kim westwood – press
The Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, Saturday August 27, 2011
Saturday Age, Aug 27, 2011
"..Along with the political relevance and the genre mash-ups, Westwood also gives us atmosphere--she turns the red lights back on in the city, resurrecting Little Lon, the vice district of the 19th century--as well as emotionally vivid characters."
Australian Bookseller+Publisher magazine - July 2011
The Courier’s New Bicycle
This is a disturbingly credible and darkly noir post-cyberpunk tale. It is set in a world characterised by want, both material and emotional, and built from the deep fears, anxieties and prejudices of the 21st century. While this book will definitely appeal to science-fiction readers, I would sneak a few copies into the literary-fiction section as well, or at least recommend it to your more adventurous literary fiction readers. Stefen Brazulaitis
Canberra Times, Saturday, September 3, 2011
Canberra author Kim Westwood's second novel, The Courier’s New Bicycle, like her acclaimed first novel, The Daughters of Moab, is set in a dystopian Australian future, this time in a near-future Melbourne with run-down buildings, power disruptions, fuel rationing and curfews. Westwood says the novel "is a very different creature, made in a very different room of my imagination. It's a much faster ride--there's a mystery to solve, after all, and time is of the essence."
A rogue vaccine to tackle a flu pandemic has severely damaged fertility in Australia, although not apparently in the rest of the world. A fundamentalist government admits no fertility solution, except the power of prayer. This has led to a boom in underground fertility treatments, often using dodgy hormones and surrogacy arrangements within blurred gender lines.
The main character, androgynous Salisbury Forth, a bicycle courier, regularly sallies forth from his/her boss's small firm to deliver safe, but illegal, hormonal drugs. Sal's boss goes missing, however, and Sal's friends are threatened as someone wants the business closed down. Sal's life is in danger, but, in classic private investigator mode, Sal must find the culprits and save the business. The Courier’s New Bicycle is, at times, Underbelly rewritten with a feminist tinge.
The overall global background is again undefined. Melbourne is almost an isolated microcosm, created by Westwood, to reflect concerns as varied as religious fundamentalism, climate change, economic downturn, animal rights, sexual polyorphism and genetic manipulation. What ultimately carries the day, however, is Westwood's strong, empathetic central character, Sal, and the darkly humorous, fast-paced, narrative.
Colin Steele
“… mixes ecological disaster with religious cults, Mad Max with feminism … Westwood is a stylist, with a line in lyricism, and a nice sense of humour … The Daughters of Moab is a richly peopled canvas, of which perhaps the real star is the ravaged landscape, so intensely depicted as to be almost a presence.” —The Age
“This is the best debut novel I have seen in many years … Here is a novel where the world-building has been so completely developed, the often startling plot twists are supported effortlessly in its web. It also contains the most beautiful and precise use of language … This is a rich world and magical tale that unfolds on its own terms.”
—Aurealis Online
“Quality speculative fiction with something to say about where our world is heading … written so cleverly that while you feel like you’re reading literature, it moves along with the pace of an action movie.” —The Cairns Post
“Westwood’s post-apocalyptic vision of a devastated Australia, affected by climate change, authoritarian racial oppression and genetic manipulation, is an impressive debut that echoes the best of George Turner.” —The Canberra Times
“The prose is beautiful … a gorgeous journey, a strong declaration of the arrival of a distinctive voice in Australian literature.” —The Courier Mail
“The narrative is riddled, haunted with nostalgia and regrets. It jumps between fascinating points of view … [it] transforms and folds in on itself unexpectedly, like a surrealist film.” —The Australian Book Review
“Aurealis Award- and Varuna Fellowship-recipient Kim Westwood’s post-apocalyptic first novel is redolent with echoes of Australia’s long history of cultural wrongs … This is an intelligent, fast-paced, and haunting look at one possible future for Australia. That future may be bleak, but I see only bright things for Kim Westwood.” —Black Magazine
“A great read.” —The Feminist Bookshop
