John Birmingham

'As the convoy growled and squeaked to a halt in the dark, angry militiamen and soldiers began to shout and wave at the Australians, demanding they move aside. The Brave Ones' vanguard presented as a B-movie vision of some pirate biker gang from Hell, a rat bastard outfit in black tee-shirts, camouflage pants, long hair and bandanas, with axes in their eyes and guns at the ready.' The Brave Ones follows the Indonesian Army's Battalion 745 as it withdrew from East Timor after the 1999 independence vote, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. Birmingham's unflinching account reveals the scorched-earth tactics of the retreating troops, and shows just how close Australia came to armed conflict with Indonesia.

New York is on fire, the streets are overrun, and the Demon Horde is feasting. With the city in chaos, all eyes are on Dave Hooper, the monster slayer destined to save mankind. But hero or not, Dave is just one man and he's short of allies. He soon finds himself relying on Karen Warat: art dealer and Russian spy. Smart, dangerous and armed with a magic sword, Dave knows not to trust her. He also knows that without her, New York will fall. While the United States military try desperately to hold off the Horde, Dave and Karen realise that the monsters have a powerful new weapon. And when the legions of hell reach the small seaside town his kids call home, Dave has to make a call. Save the world? Or save his family?

For fans of Jim Butcher and Kevin Hearne comes an exhilarating new urban fantasy series featuring monster-slayerDave 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.

For fans of Jim Butcher and Kevin Hearne comes a heart-pounding new urban fantasy series featuring monster slayerDave 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.

When a dragon brings down the Vice President's plane and fresh demons emerge across the United States, monster slayer Dave Hooper realises that the Battle of New Orleans was just the beginning. Holed up in a swanky Las Vegas hotel, Dave is enjoying the perks of his newfound celebrity. But deep in the UnderRealms, the monsters are regrouping, and it isn't long before Dave and his splitting maul are hauled into action once more. While his agent fields offers for movies and merchandise, Dave is tasked with ending a demon siege in Omaha, protecting the skies from a dragon horde and deciphering the UnderRealms' plans to take over the earth. As an ancient and legion evil threatens to destroy mankind, Dave may not be the hero humanity deserves, but he's the only one we've got.

When an oil rig off the Gulf of Mexico digs too deep, a torrent of nightmares is unleashed - the creatures of legend, always thought to be figments of our imagination, are now a very real threat to the survival of humankind. Safety worker Dave Hooper has the hangover from hell, and the last thing he needs is an explosion on his oil rig. But this is no accident, and despite the news reports, terrorists aren't to blame for the carnage. The rig is swarming with monsters. As he fights to save his co-workers from the ravenous demon horde while holding down last night's tequila, Dave is suddenly transformed from a foul-mouthed, overweight, booze-soaked slacker into something else entirely. An honest-to-goddamn monster slayer.

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.

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.

"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)

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.

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 Sequence of event of the Second World War was altered forever at the very moment the task force of ultra-modern stealth warships emerged from a rip in the time-space continuum. Hurled back from 2021 to 1942 after a quantum experiment goes horribly wrong, no one could have predicted the impact of this futuristic fighting force. Chaos ensues...In the third and final gripping instalment of the Axis of Time trilogy, the revised history of the War is more alarming than ever. Hitler and the Japanese race towards atomic capability; Stalin plots to tear down the future and rebuild it in his own image; and the allies begin their Great Crusade, with the weapons of know-how of the twenty-first century.The final battle of the war is about to begin...

The Second World War was turned on its head at the moment Admiral Kolhammer’s ultra-modern stealth warships were hurled back through time from 2021. But no one could have predicted just how much of a nightmare would ensue . . . Only months after the Transition, the great powers scramble to develop the weapons of tomorrow. The year 1942 is now a world of crude jet fighters, monstrous attack helicopters, and unholy dirty bombs — a mongrel technology, born decades prematurely. Then, in a radical rewriting of history, Japanese forces sweep into Australia, foreign agents begin a campaign of terror in the USA, and Germany prepares for an all-out attack on Britain. The twenty-first-century forces must resort to the most extreme measures yet and face a future rife with possibilities — all of them apocalyptic . . . Picking up from where he left off with Weapons of Choice, John Birmingham shocks and awes us with this gripping second instalment in the Axis of Time trilogy.

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. Original. 25,000 first printing.

The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. In 2021, a quantum military experiment goes horrifically wrong. A multinational taskforce of ultra-modern warships is suddenly transported back in time to 1942... right into the path of the US naval battle group bound for Midway Atoll. History is rewritten in an instant as the future smashes into the past, and high-tech hardware goes head to head with World War Two technology. In the chaos that ensues, thousands are killed, but the maelstrom has only just begun. The veterans of Pearl Harbour have never seen a helicopter, or a cruise missile - let alone nanotechnology, ceramic bullets, and F22 Raptor stealth jetfighters. Allied and Axis forces are then caught in a desperate struggle to gain the upper hand - each hoping to tip the balance with a fist full of twenty first century firepower. What happens next is anybody's guess - and everybody's nightmare...

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.

In A Time for War, 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 WarThis issue also contains correspondence discussing Quarterly Essay 19, Relaxed & Comfortable, from David Kemp, Graham Richardson, David Corlett, Don Aitkin, Ian Marsh, Matthew Sharpe, and Judith Brett

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. . . .