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John Birmingham

John Birmingham grew up in Ipswich, Queensland and was educated at St Edmunds Christian Brother's College in Ipswich and the University of Queensland in Brisbane. His only stint of full time employment was as a researcher at the Defence Department. After this he returned to Queensland to study law but he did not complete his legal studies, choosing instead to pursue a career as a writer. He currently lives in Brisbane.

While a law student he was one of the last people arrested under the state's Anti Street March legislation. Birmingham was convicted of displaying a sheet of paper with the words 'Free Speech' written on it in very small type. The local newspaper carried a photograph of him being frogmarched off to a waiting police paddy wagon.

Birmingham was first published in Semper Floreat, the student newspaper at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, writing a series of stories featuring a fictional character named Commander Harrison Biscuit. He won a young writers award for the Independent, which was edited by Brian Toohey and wrote a number of articles for Rolling Stone and Australian Penthouse magazines.

Birmingham is most notable for the novel He Died With A Felafel In His Hand (1994), which has since been turned into a play, film and a graphic novel. The sequel is The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco (Duffy and Snellgrove, 1997). The play was written and produced by thirty-six unemployed actors. It went on to become the longest running stage play in Australian history.

Other works by him include the The Search for Savage Henry a crime novel featuring the character Harrison Biscuit, How To Be A Man, a semi-humorous guide to contemporary Australian masculinity and Off One's Tits, a collection of essays and articles previously published elsewhere. He also spent four years researching the history of Sydney for Leviathan: the unauthorised biography of Sydney. It won Australia's National Prize For Non-Fiction in 2002.

He has also written two small pocket books The Felafel Guide to Getting Wasted (2002) and The Felafel Guide to Sex (2002) which feature advice Birmingham has received over the years regarding those two subjects. He also wrote the non-fictional book "Dopeland" which examined Australia's cannabis culture.

Birmingham has also written two Quarterly Essays (Black Inc. an imprint of Schwartz Publishing Pty Ltd) Appeasing Jakarta: Australia's Complicity in the East Timor Tragedy and A Time for War: Australia as a Military Power.

In September 2006, Birmingham wrote a piece in The Australian lambasting Germaine Greer for an allegedly tactless article she'd written in The Guardian about Steve Irwin shortly after his death.

In Birmingham's response he attacked her as "childless", a "poorly sketched caricature of a harridan", a "feral hag", a "wretched bag lady" with a "redundant fright-mask" and a "creepy sexual consideration" for "hairless boys". It was subsequently criticised in a number of blogs and national newspapers for its alleged misogyny. Birmingham agreed the attack was personal, but denied that it was misogynist.

In 2004 he published the alternate history Weapons of Choice, the first in the Axis of Time trilogy, a series of Tom Clancy-like techno-thrillers. Many writers from those genres appear as minor characters. It was published by Del Rey Books in the US and by Pan Macmillan in Australia.

The series tells of a multinational peacekeeping force from the early 21st century being taken back in time to 1942, where its presence completely changes the course of the Second World War. In August 2005, the second book, Designated Targets was published in Australia. US publication followed in October.

The third and final book in the trilogy, Final Impact, was released in Australia in early August 2006, and was released in the US in January 2007. There are now two new Birmoverse books in the works, one set shortly after the end of the war, and another in the alternate 1980s, said to feature a dashing young RAF pilot: Richard Branson. One of these books will be released in Australia in September-October 2008.

Available Books by John Birmingham

	Angels of Vengeance Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781742610368 RRP: $32.99 This is the New World. Born of chaos and madness. Remember that if nothing else. Jed Culver, President Kipper's right hand man, knows that what is right and what is best are rarely the same thing. Can he go against the President's wishes? Mad Jackson Blackstone, rogue governor of the Republic of Texas, is slowly but surely destroying the new United States of America. The time has come. ...
	Without Warning (Get Reading! 2011 ed) Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781742610634 RRP: $14.99 A wave of inexplicable energy has slammed into America. And destroyed it. What will the world do without its last Superpower? For the jihadists, Allah has performed a miracle. For the US and its allies, Armageddon has arrived. Australasia, far from the noxious waste darkening Europe's skies, beckons as a possible oasis. Who and what will fill the void?...
	After America Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780330404129 RRP: $17.99 "Our world went to hell on March 14, 2003." Four years after an inexplicable wave of energy decimated the American mainland, and then just as inexplicably disappeared a year later, US President James Kipper is no closer to explaining the catastrophe to the traumatised survivors. In a decaying New York City, an assassination attempt on the President prompts the suspicion that the looters ...
	Leviathan: The Unauthorized Biography of Sydney Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781741666670 RRP: $27.95 '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, p...
	Without Warning: America is Gone Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780330424981 RRP: $17.99 2003: In Paris, an assassin wakes from a coma. In Kuwait, American forces are assembled for their invasion of Iraq. In the pristine forest of the Cascades, a lone hiker watches a plane fly into the side of a mountain. And just north of the Equator, a modern-day pirate, a rogue Tasmanian, is witness to the unspeakable. A wave of inexplicable energy has slammed into America. And destroyed it. In one...
	Final Impact: World War 2.3 Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780330423397 RRP: $17.99 As history reaches a tipping point, the forces unleashed by the Transition threaten to bring the future crashing down in ruins. Will Hitler and Tojo finish their race towards an atom bomb? Is another catastrophe wave of destruction about to sweep out of a revitalised Soviet Union? What price will Holhammer and his people pay for disrupting their own past?...
	Designated Targets: World War 2.2 Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780330422499 RRP: $17.99 The nightmare of the Transition has given way to a world in chaos. The battlelines of World War II are being redrawn in dangerous and unpredictable ways, leaving the Allied forces scrambling for control and the Axis forces with undreamt-of power. But the military crisis is only the beginning. An awareness of how their future unfolds is sweeping the world, and the people of 1942 are split between ...
	Quarterly Essay 20: A Time For War Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781863951340 RRP: $14.95 'Quarterly Essay 20' combines riveting storytelling with fresh and provocative analysis. In it, bestselling author John Birmingham delves into our new military myths. Why has Anzac Day returned and Vietnam faded? Why do we love war stories again? What does this mean for the nation? What does it mean for the troops on the ground? Birmingham begins with an exhilarating account of Operation...
	Designated Targets Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781405036832 RRP: $30.00 The nightmare of the Transition has given way to a world in chaos. The battlelines of World War II are being redrawn in dangerous and unpredictable ways, leaving the Allied forces scrambling for control and the Axis forces with undreamt-of power. But the military crisis is only the beginning. An awareness of how their future unfolds is sweeping the world, and the people of 1942 are split between ...
	Weapons Of Choice Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780330421898 RRP: $17.99 A near-future military experiment thrusts a multinational armada back to 1942, right into the middle of the US naval task force speeding towards Midway Atoll - and what was to be the most spectacular Allied triumph of World War II. The twenty-first-century sailors are a shocking spectre for these veterans of Pearl Harbor - men who have never seen a helicopter or a nuclear weapon, and who have nev...
	He Died With A Felafel In His Hand - Comic Edition Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781876631956 RRP: $25.00 10th Anniversary Special Edition! 'He Died With a Felafel in His Hand' was first published in 1994 and introduced literary grunge to young Australians. After a slow start it became a cult and then a bestseller, selling over 100,000 copies and being turned into a film starring Noah Taylor. The book went on to achieve international success, and the original edition is still selling well. T...
	Dopeland: Travels Through Australian Marijuana Culture Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781740513029 RRP: $19.95 'Dopeland' follows cult author John Birmingham as he gets paid to travel around Australia in search of its marijuana culture. On his tour he meets the dope smokers of Australia - and fins 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, la...
	Off One's Tits Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781740511285 RRP: $24.95 A Look Inside the Weird and Wonderful Mind of John Birmingham. An hilarious, terrifying and bizarre roller-coaster ride through the alien, familiar and downright satanic terrain of bestselling writer John Birmingham, author of 'He Died With A Felafel In His Hand'. In 'Off One's Tits', hilarious social observer and fearless investigator John Birmingham turns his attention to w...
	Quarterly Essay 02: End Of Empire: Australia's Relationship With Indonesia Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781863953863 RRP: $9.95 In issue 2 of the 'Quarterly Essay', John Birmingham critically examines the Australia-Indonesia relationship. His essay, 'End Of Empire: Australia's Relationship With A Decaying Indonesian Dictatorship', is a controversial account of how the Australian Government's relation to Indonesia is characterised by delusion and misjudgment....
	How To Be A Man Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781875989935 RRP: $24.95 In this book, Birmingham and Flinthart answer questions many men are just too embarrassed to ask, including: How do you swallow a sword? How do you dress well without looking like a complete goose? And how do you talk intelligently about Salvador Dali, Copernicus and Simone de Beauvoir without sounding like a pompous git? In tackling these and hundreds of other serious subjects, Birmingham and...
	Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography Of Sydney Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780091842031 RRP: $19.95 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. This book drills beneath the cover story of a success...
	He Died With A Felafel In His Hand Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781875989218 RRP: $19.95 John Birmingham has lived with eighty-nine people and kept notes on them all. This is their story. Not recommended for landlords....
	The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781875989294 RRP: $22.95 Sequel to 'He Died With A Felafel In His Hand' . The flatmates at York Street are broke and desperate, so they take a new guy despite the Celine Dion albums and the hordes of fluffy stuffed animals. Soon he goes missing, with half the household possessions and all the rent. The flatmates have one week to sober up, find two thousand dollars and catch the runaway before Pauline Hanson, t...

	Angels of Vengeance Binding: Hardcover ISBN: 9780345502933 RRP: $33.95 Provided by publisher....
	After America Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780345502926 RRP: $10.95 Traces the harrowing reconstruction of the United States after most of its population is killed by a natural disaster, an effort lead by President James Kipper and challenged by pirates, freebooters, and a rogue governor of Texas....
	Without Warning Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780345502902 RRP: $10.95 When an inexplicable miles-high energy wave wipes out 99 percent of the U.S. population, the survivors struggle to meet the unimaginable challenges--including James Kipper, chief engineer of Seattle; agent Caitlin Monroe, on the trail of a deadly Muslim fanatic; and General Tusk Musso and Admiral James Ritchie, racing against time to preserve world peace. Reprint....
	Final Impact Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780345457165 RRP: $19.95 The Axis and Allied forces race to build an atom bomb while a revitalized Soviet Union threatens to unleash a new wave of destruction, and Admiral Kolhammer and his team confront the consequences of disturbing the historical timeline....
	Designated Targets Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780345457158 RRP: $10.95 In the sequel to Weapons of Choice, both the Axis and Allies have the use of nuclear weapons, computer technology, and advanced knowledge of the supposed course of the war, as Hitler and Stalin form an alliance, the Japanese invade Hawaii and Australia, and the Nazis launch an all-out assault on Britain. Reprint....
	Weapons Of Choice Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780345457134 RRP: $10.95 In a first installment of a three-part alternate history epic, America's World War II fleet is decimated by a multi-national task force sent back in time from the year 2021, forcing Admiral Nimitz and Rear Admiral Spruance to make the potentially consequential decision to fight their own possible descendants. Reprint....
	Weapons of Choice Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780345457127 RRP: $20.95 In a first installment of a three-part alternate history epic, America's World War II fleet is decimated by a multi-national task force sent back in time from the year 2021, forcing Admiral Nimitz and Rear Admiral Spruance to make the potentially consequential decision to fight their own possible descendants. Original....
	Final Impact Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780345457172 RRP: $10.95 In the climax of an alternate history trilogy that began with Weapons of Choice and Designated Targets, the Axis and Allied forces race to build an atom bomb, while a revitalized Soviet Union threatens to unleash a new wave of destruction, and Kolhammer and his team confront the consequences of messing with the historical timeline. Reprint....

Currently unavailable...

	After America Binding: Hardcover ISBN: 9780345502919 Traces the harrowing reconstruction of the United States after most of its population is killed by a natural disaster, an effort lead by President James Kipper and challenged by pirates, freebooters, and a rogue governor of Texas....
	Axis Of Time Trilogy 1: Weapons Of Choice: World War 2.1 Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780732911997 The future of the thriller has arrived . . . from the past . . . 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 kille...
	Designated Targets Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9780345457141 In the sequel to Weapons of Choice, both the Axis and Allies have the use of nuclear weapons, computer technology, and advanced knowledge of the supposed course of the war, as Hitler and Stalin form an alliance, the Japanese invade Hawaii and Australia, and the Nazis launch an all-out assault on Britain. Original. 20,000 first printing....
	Dopeland: Travels Through Australian Marijuana Culture Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781740510301 'Dopeland' follows cult author John Birmingham as he gets paid to travel around Australia in search of its marijuana culture. On his tour he meets the dope smokers of Australia - and fins 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, la...
	Final Impact: World War 2.3 Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781405037259 As history reaches a tipping point, the forces unleashed by the Transition threaten to bring the future crashing down in ruins. Will Hitler and Tojo finish their race towards an atom bomb? Is another catastrophic wave of destruction about to sweep out of a revitalised Soviet Union? What price will Kolhammer and his people pay for disrupting their own past? ...
	He Died With A Felafel In His Hand - Film Tie-In Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781875989713 John Birmingham has lived with eighty-nine people and kept notes on them all. This is their story. John Birmingham invented grunge writing before the term was known. This is the book (together with its sequel, 'The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco') that helped define youth culture in Australia in the 1990s, and still continues to amuse large numbers of young readers, here and abroad. Richard Lo...
	Leviathan Binding: Hardcover ISBN: 9780091832612 The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney 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 ratting" 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. Birmi...
	The Felafel Guide To Getting Wasted Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781876631567 Where ever he goes, John Birmingham is approached by young men who have read 'He Died With A Felafel In His Hand' but want to know more. In response to public demand, he has collected the advice he has given over the years into this conveniently pocket-sized edition....
	The Felafel Guide To Sex Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781876631598 Where ever he goes, John Birmingham is approached by young men who have read 'He Died With A Felafel In His Hand' but want to know more. In response to public demand, he has collected the advice he has given over the years into this conveniently pocket-sized edition....
	Without Warning Binding: Hardcover ISBN: 9780345502896 When an inexplicable miles-high energy wave wipes out ninety-nine percent of the U.S. population, the survivors struggle to meet the unimaginable challenges....
	Without Warning Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9781405038126 2003: In Paris, an assassin wakes from a coma. In Kuwait, American forces are assembled for their invasion of Iraq. In the pristine forest of the Cascades, a lone hiker watches a plane fly into the side of a mountain. And just north of the Equator, a modern-day pirate, a rogue Tasmanian, is witness to the unspeakable. A wave of inexplicable energy has slammed into America. And destroyed it. In one...

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