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Martin Livings, in a review in Eidolon, offers the following synopsis:
'If I were to sum up the genre of The Weird Colonial Boy, I'd have to call it an SF/humour/alternate history/romance/bush-ranging tale, sort of Monty Python meets Robbery Under Arms, with a pinch of For The Term Of His Natural Life thrown in for good measure. In essence, it describes a world where the Reformation never took place, where the British Empire still rules supreme, where Australia is still effectively a penal colony in 1978. It's a harsh reality compared to [protagonist] Nigel Donohoe's native Melbourne, a comparatively luxurious world of tropical fish and punk rock. First he must come to terms with no longer being in his own universe (I won't divulge how he managed to skip across dimensions - let's just say it involved a tropical fish, a plastic spaceship and some chicken poo), then with the imminent likelihood of no longer existing in this or any other reality.'
Source: Eidolon 13 (July 1993): pp.87-90.
Notes
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Dedication: Fot the B'Spellians, another reason to be cheerful.
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Epigraph: 'In the great crisis of our life, when, brought face to face with annihilation, we are suspended gaping over the great emptiness of death, we become conscious that the Self which we think we knew so well has strange and un-thought-of capacities.' - Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life.
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'Gr-r-r-r! Ouph!' - Ibid
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Related Works
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y
The White Library
Harrogate
:
PS Publishing
,
2020
20747169
2020
single work
novel
fantasy
'What’s the weirdest thing you could imagine going on in a national library?
'Dropout physics student Angela Donohoe is about to discover just that. Release it. Become it. All in a world where colonial history did not quite turn out like ours, where the global power is the Federated Kingdom of Mendana and David Bowie was an astronaut, The White Library is a surreal escapade of library friends and enemies, love—and a remarkable woman.
'The White Library: beautifully written, sensitive, idiotic.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Works about this Work
-
Scanners
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: SF Commentary : The Independent Magazine About Science Fiction , August no. 80A 2010; (p. 20-22)
— Review of The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel -
Other Australias in Realms of the Exotic and Absurd
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5 November 1994; (p. 11A)
— Review of Twilight Beach 1993 selected work short story ; The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel ; The Fire Crystal 1994 single work novel -
Untitled
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 12 no. 2 (Issue 35) 1993; (p. 25-27)
— Review of And Disregards the Rest 1992 single work novel ; The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel -
Doing One of the Things that SF Does Best
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4-5 September 1993; (p. rev 7)
— Review of The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel -
Australian Science Fiction Undergoing Revival
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 14 August 1993; (p. C8)
— Review of And Disregards the Rest 1992 single work novel ; The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel ; A Plastic Paradise 1993 single work novel ; Zenith 1993 single work novel
-
Untitled
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 12 no. 2 (Issue 35) 1993; (p. 25-27)
— Review of And Disregards the Rest 1992 single work novel ; The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel -
Scanners
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: SF Commentary : The Independent Magazine About Science Fiction , August no. 80A 2010; (p. 20-22)
— Review of The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel -
Australian Science Fiction Undergoing Revival
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 14 August 1993; (p. C8)
— Review of And Disregards the Rest 1992 single work novel ; The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel ; A Plastic Paradise 1993 single work novel ; Zenith 1993 single work novel -
Other Australias in Realms of the Exotic and Absurd
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5 November 1994; (p. 11A)
— Review of Twilight Beach 1993 selected work short story ; The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel ; The Fire Crystal 1994 single work novel -
Doing One of the Things that SF Does Best
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4-5 September 1993; (p. rev 7)
— Review of The Weird Colonial Boy 1993 single work novel
Awards
- 1994 shortlisted Ditmar Awards — Best Australian Long Fiction
- 1970s
