Chris Flynn Chris Flynn i(A112231 works by)
Born: Established: 1972 Belfast,
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Northern Ireland,
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
;
Gender: Male
Arrived in Australia: 1999
Heritage: Irish
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Works By

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1 Padam Padam Chris Flynn , 2024 single work short story
— Appears in: Spinning Around : The Kylie Playlist 2024; (p. 47-60)
1 The Orcanauts Chris Flynn , 2024 single work short story
— Appears in: Griffith Review , 7th May no. 84 2024;
1 Snake Island Chris Flynn , 2023 single work short story
— Appears in: New Australian Fiction 2023 2023; (p. 17-26)
1 y separately published work icon Horridus and the Night Forest Chris Flynn , Aaron Cushley (illustrator), Victoria : Museum Victoria , 2023 25426318 2023 single work picture book children's

'What kinds of Cretaceous creatures roam the forest at night?

'Join Horridus the Triceratops and Archie the Avisaurus as they explore the undergrowth and discover the magic of a twilight stroll through the trees in this second instalment of the Horridus series. But wait...what’s that sound? Is someone following them? Enter the night forest to find out! Filled with humour and threaded through with themes of friendship and facing your fears, this story will entrance any young dinosaur fan. Readers will delight in learning more about the Cretaceous period as they follow Horridus and Archie on their latest adventure.' (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon The Horridus Series Chris Flynn , 2022 Victoria : Museum Victoria , 2022- 25426373 2022 series - author picture book
1 Here Be Leviathans : An Extract Chris Flynn , 2022 extract short story (Here Be Leviathans)
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , October 2022;
1 y separately published work icon The Quest for Kool Chris Flynn , David Booth (illustrator), Melbourne : Museum Victoria , 2022 25106850 2022 single work picture book children's

'The Quest for Kool follows the adventures of an intrepid palaeontologist echidna. Her all-time favourite animal is the Koolasuchus , and her greatest wish is to meet one of these long-extinct amphibians in the flesh. So she invents a time travel device! As she skips back through time, she comes across a host of oddball characters, including a chatty marsupial lion and some very hungry toothed seabirds. But will she ever find a Koolasuchus ?

'Combining education and excitement into one rollicking adventure, readers will relish following along with our plucky heroine as she treks through space and time in her quest to meet a Koolasuchus . Along the way they’ll learn fascinating facts about Australia’s geographic time periods and the ancient animals that inhabited them.'  (Publication summary)

1 5 y separately published work icon Here Be Leviathans Chris Flynn , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2022 24685514 2022 selected work short story

'A grizzly bear goes on the run after eating a teenager. A hotel room participates in an unlikely conception. A genetically altered platypus colony puts on an art show. A sabretooth tiger falls for the new addition to his theme park. An airline seat laments its last useful day. A Shakespearean monkey test pilot launches into space.

'The stories in Here Be Leviathans take us from the storm drains under Las Vegas to the Alaskan wilderness; the rainforests of Queensland to the Chilean coastline. Narrated in Chris Flynn’s unique and hilarious style by animals, places, objects and even the (very) odd human, these short fictions push the boundaries of the form by examining human behaviour from the perspective of the outsider.'  (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon Horridus and the Hidden Valley Chris Flynn , Aaron Cushley (illustrator), Victoria : Museum Victoria , 2022 24479322 2022 single work picture book children's

'Join Horridus the Triceratops and Archie the Avisaurus on their Cretaceous quest to unlock the secrets of Hidden Valley.

'Along the way they’ll encounter lakes, mountains, Tyrannosaurs, Pterosaurs and a distinct lack of decent snacks. Will they find the rare blue flower? Will Horridus eat it? Enter a prehistoric world of adventure to find out!

'Threaded with themes of friendship and conservation and filled with humour, this story will entrance any young dinosaur fan. Readers will delight in learning about the Cretaceous period as they accompany Horridus and Archie on their adventures.'  (Publication summary)

1 Animal Perspective : Breaking the Language Barrier Laura Jean McKay (presenter), Erin Hortle (presenter), Chris Flynn (presenter), 2021 single work interview
— Appears in: Griffith Review , January no. 71 2021;
1 The Australian Book You've Finally Got Time for : On the Beach by Nevil Shute Chris Flynn , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 21 May 2020;
'I often wonder how many people bought On the Beach when it came out in 1957, assuming it was a novel about a group of gorgeous, sun-kissed surfers catching breaks all summer long. On the Beach is instead about a bunch of miserable Melburnians waiting to die slowly and horribly from radiation poisoning after the world has been annihilated in a nuclear holocaust started by the Albanians.' (Introduction)
1 Mammoth : Extract Chris Flynn , 2020 extract novel (Mammoth)
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , May 2020;
1 10 y separately published work icon Mammoth Chris Flynn , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2020 18936090 2020 single work novel

'Narrated by a 13,000-year-old extinct American mastodon, Mammoth is the (mostly) true story of how the skull of a Tyrannosaurus bataar, a pterodactyl, a prehistoric penguin, the severed hand of an Egyptian mummy and the narrator himself came to be on sale at a 2007 natural history auction in Manhattan.

'Ranging from the Pleistocene Epoch to nineteenth-century America and beyond, including detours to Napoleonic France and Nazi Germany, Mammoth illuminates a period of history when ideas about science and religion underwent significant change. By tracing how and when the fossils were unearthed, Mammoth traverses time and place to reveal humanity's role in the inexorable destruction of the natural world.'(Publication summary)

1 Gone, but Not Forgotten Chris Flynn , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January / February no. 418 2020; (p. 41)

— Review of See You at the Toxteth Peter Corris , 2019 selected work essay short story biography ; The Red Hand Peter Temple , 2019 selected work screenplay extract short story review essay
'Two of the greatest Australian crime writers died within six months of each other in 2018. Peter Temple authored nine novels, four of which featured roustabout Melbourne private detective Jack Irish, and one of which, Truth, won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2010. Temple died on 8 March 2018, aged seventy-one. Peter Corris was more prolific, writing a staggering eighty-eight books across his career, including historical fiction, biography, sport, and Pacific history. Forty-two of those highlighted the travails of punchy Sydney P.I. Cliff Hardy. Corris died on 30 August 2018, seventy-six and virtually blind.' (Introduction)
1 White Knight : Elliot Perlman's Misguided New Novel Chris Flynn , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 417 2019; (p. 43-44)

— Review of Maybe the Horse Will Talk Elliot Perlman , 2019 single work novel

'Elliot Perlman’s fourth novel is tentatively billed as a corporate satire and has a striking opening line: ‘I am absolutely terrified of losing a job I absolutely hate.’ The man in this all-too-familiar predicament is Stephen Maserov, a former English teacher turned lawyer. Maserov is a lowly second year in the Terry Gilliam-esque law firm Freely Savage Carter Blanche, which, apart from sounding like a character in a Tennessee Williams play, is home to loathsome dinosaurs in pinstripe suits and an HR department referred to as ‘The Stasi’.' (Introduction)

1 The World Beneath Chris Flynn , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 415 2019; (p. 47)

— Review of Hollow Earth John Kinsella , 2019 single work novel
'Astronomer Edmond Halley (also known as Edmund, debate still rages over which spelling he preferred) may be best known for the comet that passes through our solar system once every seventy-five to seventy-six years (next sighting due in 2061, set a reminder in your iCal), but in 1692 he proposed an intriguing theory: that the Earth was hollow.' (Introduction)
1 Soft Centre Chris Flynn , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 413 2019; (p. 53-54)

— Review of Minotaur Peter Goldsworthy , 2019 single work novel

'Halfway through Minotaur, Peter Goldsworthy’s jauntily satisfying novel about a sharp-tongued former motorcycle cop blinded by a bullet to the head, Detective Sergeant Rick Zadow gropes his way to a shed behind his Adelaide cottage. Inside lies a partially dismantled 1962 Green Frame Ducati 750SS. Zadow, who had begun disassembling the crankshaft prior to his injury, fumbles round in the dark as he tries to restore the beloved bike he will never be able to ride again. He uses his ever-present companion and virtual girlfriend, Siri, to order parts from a website called Road and Race.' (Introduction)

1 Alex Landragin : Crossings Chris Flynn , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 22-28 June 2019;

'Metempsychosis, or the transmigration of the soul, usually happens after death, when the consciousness and memories of an individual are transported into the body of another. If you believe that sort of thing. It is also a handy, if well-trodden, literary device, used to influential effect in David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas.' (Introduction)

1 Rohan Wilson : Daughter of Bad Times Chris Flynn , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 4-10 May 2019;

'Great science fiction often tackles portentous real-world events. The genre provides a heady platform for the extrapolation of ideas, imagining what might happen if a current situation were pushed to extremes. Tasmanian-born author Rohan Wilson embraces the liberty of genre conventions in his latest book. Having thus far examined his home state’s brutal colonial history in the novels The Roving Party and To Name Those Lost, he changes tack by leaping five decades into the future with Daughter of Bad Times, a layered novel that can be read as a doomed love story, a climate change warning and a searing commentary on Australian refugee policy.' (Introduction)

1 At the Gorge : Twists and Tropes in Four New Crime Novels Chris Flynn , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 411 2019; (p. 34-35)

'The plethora of crime stories is such that, in order to succeed, they must either follow a well-trodden narrative path and do so extremely well, or run with a high concept and hope for the best. Having the word ‘girl’ in the title doesn’t hurt. Readers are familiar with genre tropes, to the point of being high-functioning literary detectives, ready to sniff out lapses in logic and to scream at the page (or at a screen) when a plot goes haywire. Treat aficionados of crime fiction with contempt, and you’re dead in the water.' (Introduction)

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