Cirrus@Austlit

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).