image of person or book cover 9205904087310986802.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon Space Demons single work   novel   young adult   science fiction  
Is part of Space Demons Trilogy Gillian Rubinstein , 1986 series - author (number 1 in series)
Issue Details: First known date: 1986... 1986 Space Demons
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Space Demons is a computer game with a difference - a prototype directly imported from Japan, and designed to lock four unlikely protagonists, Andrew Hayford, Elaine Taylor, Ben Challis and Mario Ferrone, in deadly combat with the sinister forces of its artificial intelligence. As the game draws them into its powerful ambit, Andrew, Elaine, Ben, and Mario must confront the darker sides of their own natures.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Adelaide, South Australia,: Omnibus/Puffin , 1986 .
      image of person or book cover 9205904087310986802.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 213p.
      Reprinted: 1987 twice , 1988 twice
      ISBN: 0140321993
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Dial Books for Young Readers ,
      1988 .
      image of person or book cover 3682968118253941404.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: [vi], 198 p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Illustrated by Sherilyn van Valkenburgh.
    • Norwood, Norwood, Payneham & St Peters area, Adelaide - North / North East, Adelaide, South Australia,: Omnibus Books , 1991 .
      image of person or book cover 9118268842787458702.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 213p.
      Reprinted: 1992 , 1993 , 1994 , 1995
      ISBN: 1862910979
    • Balmain, Glebe - Leichhardt - Balmain area, Sydney Inner West, Sydney, New South Wales,: Ligature , 2018 .
      image of person or book cover 8015595108017776143.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 174p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 18th November 2018.
      ISBN: 9781925883008
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Untapped , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 6021555374315342209.png
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      ISBN: 9781922730084
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Brio Books ; Untapped , 2022 .
      image of person or book cover 6389786337523079704.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 202p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 30 August 2022.
      ISBN: 9781761281259
Alternative title: Een supergevaarlijk spel
Language: Dutch
    • c
      Netherlands,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Clavis ,
      1988 .
      image of person or book cover 1867572613071174636.png
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 205p.
      ISBN: 9068220470

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Braille.

Works about this Work

10 ‘Lost’ Australian Literary Treasures You Should Read – and Can Soon Borrow from Any Library Rebecca Giblin , Airlie Lawson , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 24 November 2020;
y separately published work icon Elements of Carnival and the Carnivalesque in Contemporary Australian Children's Literature B. F. Haynes , Sydney : 2009 27495428 2009 single work thesis

'This thesis discusses the influence of elements of Bakhtinian camivalesque in selected contemporary Australian children’s literature. Many of the Bakhtinian ideas are centred on the work of Franqois Rabelais, particularly his five books collectively entitled Gargantua and Pantagruel. Aspects of the complex field of Bakhtinian camivalesque that have been considered include: attitudes to authority, the grotesque body and its working, the importance of feasting and the associated concepts of bodily functioning, customs in relation to food, and ritual and specific language such as the use of curses and oaths. The role of humour and the manifest forms this takes within carnival are intrinsic and are discussed at some length. These central tenets are explored in two ways: first, in relation to their connection and use within the narrative structures of a selection of books short listed (and thus critically acclaimed) by the Australian Children’s Book Council from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, and second, by means of contrast, to the commercially popular but generally less critically acclaimed works of other Australian writers such as Paul Jennings and Andy Griffiths. The thesis concludes by considering the ways in which camivalesque freedom is encouraged through and by new media.'

Source: Abstract.

Cutting it in New Times : The Future of Children's Literature Kerry Mallan , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , December vol. 16 no. 2 2006; (p. 5-16)
In regards to the future of children's literature, 'both its fiction and its scholarship' (5), Kerry Mallan considers three questions: 'How are new times impacting upon scholars in children's literature?; what new directions are offered by children's cultural texts?; what new tasks can we set ourselves [critics of children's literature] before they are set for us? (5). Mallan's main concern is that new skills are needed to navigate a course through 'the turbulent seas of research priorities' and 'appear relevant to new students and university administration' (6). In her discussion of how Internet fiction has 'contributed to the demise of traditional narrative authority and opened up new formulations of the role of readership in narrative' (10) Mallen refers to a number of International and Australians texts, including Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing (2000) and Gillian Rubinsteins' Space Demons (1986) and Sky Maze (1989). For Mallan, it is imperative that scholars in the field of children's literary criticism 'find new ways of making its presence felt both within the academy and outside of it' without adopting a 'defensive position'(14) however, she concludes by drawing attention to the 'lure of new texts, new technologies, new readings, new readers' suggesting it is equally important to consider just what exactly makes us always desire the 'new' over the 'old' (14).
'We Has Found the Enemy and They Is Us' : Virtual War and Empathy in Four Children's Science Fiction Novels Andrew M. Butler , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Lion and the Unicorn , April vol. 28 no. 2 2004; (p. 171-185)
An examination of four novels, two British, one American and one Australian, from the perspective of postmodern virtual war and through the concepts of empathy and alterity.
Gillian Rubinstein : 'Playing the Game of Life' John Foster , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Adolescent Novel : Australian Perspectives 1997; (p. 197-204)
[Review] Space Demons Russell Bond , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 2 no. 2 1987; (p. 24)

— Review of Space Demons Gillian Rubinstein , 1986 single work novel
Australian Children's Book Awards : The 1987 shortlist Margaret Dunkle , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 91 1987; (p. 29-32)

— Review of Riverman Allan Baillie , 1986 single work novel ; Creatures in the Beard Margaret Wild , 1986 single work picture book ; Kojuro and the Bears Helen Smith (translator), 1987 single work picture book ; The Wild Bob Graham , 1986 single work picture book ; All About Anna and Harriet and Christopher and Me Libby Hathorn , 1986 single work children's fiction ; Melissa's Ghost Michael Dugan , 1986 single work children's fiction ; Blue Days Donna Sharp , 1986 single work novel ; Space Demons Gillian Rubinstein , 1986 single work novel ; Taronga Victor Kelleher , 1986 single work novel ; My Sister Sif Ruth Park , 1986 single work novel ; All We Know Simon French , 1986 single work children's fiction ; Animalia Graeme Base , 1986 single work picture book ; Farmer Schulz's Ducks Colin Thiele , 1986 single work picture book ; Pigs Might Fly Emily Rodda , 1986 single work children's fiction ; Sister Madge's Book of Nuns Doug MacLeod , 1986 selected work poetry ; Boss of the Pool Robin Klein , 1986 single work children's fiction ; Murgatroyd's Garden Judy Zavos , 1986 single work picture book ; The Nativity Ron Lander , 1986 single work picture book
[Review] Space Demons Janet Adams , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: Review Bulletin , vol. 87 no. 1 1987; (p. 28)

— Review of Space Demons Gillian Rubinstein , 1986 single work novel
Demons Made Him Do It Stephanie Owen Reeder , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: Times on Sunday , 1 June 1987; (p. 33)

— Review of Space Demons Gillian Rubinstein , 1986 single work novel
Scary and Serious Books for Young Adults Stephanie Lower , 1988 single work review
— Appears in: The Boston Globe , 4 September 1988; (p. A13)

— Review of Space Demons Gillian Rubinstein , 1986 single work novel
The Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards 1987 : The Short Lists Jo Goodman , 1987 single work column
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 2 no. 2 1987; (p. 12-13)
Know the Author : Gillian Rubinstein Alfred R. Mappin (interviewer), 1989 single work interview
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , July vol. 4 no. 3 1989; (p. 18-20)
A Hero is a Man...??? Gillian Rubinstein , 1993 single work column
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 8 no. 2 1993; (p. 5-9)
form y separately published work icon Meet the Author : Gillian Rubinstein Meet Gillian Rubinstein Sue Wighton (interviewer), ( dir. Sue Wighton ) Brisbane : Queensland Department of Education , 1993 Z1376174 1993 single work film/TV interview

Children's author Gillian Rubinstein discusses the inspiration behind some of her stories, notably Space Demons and Answers to Brut. She also answers questions from students.

Living with Ourselves : Recent Australian Science Fiction for Children and Young People Maureen Nimon , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , vol. 15 no. 4 1990; (p. 185-189)
Nimon observes that Australian science fiction for children tends to present futuristic narratives that are 'earthbound' rather than 'launching into the void between the stars or touching down on remote and wonderous planets' (185). She claims that writers of juvenile science fiction 'find Australia itself to be a challenging terrain...a continent whose people are neither comfortable nor assured in their possession of it' (185). Following a discussion of novels by Lee Harding (Displaced Persons, Waiting for the End of the World), Victor Kelleher (Taronga, The Makers), and Gillian Rubinstein (Beyond the Labyrinth, Skymaze and Space Demons), Nimon claims that as well as the tendency of Australian science fiction for children to remain earthbound, there is a pervasive theme of individualization, 'where the dangers encountered and the foes met are the powers of our own desires and weaknesses; we battle to control our unruly selves' and as such, 'the future lies in our own hands' (188).
Last amended 16 May 2024 16:33:49
X