper primary and lower high school readers. The series is Hi-Lo Fiction, using simple language but concepts of interest to older readers. This story looks at the issues of .
The Invisible Detective is the second book in a speculative fiction series for upper primary and lower high school readers. The series is Hi-Lo Fiction, using simple language but concepts of interest to older readers. This story looks at the issues of honesty and temptation.
Alien Doctor is the third book in a speculative fiction series for upper primary and lower high school readers. The series is Hi-Lo Fiction, using simple language but concepts of interest to older readers. This story looks at the issues of inclusiveness and bullying
Part of the Highlights series: original works of fiction aimed at students aged 10-15 years who are reading below level, supported by full-colour manga-style illustrations.
Part of the Highlights series: original works of fiction aimed at students aged 10-15 years who are reading below level, supported by full-colour manga-style illustrations.
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