Fever of animals by Miles Allinson: 16 Feb, 2017

Miles has come to Europe on the trail of the Romanian surrealist who disappeared into a forest in 1967. In trying to unravel the mystery of Bafdescu’s secret life, Miles must also reckon with his own.

As he waits for someone who may never appear, Miles is chased by thoughts of his ex-girlfriend and the trip they took that ended their relationship. Fever of animals is, at its heart, a meditation on art and grief.

Miles Allinson will join us for a Q&A on Thursday, 9 February between 8 and 9pm. Please leave any questions you have below. (And discuss the book at your leisure!)

Want to buy Fever of animals? Receive 10% off when purchasing it from Readings at State Library Victoria. To receive the discount online, enter the promo code BOOKCLUB in the promo code box during online checkout. To receive the discount at our State Library bookshop, simply mention the Thursday night book club at the counter.

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Hi Miles, great to have you here for #booksonthursday Can you tell us a little about your research process before you start to write?

Thanks Sarah,

My research begins with very little Idea of where it's going. For instance, After Fever was picked up i was asked to present a synopsis for another book. I didn't have an ideas for another book - I'd barely finished the first one. So I just read the blurbs from a hundred books and then chose random words from there to describe my own ( at that stage non-existent) book. And at least I had a beginning. Then I slowly crawled away from that idea toward something I thought was potentially more interesting. Mostly i just try to stay in that slightly anxious but quite exciting state of uncertainty for as long as possible. That's when anything might happen. Gradually though you have to start coming down to earth and discarding things. Making choices. Choosing tense. Eventually you have a dream which reveals an important and glaring image. Then you start digging in the archives. I do a lot of digging and just hoping something will turn up.

Thanks 😊 I do a lot of digging too, hoping something will turn up soon!