My book The Coast is back in bookstores, with a new edition released by Melbourne University Press.
The book was originally published in 2012. Now MUP is re-issuing it with a new foreword. Available in all good bookstores.
The Coast is the second of my two non-fiction books, following on from The River (2010 – reissued 2025). It recounts my travels down the east coast of Australia, back when the impact of climate change was really starting be felt, both in our landscape and in our politics.
It’s described as narrative non-fiction. So it’s not a scholarly work, and it’s not an essay. Rather it’s telling the story of my travels: my thoughts, my feelings, my experiences. And, most importantly, the people I met along the way.
It touches on environmental issues, indigenous history, the pressures of development and the deep cultural significance the coast and the beach hold for Australians.
I’m very proud of these two books. They were also what gave me a real taste for writing books after decades of journalism.
They were the gateway drug that got me addicted to all the joys and frustrations of writing. Without these two books, there would be no crime novels.
As well as instilling in me a love of writing, these books gifted me some of the wonderful locations and landscapes that play such an important role in the Martin & Mandy and the Ivan & Nell books.
Read The Coast, and you will see some of the locations and themes that inform my second Martin book, Silver.
Huge gratitude to my original editor and current MUP publisher Foong Ling Kong, and to Louise Adler, who as the then publisher of MUP took a chance on an unpublished wannabe.