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...

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...