Because Jacinta and Brian of ABC Melbourne are letting me loose in the studio
Yes, really. Question is, will I be able to behave myself, or will they need to call on the famous “dump” button? Spoiler alert: no they won’t, because I’m dead professional like that.
If you’re interested in hearing me bang on about my latest novel, SUNDAY REILLY IS ALL OUT OF F*CKS TO GIVE, and whatever else might come up, tune in at 1.40pm on 774 ABC Melbourne, or via the ABC Listen app across Australia or internationally.
Worst case scenario, you’ll get to hear Jacinta and Brian, who are absolute fucking legends. And their show has been my favourite Friday afternoon escape for yonks. To be able to hang out with them for a bit = bucket list stuff.
Meantimes, for homework – if you haven’t already met the good-ship Sunday Reilly as she runs ashore in the Aegean, follow the link below to where Goodreads is running an eBook giveaway until 8 February.
I mean, sure. You could also buy an eBook or paperback instead. Writers have to eat, after all. If you want to do that, you can buy my book here:
Because who the fuck doesn’t need a holiday, right? We’re only in January, and I’m already done with 2026.
So, it’s time to hit the road with Sunday Reilly.
Can I share some exciting news with you?
SUNDAY REILLY IS ALL OUT OF F*CKS TO GIVE was released into the wild two days ago, and to my enduring shock/delight, it’s already making waves on the Amazon bestseller lists! Add to that, five-star reviews… it’s an absolute “pinch-me” moment.
Now, the weekend is here, and it’s a long one for those of us in Australia. If you don’t have a summer trip to the Greek islands lined up, and want a fun, sweary holiday read, join Sunday on her ill-advised escape from reality. I promise you’ll have fun.
Don’t believe me? Fair enough, I am a little biased.
“Sunday is the kind of character you instantly want as your best friend.”
“Funniest book of 2025. 5 stars!”
“I am absolutely in love with Sunday! This book is one of those rare gems that makes you laugh out loud on public transport and not even care who’s watching.”
“Has you doing pelvic floors and weeping with laughter!”
“Filled with laughs from the opening page, tears and plenty of WTF moments, this is a fun summer read that is tempered with poignant moments.”
“Sunday is the kind of character you instantly want as your best friend—flawed, funny, real, and so incredibly relatable.”
Dip your toe into the Aegean before you commit!
I’m sending you the first three chapters to sample in case you missed your chance to download a free copy of the ebook. Link below!
But if you’ve known me around these parts for a bit, or follow me on Threads, you’ll know that I have an opinion or two. I also have an agenda to push. That agenda finds its way into everything I make. So, while you’re reading about Sunday’s often disastrous, but ultimately uplifting, adventures in the Aegean, there’s something else at play.
Reviewer Ashleigh Miekle gets it: “This is a book about being yourself. About standing up against judgment and not caring about what the world or people who look down on you think. And about embracing that…. This is a book for anyone and any woman who has ever felt this way or wants to make a change and start being seen as her own person, not an extension of the identities society puts on her.”
And she’s bang-on. It’s exactly what I was trying to say.
Why should that matter for the Trumps, the Putins, the Modis, and the Orbáns of the world?
With all the power clutched in their unnaturally stubby, grubby, grabby little fingers, why would they even care?
How much of a threat can come from a woman of a certain age like me? Or a dancer working three jobs to pay for her lessons? Or a half-starved photographer who makes art for an audience of three including at least one parent and a landlord who hopes to one day see a rent cheque come through?
Because one day, that artist might make something like this.
Authenticity, by its very nature, cannot be replicated. I think what Adam meant to say was that “the appearance of authenticity is becoming infinitely reproducible.”
Because Sunday is, without a doubt, as authentic as you can get.
But as with so many other things in life, it’s not all bad news. In fact, once the dust settles, I suspect we’ll start to see the silver gleaming at the heart of this, admittedly, daunting storm cloud.
It doesn’t change the facts, though.
Generative AI is the most accomplished mimic of all time
And it’s flooding the airwaves at the moment.
It’s a factory churning out replicas.
Nothing it makes can ever be authentic, because even when prompted by a human hand, it’s creating things that draw on a vast reservoir of bits and pieces stolen from human beings.
It’s not seeking inspiration from other creative work, which is something all artists do. It’s putting together a grab-bag of well-chosen cultural fragments and gluing them together to create a pleasing chimera that does a pretty bang-on job of looking real.
Does that make it “authentic”?
Fuck, no. I’ve got a fabulously convincing Prada handbag a friend bought me from a market in Istanbul. When I use it and am dressed up to the nines, I’m sure people believe it’s the real thing. But just because it looks real doesn’t make it so.
Roll a shit in glitter, and it’s still just a shiny turd.
I’m shaken. I really am. And I know I’m not alone.
Dealing with the uncertainty and ever-shifting emotional and physical landscape that comes with being a woman of a certain age is bad enough without having to watch the decline of Western civilisation into the bargain.
It pains me to say it. Because I’m a historian with a PhD to prove it. History has been an obsession since I was a tiny thing. I thought that by studying history, I could understand what it meant to be a human being.
Instead, I’m getting to watch history play out in real time… and not in a good way.
We look to the past to avoid repeating its mistakes. Which is why the current state of the world is causing students of history such existential horror.
Morocco, Spain, Sicily, Italy, Greece, by M. Wilson Anastasios, 2024
It starts as a spark of an idea that grows into something more concrete. As I start to write, imagined worlds appear on the page. The words become something else as characters step out of a fog and take form.
The story evolves and the things I put in place begin to change as the people speak through me and begin to find their way through the places I’ve constructed through my words. The more I write, the less control I have over the direction the story is taking. My papery people tell me where they want to go. I’m no longer the captain at the helm. I’m a passenger.
There’s a story behind every story. Writing is like that. It leads you to unexpected places. And on a tiny Greek island, the world gave me Sunday Reilly, the heroine of my latest novel. ‘Sunday Reilly is All Out of F*cks to Give’ is a funny, sweary holiday read about a woman of a certain age who upends her life and takes off for the Greek islands.
And in two weeks, Sunday Reilly makes her debut. We don’t know whether to be giddy with excitement, or wracked with existential horror. Perhaps a fair bit of both. I do mean, “we”, because my characters are on this journey with me.
But there’s no backing out now. We’re committed. On the 20th of January, Sunday goes live.
I mean, sure. We do have reason for optimism after some ripper early reviews…
Sunday Reilly early reader reviews
“Funniest book of 2025. 5 stars for sure!”
“Sunday Reilly is eminently relatable… Filled with laughs from the opening page, tears and plenty of WTF moments, this is a fun summer read that is tempered with poignant moments… This book had me laughing from the opening sentence. Loved it!” Goodreads
“I am absolutely in love with Sunday! This book is one of those rare gems that makes you laugh out loud on public transport and not even care who’s watching.” Goodreads
“Sunday is the kind of character you instantly want as your best friend—flawed, funny, real, and so incredibly relatable. Her voice feels authentic, like she could walk off the page and into your life.” Goodreads
“A laugh out loud fun story, easy to read, relatable characters and well written. Felt like I had a holiday in Greece – it was so atmospheric. Do yourself a favour and just dive in. Great holiday read.” Goodreads
“I found myself nodding along, thinking “YES, exactly!” more times than I can count.” Goodreads
“Meaghan’s writing style is at a fast clip, with an awesome FMC who has life fighting against her. It’s wickedly funny and had me laughing out loud.”
“Has you doing pelvic floors and weeping with laughter!”
Whatever else, I can promise you a sweary, funny holiday read. If you want to meet Sunday Reilly in person, pre-orders for the e-book are live now (link to preorder, and sample chapters, below), and you can order the paperback from 20 January.
I hope you love Sunday as much as I do. As the world goes to hell in a hand-basket, Sunday Reilly may well be the heroine we all need.
Sunday Reilly and why she’s all out of f*cks to give this New Year’s Eve
From Sunday Reilly’s journal:
2025: The Movie. ⭐️✩✩✩✩
Would not recommend.
That’s the polite way to describe the clusterfuck in a flaming dumpster fire on a slow-moving train wreck that was 2025. Thank Christ Queen Lizzie wasn’t around to see 2025. Because this annus has redefined horribilis. Bring on the new year, I say. 2026 won’t have to do much to surpass its predecessor, because the bar has been set very, very low.
My phone pings.
Sunday? Where RU? Pick up your fn phone!
I wonder how many of Mimi’s texts I can ignore before she just turns up on the doorstep.
Why can’t she leave me alone? Stupid question. “No” is not in my best friend’s vocabulary.
It’s not that I don’t like a party as much as the next woman of a certain age.
Who am I kidding? I’ve officially arrived at that point in life when the thought of an evening on the couch with a dozen oysters, half a crayfish, a bowl of chocolate mousse, and a bottle of French bubbles all to myself sounds like the perfect way to ring in the new year.
The champagne’s already on ice. It’s been in the fridge for a bit now. It’s been there waiting for that day… you know the one. We’re all waiting on the same thing. Why are those cankles taking so goddamned long to do their work? I’ve got wrinkled carrots in the veggie drawer with more life in them, and it looks like they’ll be seeing the inside of a compost bin before the man who would be king.
No, he is not dead yet. So, I may as well crack the champers tonight and toast the year that was. Actually, it’s less toasting the year, than it is flipping 2025 the bird, kicking it down the stairs, and slamming the door shut after it.
Ping! There’s the phone again. It’s Mimi. Because, of course it is.
Coal was handed out. Heroes were named. And a horse made the list. Merry Christmas.
Ah, Christmas Eve. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. So, I’ve been writing my naughty and nice list and checking it twice.
There are plenty of both, because 2025 has been… a thing.
I started looking back on the year and didn’t know where to stop.
If you’ve been following me for a bit, you’ll know that I fall into the “Santa as sweary avenging angel” side of the equation. So, proceed with caution.
Here’s what I came up with. It’s part end-of-year political commentary, part scream into the void, and part doff-the-cap to those who kept the light on when things teetered on the brink of the abyss.
But I definitely left out some corkers. Add yours down below in the comments. Because I’d hate to miss out on dumping a curly one in the stockings of some deserving gobshites, or giving due credit to the saviours amongst us.
A free e-copy of my latest novel, “Sunday Riley is All Out of F*cks to Give”
Exciting news!
I’ve been given a link to a free preview copy of my e-book, SUNDAY RILEY IS ALL OUT OF F*CKS TO GIVE and told to share it with friends who might want to read it in advance of the release on 20 Jan. Big mistake. Because they didn’t specify HOW MANY FRIENDS!
Fuck playing favourites. The vote of confidence you’ve given me by subscribing and reading my ponderings here has helped me keep my sanity this year, and I want to say thanks. Think of it as a Christmas gift.
If you like the way I write here, you’ll like SUNDAY RILEY IS ALL OUT OF F*CKS TO GIVE. It’s a funny, sweary beach read – blurb & other things below.
Importantly, I’m sure the point will come when I’ll be told I’ve given enough away for free, and to cease and desist. The link will expire on 18 January, either way. So grab your copy while you can!
If you have any problems with the download, the Bookfunnel people can help. Don’t ask me – I’ll be less than useful. Words I can do. That tech shit? Forget it.
Of course, don’t feel obliged to read it. It may not be to your taste! Feel free to pass it on to someone you know who you think might enjoy it, instead. But the link will only work once. If you want to pass the book onto someone else, you’ll need to share this post with your friend so they can sign up themselves.
Most of all, thank you. This wouldn’t exist without you.
In the aftermath of the Bondi attack, Australians respond in a way that reveals something profound about our national identity.
Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia.
It was the vision that gripped the world
A passer-by tackles one of the Bondi shooters, wrestles him to the ground, and grabs his gun.
In a moment of extraordinary bravery, that man put his life on the line to save strangers. He took multiple bullets from the second gunman for his troubles.
Then we learnt the hero’s name.
Ahmed al Ahmed. The Aussie hero of the day came here as a Syrian migrant ten years ago. He is a Muslim man who risked his life to save Jewish strangers.
