Milk Island, by Rhydian Thomas
Milk Island's four stories take place on the eponymous public-private-partnership island in 2023, where a fifth-term National Government’s (2020 update: kia ora jacinda, kia ora new coalition govt) legacy project is going very well or very poorly, depending on who you ask.
“No more perfect conceit for a dystopian near-future novel has existed in New Zealand”, says Murdoch Stephens, editor at Lawrence & Gibson. “Milk Island is a work of conceptual genius combining dropping our she’ll-be-right haplessness onto a centre-right empire bigger than even Piggy Muldoon could have imagined.”
With the 2023 NZ election approaching on Milk Island, the novel’s four main characters are interwoven into the same sprawling web of prisons, politics, tourism and media. On the former South Island, patriotism and prosperity trumps all else and life matters very little unless you're Milky Moo, the nation's favourite genetically-enhanced cow.
About Rhydian Thomas
Rhydian Thomas is a writer and musician from South Wales who lives in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. His writing has appeared in The Pantograph Punch, Sport, Hue and Cry and Turbine. He has released music with The Body Lyre and Strangers.
Reviews
Excerpt of Milk Island on The Pantograph Punch
Book details
ISBN: 978-0-473-39794-4
Release date: June 2017
Paperback