He comes from a place that resembles Queensland and now Professor Ross Fitzgerald’s shambolic academic and former politician Grafton Everest is back in a new satirical novel and you will never guess what he’s up to now..
Author Ross Fitzgerald’s shambolic fictional character Grafton Everest back in a new novel and this time around he’s the boss of the world.
Grafton Everest is the shambolic former Australian independent senator recently elevated to become the first Australian Secretary-General of the United Nations. You didn’t hear about this?
Well then, you need to read about …

Friends, Here’s my review of Maz Compton’s Last Drinks.

Maz Compton, Last Drinks: How to Drink Less and Be Your Best, John Wiley & Sons, 2023, pp 240, ISBN 9781394184231, $32.95 
 
ROSS FITZGERALD
 
Many Australians now realise that our booze-obsessed culture is extremely destructive. The murder, mayhem, individual, societal and family destruction that alcohol abuse leaves in its wake is, if you’ll pardon the pun, sobering.
 
When he died in April this year, my friend of 61 years, Barry Humphries, was 53 years sober. As with men and women from all walks of life, whether they …

Here’s the first review of Pandemonium. “This is the best Grafton Everest satire yet.” – Ken Spillman
 

Pandemonium 
By Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen 
Hybrid Publishers: Melbourne, $32.99 
 
Review by Ken Spillman 
 

The late Barry Humphries knew a thing or two about creating memorable characters. It’s notable, then, that the front cover of Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s latest collaboration, Pandemonium, quotes Humphries’ view that ‘Grafton Everest is a wonderful creation’. 
 
And so he is. In this latest satire, the world-weary Grafton’s escapades stem from his baffling appointment as Australia’s first Secretary-General of the United Nations. …