Hi all, I hope you’ve each had a wonderful 2025 and that the New Year will be even better.
Looking back at this page, I see that I have not updated since last year, and this time last year I had loads to announce. Part of my radio silence is not wanting to pester people if I don’t have something to announce. I rarely use social media these days because I’m concerned about how they operate and exploit users. I much prefer direct communication… maybe that’s just a sign of getting old.
2024 was so full of new things and wonderful people it was hard to keep track of everything. In 2025 I was back in Canberra. There was plenty going on, but not much of what I was working on came to a stage where I felt I could share it.
That doesn’t mean nothing has happened, though. So for self-accountability purposes and in case anything below interests you, here are some of the projects that have progressed across the year.
Probably the biggest news was that I was successful in applying for a grant from ScreenNSW, in partnership with my artist brother Luke, to develop the concept of a video game. The money paid for a chunk of time for us to focus on the project and working towards a vertical slice - or a sample of the gameplay and mechanics.
It’s worth celebrating: I’ve never been paid quite so much money to be a writer!
Gutterjacket is a narrative-based cyberpunk adventure game. We’re putting our own spin on things, so even though we’re using the classic point-and-click style (think games like Monkey Island and so on) we’re trying to bring some of our own mechanics and elements that prioritise player decision making and social interactions over frustrating object-based puzzles.
The project is still very much in the development phase, meaning we have a story outlined and we’re working on the visual design and world building. We’re also testing ideas a lot.
In 2026 we’ll be launching a dev-log if you want to follow along. You’ll find it and more at www.nogoodnikstudio.com.
As a little experiment I created another page on Substack exploring the overlaps between anthropology and creativity. This is a central part of my research, but the project allows me to explore weird little corners that might not work academically.
What results is a slightly weird but hopefully interesting and provocative presentation of ideas. I’m calling this an ‘occasional’ series; I write them when I have an idea that interests me and when I have the time. It’s hardly an algorithmically approved strategy, but since I’m doing it for fun I’m fine with this.
I have few ideas for posts in 2026, including one on the Devil’s Meridian (think the Australian version of the Bermuda Triangle), speculative biology, and a trope in fiction I’m calling ‘anthropocide’. If you’re curious and you haven’t already, please sign up.
It’s been more difficult to remain involved with Ós Pressan since I’ve moved back to Australia, but one of the great things I’ve been able to continue doing is my role on the editorial committee of Issue 7 of the literary journal.
Ós – The Journal is a multilingual literary journal, certainly the only one in Iceland and one among very few in the world. Those submitting their work can send it in any language, and the committee works at finding someone who knows the language and can assess its quality to consider it for publication. Authors can decide if they want to include a translation or not.
The upcoming issue includes plenty of texts in Icelandic and English, but also Portuguese, Italian, Faroese and others. It also includes some gorgeous images, and even a video (via QR code).
It’s been great fun working on it and since it’s now in the design stage I expect it’ll be out soon.
Reykjavík Poetics: Recordings from Reykjavík Poetics open mic nights and curated events are available online. I get to post them, which means I get to experience this great series even from afar. You can check out all the recordings here.
Live With Me, Sorrow: A queer novel I’ve been working on, Live With Me, Sorrow, was recently alpha read by friend and writer Michelle Spinei. I’m hoping to get a grant to have the book reviewed and to get time in a writers’ retreat to finalise it. Always looking for more feedback, so if you’re interested please let me know (it’s short, only about 60,000 words).
A card game of thievery: I don’t know yet what I’ll do with this one. I need to play test it. It’s designed for solo play, and can be played as a single-shot game, a longer ‘campaign’ or story mode, and can also be used for journalling or as a writing prompt. If you’re into games and you have a set of ordinary playing cards at home, get in touch.
Serialised books: I have a couple of novellas that fit together, and I’ve never quite known what to do with them. This year I’ll be looking into launching them on a serialisation platform as a bit of an experiment. More info on that later.
I didn’t have any fiction published this year, but I do have a few pieces due out.
Two short stories, ‘The Ruy Lopez Opening’ and ‘Traces’, both to be published in issue 7 of Ós - The Journal some time in 2026.
A short story, ‘Tyrents of the Southern Sea’, due to be published in the Alternate Antarcticas anthology also in 2026.
I also have a novelette, Oasis Underground, and a novel, Trickster’s Wake, both looking for a home.
Sugar - ethnographic fiction review: My first official academic publication came out this year: Sugar: An Ethnographic Novel in the Australian Journal of Anthropology. The book itself is available here.
Multilingual Publishing in Iceland: I was very pleased to be part of a project looking at the state of multilingual publishing in Iceland. The project was a collaboration between the Ós Pressan and the Danish Red Door, and was co-funded by the European Union. The report is coming soon. The project was led by Ewa Marcinek, Anna Valdis Kro, with support from myself, Lara Hoffman and Francesca Cricelli.
Sitting in Uncertainty: Glacier Personhood and the Politics of Multispecies Entanglements in Iceland: This paper was a short reflection on some encounters with a political campaign to make a glacier president of Iceland. I wouldn’t ordinarily write about this, but I took the opportunity to participate in the Multispecies Ethnography and Artistic Methods conference held at ANU in December 2025. The conference was fantastic, with loads of really interesting and creative approaches to anthropology that challenged the nature/culture division – a subject that is often a theme of my creative writing.
ANSA x TAJA How to write a Book Review: This workshop was held for the Australian Newtwork of Student Anthropologists and the Australian Journal of Anthropology to teach students how to write a book review. I was chuffed to be asked by former TAJA Book Review editor Cammi Webb-Gannon to showcase my review for the ethnographic fiction novel Sugar and discuss my approach to reviewing books.
‘Research through participating’ podcast episode: One of the last things I did in Iceland was to be interviewed for East of Moon’s inaugural podcast, Fellow Travellers. The lovely Josie Ann-Gaitens chatted with me about research, creative methods, and my experiences in Iceland as an anthropologist. You can give it a listen here.
Academic publishing takes time, but here’s a few things in the works (not including the thesis):
Forthcoming: 'Standing Outside Looking In: Nordic Noir as a Window into Icelandic Euroscepticism and Sovereignty'. In Pop Goes the EU. Rowman & Littlefield (Lexington Press).
Under review: 'Unthinkable Depths: Volcanic Crisis, Anthropocide, and Thinking Underground in Iceland’ – an article about volcanos, the underground, and the Icelandic TV show Katla.
Under review: ‘“Lost in Reykjavík”: A Photoseries of Found Moments and Misplaced Objects’ – an article that details a photoseries I produced while in Iceland of objects I would often find abandoned or lost on the streets.
Drafting: A review of the book The Creative Lives of Animals by Carol Gigliotti, for TAJA.
Some of the media I consumed this year that I highly recommend. Not always current, but worth checking out.
The Perfect Golden Circle, by Benjamin Myers. A meditation on alienation and friendship, as two men spend a summer making crop circles seeking the perfect manifestation of their art.
The Incal, by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Mœbius, a weird romp through a bizarre, semi-psychedelic galaxy.
Dusk, by Robbie Arnott. A slow-paced journey through the countryside on the hunt for a wild puma, and a look at our relationship with the world around us.
Pluribus, a foray into mild SF from the makers of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.
The Righteous Gemstones, for weird and ridiculous drama about televangelism.
The Traitors (UK), a high-drama reality TV show – basically the game Wearwolf but televised.
The Last of Us, a well-written, well-acted post-apocalypse based on the very popular video game. I always hated mushrooms.
Severance, an off-beat SF about the drudgery of corporate life.
The Holy Mountain (1973), directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Fantastic Planet (1973), directed by René Laloux.
Flow (2024), directed by Gints Zilbalodis.
Weapons (2025), directed by Zach Cregger.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), directed by Peter Weir.
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