andy jennings

"Perilous Republic" $US2.99 : available in all ebook stores  Future fiction starts with a premise. You make some guesses. In "Perilous Republic" I explore the world of Melbourne at the end of the 2020s.  There are some trends, some pressures that I think will be important. Let's start with demographics. As the population ages, we will get to the point where the majority of the population are beyond working age. This is a profound change and has far reaching consequences.  Political parties are in the business of winning elections. If they can do this by handing out money to the majority of old people, then I think they will. Where will they get this money? They might take it from the minority of working age people or they might borrow from the future, which is essentially the same thing. We already see the use of direct election bribes in the early 2020s. It's simple. It works. But in essence it's a violation of the social contract: it puts all of the he...

After lockdown, we residents of Melbourne, Australia are all desperately seeking a place to go on a holiday. Which could be very challenging: everyone wants to do the same thing. I am expecting that the places you first think of will all be booked out by now. Over the last few years I have spent a lot of time travelling around Victoria. So I have tried to think of which towns I would recommend for a holiday. Places that might be a bit off the beaten track, that might not be the first place that comes to mind.  Why a small town? I am very much a big city person. To me, the small towns have an atmosphere that is quite different to my normal life. Isn't that what we want on a holiday? Somewhere different? There are not quite as many facilities as the bigger towns, but to me that adds to it.  My preferred way of travelling is to camp with a tent that I carry on my trusty bicycle. So I prefer towns that have a campground or caravan park that caters for campers. These days some plac...

It is enormous. It is incredibly comprehensive. The style of writing makes this very much an endurance test.  Most confronting is the history of slavery. The very idea that slave owners were being financially compensated for the "loss" of their slaves until almost the end of the 20th century. It defies belief.  There is very little ideology. At least not in the sense of engagement with the ideology. We don't find a detailed analysis of the ideas of Marx, that  there is an arc to history. One description  was "Marxism turned on its head".  He documents the great progress made towards egalitarian societies.  Europe and the United States after the second world war. Then as if to confound any idea of progress, the systematic unravelling of that  from the 1980s onward. To progress so far, and then to revert so rapidly.  The sheer variety of arguments in favour of inequality. When you put them all together though, as he does, then you see them for what ...

An extract from "2032" available now in all ebook stores. Fitzroy "Fitzroy." Jack said. "What?" "Clearance." It was enough of a novelty for them to be able to attend in person. The housing policy in action. Whole blocks of 5km square blocks were being cleared out for redevelopment. Today's target was Greeves Street by George Street in Fitzroy. Some compensation, although nothing near market rates. Then the bulldozers moved in and cleared it flat. There was sporadic resistance from the owners. In this space only a small percentage, less than 10%, actually lived in the houses they owned. Mostly the owners were distant, and reluctantly accepted the compensation. In a lot of cases the owners were overseas. Hardly likely to jump on a plane and lie in front of a bulldozer. The renters in the space were overjoyed: with a 50% cut in their rent, and funded relocation to one of the new developments. They held parties, feted the government...

Extract from "2032" by Andrew Jennings. Available in all ebook stores now. Cabinet meetings were of a size larger than Jack liked to deal with. Nominally it was 20 people. But with advisors hovering it stretched to something like 100, spread across two or even three rooms. Today was focused on security. The upstart government was surrounded by enemies. He tuned in as an army major stood at the lectern. “Fortunately the geography works in our favour. With a combined satellite and drone surveillance it is a simple matter to keep the northern plains free. North of the dividing range in the agricultural zones there is very little cover.” He brought up a map showing the zone. Between Albury and Shepparton, and north of Bendigo there were great open spaces. The red swathe was broad and like a circle. He thought about asking about sea-born attacks from the south, where there seemed to be no defences, but he was cautious about making an idiot of himself in such a large gathering...

Extract from "2032" by Andrew Jennings. Available in all ebook stores now. "Somewhere between 1 and 2" an eager face responded. Noah struggled to process that. Of course he meant somewhere between 1 and 2 million people. Where on earth do you put them all? Something like one fifth of the entire population of Melbourne. Spread throughout the city. For Ruby’s speech. A very important speech. Marking the new beginning, setting an agenda. Consolidating power. "How do we fit them?" Noah asked the obvious question. Jack turned towards him. "As far out as Brunswick. On the street. Everywhere." "Screens?" Noah asked Those without the augmented reality viewers would gather in parks. But most had the viewers that projected onto glasses. You got the speech overlayed on top of the scene you were looking at. He  hesitated to ask the most obvious question. "Security?" Ruby looked up. Glanced at Jack. “If they fly anything in pas...

Extract from "2032" by Andrew Jennings. Available in all ebook stores now.  “Just like old times.” Noah said “Yes.” Ruby replied. Jack just smiled. In a sense it was. They would meet at the beginning of the day. Somewhere. Perhaps a cafe, or later on in a rented meeting room. Now it was the same schedule, but with quite a different view. Early in the day they could see all the way to Geelong. A few stray clouds drifted above the bay. As the day progressed, the heat would burn them off and the thin line of sand they could see would have many people on it. Below them, the MCG would hold a cricket match. Life went on. While it was possible to get 100,000 people to a sporting event you would struggle to get 10,000 to a political rally. Ruby began. “Employment practices. The sweep. We have separated them into segments. About 60% of employers are ok. A bit of dodging this and that, but they are not really a problem. Then there are about 40% that are seriously out of whack. I...

"Perilous Republic" my novel available in all ebook stores. It is set in Melbourne Australia in the late 2020s. Some time ago I was in hospital for a few days, and I had a copy of Piketty 'Capital in the 21st century'. It is comprehensive both across cultures and through time. The book has some simple but frightening conclusions. That inequality is the result of the naked exercise of power, that throughout history it has followed a pattern of increasing to the point where it is totally irrational. Then at some point it all breaks down, either through war or revolution. My protagonists are proponents of "normal capitalism" or the perhaps unlikely "capitalism with a human face". How might they fix the housing problems? How might they fix very low wages and poor working conditions? You might think of simply seizing all the property and redistributing it, or something like that. But they don't want to do that. They want to somehow get from ...

Ground Effect  : Thermos + Berglar I tour in Australia in the winter quite a bit, with some long tours. It doesn't get super cold, but it can be challenging. When it hovers around 0 centigrade (32 F) and it is blowing a cold wind, and it is raining, then the effective temperature can get towards the -5C or even lower. You want good gear to keep warm and to be comfortable. I have had the Thermos for a few years, and recently I actually wore out my old jersey and replaced it with the Berglar. When it's extremely cold I wear a synthetic thermal, with the Thermos over that, then the Berglar. On top of that I have a Netti rain jacket that I wear even when it's not raining. Four layers? Yes. Layers are good. When I start for the day, I will take a few kilometres to warm up. Then I will start taking off layers. On a typical cold day when I'm in motion I will finally have the thermal and the Berglar. The Thermos is a wind blocking undergarment. It's specifically ...

It's not so popular, forgiveness. Nowadays people talk of "gaining closure" when the perpetrator has been ruined, humiliated, jailed or in many cases, killed. There are two amazing instances of forgiveness in modern history. South Africa, for one, and East Timor for another. People who have been abused, tortured and killed for years and years find the courage to forgive. Incredible. Mine is a minor thing, really. I've decided to forgive Lance Armstrong. Yes, of course, he made a fool of all of us you say. He cheated. He ran a protection racket around his racket. How can you forgive somebody that did that? Well, I think I can.  As others have said, he broke my heart, a little. I followed him for years, stayed up late night after night watching the Tour. I'll never forget some of those moments where he just sprinted away on the climbs. One summer my daughter and I made the journey to Adelaide to watch him in the Tour Down Under. Do I regret that? Not reall...

I've posted about how I plan short trips in my home region. I'm fortunate that Vline   allows bikes on trains, so I can get to the start easily and return the same way. Unfortunately this is not the case in any other states in Australia. Having said that you have to be careful in picking which services to take. You can't book ahead. One very important page you should check is the  "service changes"  page: when they work on the tracks (mostly in winter, but not always) they substitute buses for trains, and the buses won't take your bicycle. Most of these rides are based around  rail trails  - Victoria has lots of them. I have mapped each of these tours, so you can see how it plays out in detail, right down to the lunch stop and the camping location. Some of you may be able to travel up to double the pace, but you get the idea. Great Victorian Rail Trail Track My Tour track  The Google Map display allows you to see the path I took, at least rou...

Why plan? Some of the truly epic bicycle rides (e.g. http://cyclingtotheashes.wordpress.com/ ) began with almost no planning at all. Just ride out the front gate and keep going. It's not really necessary.  For a shorter tour, though, I normally plan out the tour, at least in outline. It makes for a more pleasant journey. This is a very individual thing, so it's a process of trying things and finding what works for you.  How to get to the start/finish ? Why not start from home? I live in an outer suburb of Melbourne, about 45km from the centre. I find this is the most dangerous place to ride.  Australia generally is a very car dependent society. Almost all trips are taken by car. It's not comfortable or safe riding in these suburbs. I prefer to start and end bicycle tours at least 300km from a major city. That might seem extreme, but you have to get out of the city type zone. Where people either commute to the city or take day trips.  I mostly take ...

In the desert, there is nowhere to lean your bike. It's really difficult to stand holding it up, and unpack or pack it. That's how I came to think about stands. There are the type that attach to the bike, and the pole type. My bike has a fitting for a stand, but I was reluctant. The weight when fully loaded, pushing against the frame. It would probably be ok, but I searched for a pole type solution. I searched and found a commercial solution. They are really neat, and if you are looking for a good quality sturdy stand, then I suggest that you seriously look at them. In my case, I had just mended my tent with great help from bluemoon200510 on ebay ( http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/bluemoon200510  ). So I had some tent poles left over, and some of the elastic cord that goes down the middle. I wondered if I could use a tent pole as a stand. The first version was a failure. Bike too heavy, stand bends wildly. Then I had a brainwave. Maybe two stands would do it. I got the gaffe...

Cities are growing all over the planet. In considering Melbourne's housing problems, I was momentarily distracted by San Francisco. Seems there has been an influx of some 75 thousand people over the last decade, leading to some well publicised incidents: demonstrations at Google buses, posting of nasty signs. Serious, I thought. Then I realised that Melbourne is growing by some 50 thousand people every year. So where SF has struggled with 75 thousand, Melbourne has somehow dealt with 500 thousand. Wikimedia:  Biatch  at  en.wikipedia Impressive, I thought. Melbourne is successful. In a sense, yes. There are problems with success. It becomes expensive, for one. "The Economist" global housing prices. How can it be that it's more expensive to live in Melbourne than in London? At one level, it is the price of popularity.  How does it do it? Mostly by adding at the edges. The fastest growing areas are in the outer fringes of the city. Great...

A traveller crosses the globe, "searching for a better place". They most likely have googled the destination so much, seen the images, imagined what it is going to be like. When they arrive, they are open to the sunshine, the beaches, the people. I live in Melbourne, Australia. Have almost all my life. Quite a lot of people arrive here with great expectations, excited that they have found a place that is so different to where they come from. For us residents, this is a bit weird. Melbourne is visually impressive. It's only a few kilometres to a beach where you don't have to fight for a patch of sand. If you get up early enough in the morning, you might have it to yourself. The sun shines, a lot. It doesn't snow. The economy, if not booming, is certainly powering along. If you've just got off the plane from Ireland, or Spain, or the crowded cities of Asia, or the cold of Germany, then I guess it looks pretty good. I've only lived outside Australia ...

In the near future, you might face an interview with a policeman or woman wearing the google glasses. How might it go? First he/she might ask you your name. The glasses have access to images of you from various databases. If you give a false name he will know  straight away. Let's say you are on a train. He might ask where you are off to today. The ticket you carry has a unique number linked to your identity. He will know where you boarded the train.  He might ask where you work. Linked to the tax office database, he will have your complete work history.  What changes with the glasses is the immediacy. Especially in identifying you. Much of crime fiction is nostalgic. Typically (e.g. Rebus) the detective is an older male, quite uncomfortable with technology. He relies on younger people around him to make use of it. Even then, not a great deal of surveillance is employed. There might be some trawling through CCTV footage. Is the past somehow more human? O...