John Birmingham

Birmingham was born in Liverpool, United Kingdom, but grew up in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, having moved to the country with his parents in 1970. Birmingham received his higher education at St Edmund's College in Ipswich{{cite web|title=Six Queensland icons with links to Ipswich|date= 4 June 2018|publisher=Ipswich City Council|url=https://www.ipswichfirst.com.au/six-queensland-icons-with-links-to-ipswich/|access-date= 24 April 2024}} and at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.{{cite web|title=Alumni and Community – John Birmingham|date= 27 October 2015|publisher=University of Queensland|url=https://alumni.uq.edu.au/story/1170/john-birmingham|access-date= 24 April 2024}} Birmingham's only stint of full-time employment was as a researcher at the Australian Department of Defence but he has worked for the television program A Current Affair.{{cite web|title=Seven's gay bashing assault|work=Brisbane Times|date=25 May 2010|url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/sevens-gay-bashing-assault-20100525-w8f0.html|access-date= 24 April 2024}}

Birmingham returned to Queensland to study law but he did not complete his legal studies, choosing instead to pursue a career as an author. Birmingham has a degree in international relations and currently lives in Brisbane.{{cite web |url=http://andrewmcmillen.com/2010/08/24/a-conversation-with-john-birmingham-brisbane-based-author-journalist-and-blogger/ |title=A Conversation With John Birmingham, Brisbane-based author, journalist and blogger |last=McMillen |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew McMillen|date=24 August 2010 |website=Andrew McMillen (blog) |access-date=25 May 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://www.readings.com.au/interview/john-birmingham |title=John Birmingham |last=Gleeson |first=Sean |date=8 October 2008 |website=readings.com.au|access-date=14 January 2017}}

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. His first paid published work appeared in a student magazine at the University of Queensland.{{cite web |url=https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/john-birmingham-journalist-blogger-and-author/ |title=John Birmingham: Journalist, blogger and author |date=28 May 2011 |work=Australian Writers' Centre |author=}} He won a young writers award for the Independent, which was edited by Brian Toohey and wrote a number of articles for Rolling Stone Australia and Australian Penthouse magazines.

In 1994, Birmingham released his sharehouse living memoir He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, which has since been turned into a play,{{cite news |last1=Rien |first1=Mileta |title=First Taste of Felafel: An Interview with John Birmingham |url=http://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/213408/booranga-october-2001.PDF |access-date=24 June 2015 |work=Booranga News |date=October 2001 |page=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410160742/http://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/213408/booranga-october-2001.PDF |archive-date=2012-04-10 |url-status=dead}} film, and a graphic novel. The sequel is The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco (1997),{{cite news |last1=Bochenski |first1=Natalie |title=A trio of Brisbane filmmakers have turned to crowdfunding to help make a sequel to He Died with a Felafel in his Hand|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/brisbane-filmmakers-crowdfunding-the-tasmanian-babes-fiasco-20141021-1193mn.html|access-date=25 May 2025|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=21 October 2014}} the theatrical version of which was written and produced by 36 unemployed actors. In 2011 it was the longest running stage play in Australian history.{{cite web |url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/ipswich/he-died-with-a-felafel-in-his-hand/news-story/a61d196dcdc52026804d9c5e7d8c7003|title=He Died with a Felafel in His Hand |last=Gould |first=Joel |date=2 July 2011|newspaper=The Courier-Mail|location=Brisbane|access-date=25 May 2025}} In 2014, three Brisbane filmmakers sought funds to make a film version via crowdfunding.

His other works include 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 (Random House, 1999, {{ISBN|0-09-184203-4}}). It won Australia's National Prize for Non-Fiction in 2002. In 2010, the Sydney Theatre Company created a play based upon the non-fiction book Leviathan that focus on the dark side of the evolution of the city of Sydney.{{cite news |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/monstrous-vision-of-citys-first-200-years/news-story/5a04891fd6c12613d26e31e9a2b9e225 |title=Monstrous vision of city's first 200 years |newspaper=The Australian |date=17 September 2010 |first=Ian|last=Cuthbertson}}

He has also written two small pocket books The Felafel Guide to Getting Wasted (2002){{cite book|last=Birmingham |first=John|title=The Felafel Guide to Getting Wasted|oclc=223400395}} and The Felafel Guide to Sex (2002){{cite book|last=Birmingham|first=John|title=The Felafel Guide to Sex|year=2002|oclc=225727467}} which feature advice Birmingham has received over the years regarding those two subjects.{{cite book|title=The Felafel Guide To Sex|publisher=QBD Books|url=https://www.qbd.com.au/the-felafel-guide-to-sex/john-birmingham/9781876631598/|access-date= 24 April 2024}} He also wrote the nonfiction book Dopeland : Taking the High Road Through Australia's Marijuana Culture (2003).{{cite book|last=Birmingham |first=John|title=Dopeland : Taking the High Road Through Australia's Marijuana Culture|year=2003|oclc=53852407}}

Birmingham has written two Quarterly Essays: "Appeasing Jakarta: Australia's Complicity in the East Timor Tragedy" and "A Time for War: Australia as a Military Power". He is also a regular contributor to The Monthly, an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts.[https://www.themonthly.com.au/contributor/john-birmingham "John Birmingham"], contributions to The Monthly

In September 2006, Birmingham wrote a piece in The Australian lambasting Germaine Greer for an article she had written in The Guardian about Steve Irwin shortly after his death.{{cite web |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-09-07/rest-of-world/27820134_1_triggers-debate-steve-irwin-torturer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029211742/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-09-07/rest-of-world/27820134_1_triggers-debate-steve-irwin-torturer |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 October 2013 |title=Greer terms Irwin torturer, triggers debate |date=7 September 2006 |access-date=11 September 2013 |newspaper=The Times of India |author=}} He described Greer's comments as "a poisonous discharge of bile". Portions of Birmingham's article were later quoted in the Parliament of New South Wales.{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20060907025 |title=Death of Steve Irwin|publisher=Parliament of New South Wales |date=7 September 2006 |access-date=11 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419184328/http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20060907025 |archive-date=19 April 2014 }}

In 2015, Birmingham parted ways with the traditional tradebook publishing business by becoming his own publisher after his Australian publisher's decision to release his Dave Hooper series several months prior to the release of the same books in the much larger North American and European markets instead of the near simultaneous global release that was used for the release his previous works. The result of his Australian publisher's poor business decision resulted in dismal sales in those larger book markets caused by the demand being filled through pirated electronic editions due to lack of availability through normal channels such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Using the new publishing model, Birmingham has published three Stalin's Hammer novellas plus a new novel called A Girl in Time.{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-17/brisbane-author-john-birmingham-makes-leap-to-self-publishing/8127990 |title=Brisbane author John Birmingham takes leap from trade publishing to go indie |publisher=ABC News (Australia)|date=16 December 2016 |first=Matt |last=Eaton}}

{{Main|Axis of Time}}

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 United States, 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 World War II. In August 2005, the second book, Designated Targets was published in Australia. Publication in the United States followed in October 2005.

The third and final full-length novel in the trilogy, Final Impact, was released in Australia in early August 2006, and was released in the United States in January 2007. The ABC reported in 2006 that there were two new Axis of Time books in the works, one set shortly after the end of the war, and another in the alternative 1980s, said to feature a dashing young RAF pilot: Richard Branson.{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/arts/articulate/200608/s1723613.htm |title=Articulate: John Birmingham's alternative history |date=25 August 2006 |publisher=ABC News (Australia)|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429111730/http://www.abc.net.au/news/arts/articulate/200608/s1723613.htm |archive-date=29 April 2007 }} One of these books was originally set to be released in Australia in 2008, but Birmingham instead wrote Without Warning.

In 2013 the series got a new lease on live with the novella Stalin's Hammer: Rome. This was followed in 2016 by Stalin's Hammer: Cairo and Paris. The three novela's were published in print as Stalin's Hammer: The Complete Sequence a year later. The storyline takes the reader to an alternate 1954, ten years after the ending of the first series.

In 2023 World War 3.1 saw the light of day. Continuing the story from Stalin's Hammer, it describes the start of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe.

Without Warning, the first book in a new universe, was released in Australia in September 2008.{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24495166-16947,00.html |title=On lowbrow street |access-date=10 November 2008 |first=Graeme |last=Blundell|author-link=Graeme Blundell|date=18 October 2008 |newspaper=The Australian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205185940/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24495166-16947,00.html |archive-date=5 February 2009 |url-status=dead }} The novel is a thought experiment, set on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. It deals with the disappearance of the bulk of the United States' population as the result of a large energy field that becomes known as "The Wave". Without Warning deals with the international consequences of the disappearance of the world's only super power on the eve of war. It was released in the United States on 3 February 2009. A second novel, titled After America, was released on 1 July 2010 in Australia and 17 August 2010 in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://mcckc.edu/home.asp?qlinks=2008+Literary+Festival+Authors&C=2|title=MCC-Longview 2008 Literary Festival|access-date=19 November 2008|year=2008|publisher=Metropolitan Community College|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719235051/http://mcckc.edu/home.asp?qlinks=2008+Literary+Festival+Authors&C=2|archive-date=19 July 2011}} The third book in the series, Angels of Vengeance, was released on 1 November 2011 in Australia and was released in April 2012 in the United States.

A space opera series. The first book, The Cruel Stars, was published in 2019. The second, The Shattered Skies, was published in 2022. The third book in the trilogy, The Forever Dead, was originally scheduled for a 2024 publication, but it appears that its release has been delayed again.

Kirkus Reviews gave a very positive review for The Cruel Stars and called it "Frenetic action viewed in a black fun-house mirror" for its narrative that "canters along at a good clip, dashing off insane cannibals, exploding warships, detached heads, and cartwheeling body parts, with occasional transfusions of dark comic relief."{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-birmingham/the-cruel-stars/ |title=The Cruel Stars |date=27 May 2019 |work=Kirkus Reviews}} The reviewer for FanFiAd was "kind of stuck for words at how much I enjoyed this one".{{cite web |url=https://fanfiaddict.com/the-cruel-stars-the-cruel-stars-1-by-john-birmingham/ |title=The Cruel Stars (The Cruel Stars #1) by John Birmingham |date=2 January 2022 |first=Dan |last=Smith|ref=none|work=FanFiAddict}} The reviewer for Book Page wrote "A good space opera can be many things. It can be funny or deeply philosophical. It can be touching, and it can be gory. John Birmingham’s latest novel, The Cruel Stars, balances all of those things, making readers laugh out loud even as it pulls them through an intergalactic battle for the soul of humanity."{{cite web |url=https://www.bookpage.com/reviews/24368-john-birmingham-cruel-stars-science-fiction-fantasy/ |title=The Cruel Stars by John Birmingham |first=Laura |last=Hubbard |date=20 August 2019 |work=BookPage}} The reviewer for At Boundary's Edge compared this work to Tom Clancy's Ryanverse.{{cite web |url=https://atboundarysedge.com/2021/06/05/book-review-the-cruel-stars-by-john-birmingham/ |title=Book Review: The Cruel Stars, by John Birmingham |work=At Boundary's Edge |date=5 June 2021 |first=Alex |last=Hormann}}

A reviewer for Space.com wrote about The Shattered Skies calling the book "military sci-fi at its finest".{{cite web |url=https://www.space.com/the-shattered-skies-book-john-birmingham-interview |title=The Sturm strike back in John Birmingham's brash sci-fi sequel, The Shattered Skies (exclusive) |first=Jeff |last=Spry |date=15 February 2022 |work=Space.com}} Writing for FanFiAddict, its reviewer called The Cruel Stars series utterly fantastic and wrote "Birmingham really finds new ways to keep the plot fresh and explore different, strange scenarios despite the crew being on a ship in the void that is space."{{cite web |url=https://fanfiaddict.com/the-shattered-skies-the-cruel-stars-2-by-john-birmingham/ |title=The Shattered Skies (The Cruel Stars #2) by John Birmingham |date=2 February 2022 |first=Dan |last=Smith|ref=none|work=FanFiAddict}} Another reviewer wrote that the book has "absorbing conflicts with high stakes and believable antagonists, complex characters with rich relationships and effective emotional depth, and Birmingham’s magnificent world building" while avoiding the flaws in the first book of the series.{{cite web |url=https://johnthelibrarian.com/2022/01/01/book-review-the-shattered-skies-by-john-birmingham/ |title=Book Review: The Shattered Skies by John Birmingham |date=1 January 2022 |work=John the Librarian}}

Designated Targets was a finalist for the 2005 Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.{{cite web |url=https://aurealisawards.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/aurealis-1995-2017-compiled-lists.pdf |title=Aurealis Awards, previous years' results for Best Science Fiction Novel |work=Aurealis Award}}

The Shattered Skies was nominated for a Dragon Award for the 2022 Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel.{{cite web |url=https://www.dragoncon.org/awards/2022-dragon-award-ballot/ |title=2022 Dragon Award Ballot |publisher=Dragon Con |access-date=21 August 2022 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812135039/https://www.dragoncon.org/awards/2022-dragon-award-ballot/ |url-status=dead }}

• He Died with a Felafel in His Hand (1994), {{ISBN|1-875989-21-8}}
• The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco (1998), {{ISBN|1-875989-29-3}}
• Leviathan: The Un-authorised Biography of Sydney (1999), {{ISBN|978-0091832612}}
• How to be a Man (co-authored with Dirk Flinthart) (2000), {{ISBN|978-1875989027}}
• Appeasing Jakarta: Australia's complicity in the East Timor Tragedy (2001), {{ISBN|978-1863953863}}
• Off One's Tits (collection of articles & essays) (2002), {{ISBN|978-1740511285}}
• Dopeland: Taking the High Road through Australia's Marijuana Culture (2003), {{ISBN|978-1740510301}}
• A Time for War: Australia as a Military Power (2005), {{ISBN|978-1863951340}}
• How to be a Writer: who smashes deadlines, crushes editors and lives in a solid gold hovercraft (2016), {{ISBN|978-1742234847}}
• Stranger Thingies: From Felafel to Now (2018), {{ISBN|978-1742235592}}
• On Father (2019), {{ISBN|978-0522873429}}

• Weapons of Choice (2004), {{ISBN|0-7329-1199-0}}
• Designated Targets (2005), {{ISBN|0-345-45714-5}}
• Final Impact (2006), {{ISBN|0-345-45716-1}}
• Stalin's Hammer: Rome (2012), novella, {{ISBN|978-1743341391}}
• Stalin's Hammer: Cairo (2016), ebook only novella
• Stalin's Hammer: Paris (2016), ebook only novella
• Stalin's Hammer: The Complete Sequence (2017), {{ISBN|978-0648003625}}, all three novellas (Rome, Cairo and Paris) have been repackaged as a single volume
• World War 3.1: A Novel of the Axis of Time (2023), {{ISBN|978-0648633112}}{{cite web |url=https://cheeseburgergothic.substack.com/p/ww-31-a-sneak-peek-at-the-new-axis/comments| title = WW 3.1. A sneak peek at the new Axis of Time novel|date=24 June 2020 |first=John |last=Birmingham |work=CheeseburgerGothic}}

• Without Warning (2008), {{ISBN|978-0345502896}}
• After America (2010), {{ISBN|978-1405039413}}
• Angels of Vengeance (2011), {{ISBN|978-0345502933}}

(Also known as Dave vs. The Monsters)

• Emergence (2015), {{ISBN|978-0345539878}}
• Resistance (2015), {{ISBN|978-0345539892}}
• Ascendance (2015), {{ISBN|978-0345539915}}{{cite news |last1=Hardy |first1=Karen |title=John Birmingham talks Ascendance since He Died with a Felafel in His Hand |url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/john-birmingham-talks-ascendance-since-he-died-with-a-felafel-in-his-hand-20150207-137vk6.html |access-date=24 June 2015 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=14 February 2015}}
• The Protocol for Monsters (2016), ebook only novella
• Soul Full of Guns (2016), ebook only novella
• The Demons of Butte Crack County (2017) (Anthology)

• A Girl in Time (2016), {{ISBN|978-0648003601}}
• The Golden Minute – A Girl in Time Novel (2018), {{ISBN|978-0648003618}}

• Zero Day Code (2019), {{ISBN|978-0648003670}}
• Fail State (2019), {{ISBN|978-0648003687}}
• American Kill Switch (2021), {{ISBN|978-0648633105}}

• Novels:
• The Cruel Stars (2019), {{ISBN|978-1789545913}}
• The Shattered Skies (January 2022) {{ISBN|978-1984820556}} (US) {{ISBN|978-1789545944}} (AU){{cite web |url=https://headofzeus.com/ai;isbn=9781789545944 |title=The Shattered Skies: The Cruel Stars Trilogy, 2: John Birmingham (British publisher page) |work=Head of Zeus}}{{cite web |url=https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781789545944/the-dead-skies/ |title=Book #2 The Cruel Stars Trilogy: The Shattered Skies (Australian publisher page) |work=HarperCollins}}
• The Javan War (September 2024), with Jason Lambright, origin story for Lucinda Hardy, {{ISBN|979-8227723741}}.{{cite web |url=https://cheeseburgergothic.substack.com/p/felafel-at-30-and-the-javan-war |title=Felafel at 30, and The Javan War |work=CheeseburgerGothic |first=John |last=Birmingham |date=26 June 2024}}
• The Forever Dead (TBD), {{ISBN|978-1789545999}}
• Short stories:
• Parade Rest (August 2022) – A free short story prequel written with Jason Lambright about Lucinda Hardy's experiences as a cadet at the Royal Armadalen Naval Academy.{{cite web |url=https://cheeseburgergothic.substack.com/p/parade-rest |title=Parade Rest |work=CheeseburgerGothic |first1=Jason |last1=Lambright |first2=John |last2=Birmingham |date=19 August 2022}}

• Sleeper Agent (February 2024), {{ISBN|978-0648633129}}

• Fortune and Glory (2015), short story that was published in The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth, {{ISBN|978-0451467577}}, an anthology in S. M. Stirling's Emberverse series
• The Finishers (November 2023), free short story{{cite web |url=https://cheeseburgergothic.substack.com/p/the-finishers |title=The Finishers |work=CheeseburgerGothic |first=John |last=Birmingham |date=15 November 2023}}

{{Reflist}}

{{external links|date=May 2025}}

• {{official website|http://www.cheeseburgergothic.com/}}
• [http://blogs.brisbanetimes.com.au/bluntinstrument/ John Birmingham's Brisbane Times blog, Blunt Instrument] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011205012/http://blogs.brisbanetimes.com.au/bluntinstrument/ |date=11 October 2017 }}
• [http://blogs.brisbanetimes.com.au/thegeek/ John Birmingham's other Brisbane Times blog, The Geek] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313225256/http://blogs.brisbanetimes.com.au/thegeek/ |date=13 March 2018 }}
• {{ISFDB name}}
• [https://www.smh.com.au/by/john-birmingham-hvf2q "John Birmingham's work"] at The Sydney Morning Herald
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041012003231/http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/stories/s1147826.htm ABC Queensland story on Birmingham]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041029201000/http://www.abc.net.au/arts/headspace/rn/booksw/leviathan/default.htm Story on Leviathan], ABC Radio National
• [http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/so-whats-wrong-with-greers-comments/2006/09/08/1157222325364.html "So what's wrong with Greer's comments?"], by Tracee Hutchison, 9 September 2006, The Age
• [https://www.smh.com.au/national/death-becomes-an-excuse-to-savage-elites-now-thats-nasty-20060908-gdocg6.html "Death becomes an excuse to savage 'elites' – now that's nasty"], Clive Hamilton's response in The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 September 2006
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070429111730/http://www.abc.net.au/news/arts/articulate/200608/s1723613.htm Articulate story on the Axis of Time trilogy]
• [http://wheelercentre.com/videos/video/john-birmingham/ Talk at the Wheeler Centre on female action heroines]
• [https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/tqqf2h/alma99276753402061 John Birmingham on Queensland's Big Things], State Library of Queensland

{{John Birmingham}}

{{Portal bar|Biography|Speculative fiction|Australia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birmingham, John}}

Category:1964 births

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Category:Australian freelance journalists

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Category:Australian alternative history writers

Category:British emigrants to Australia

Category:People from Ipswich, Queensland

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Category:Writers from Liverpool

Category:21st-century Australian novelists

Category:21st-century British novelists

Category:20th-century Australian male writers

Category:21st-century Australian male writers

Category:Australian male novelists

Category:People educated at St Edmund's College, Ipswich