A review of Dreamtime, followed by an interview in two parts:

"During my first trip in 2017, an Okinawan man, Hidemasa Taira, was run over and killed by a drunk marine and there were two military aircraft crashes involving first a nursery and then a school. Horrifying catastrophes that could have caused an uprising, were it not such a familiar story. If news of the first reached the international community it would have been as the death of a ‘Japanese’ man, and the truth of the issue and Japan’s complicity in it would not have been recognised. Most likely it was swept under the carpet by the SOFA...."

Sol notes an all-American smile of implausibly white teeth, many and strong, the troops perfectly drawn up for battle. Even the muscles in his face look powerful, his jaw broad and sharply defined, cheekbones underlining light green eyes and a low-fade haircut, dirty blonde with a sprinkling of steel. He’s mature: there’s something knowing about that grin, despite its openness…

#SheCan promotes women’s journeys. Here I talk about mine.

“Multiplicity characterises this novel … The story shape-shifts like the foxes of Japanese folklore, leaving it unclear in whom — or what — the reader can place their trust. Sea dragons thrash against chemical threat. Predators of old stalk new victims. Accents slip (and so do masks). The island of Okinawa itself is a place out of time — at once a theme park as well as a fortress; the cult of Americana imposes itself on the islanders who, try as they might, cannot escape its military boot …”

“Dreamtime works towards a conclusion of enormous impact, a kind of ecological Heart of Darkness. But even in this cataclysm we recognise the familiar sense of denial … Dreamtime – in all its breathless intensity of noise and colour – is the unapologetic opposite of denial.”

Pairing Humour with Atrocity - Venetia Welby and A E Copenhaver discuss their novels Dreamtime and My Dark Green Days of Euphoria.

Watch Venetia Welby and Alison Moore in conversation about their novels Dreamtime and The Retreat at an online launch with Five Leaves Bookshop.

Dreamtime on Cambridge radio show, Bookmark.

"Okinawa is not protected by its coloniser, Japan, but left to the US military to pollute indiscriminately, and, even after reversion to Japan, to commit violence against without reckoning or restraint…”

“Brilliantly written, dark literary fiction revisiting the Animal Groom myth, for the climate change era…”

“Welby inflects the end of the world as we know it with a kind of black comedy…”

“I flew to Naha, the capital of Okinawa, where the culture clash of the island became immediately apparent: ‘military personnel welcome’ signs in bar windows, Spam in the most delicious of indigenous dishes, goya champuru, and highways built over the gorgeous coral beach of the city, jostling for space with an ancient Ryukyuan shrine…”

“Welby has done a fine job of creating an unusually compelling and prescient novel that should be of great interest to all readers, not just those with a particular interest in Okinawa. Perhaps it will also help to awaken the outside world to what is happening in the Ryukyus now and what might happen in the future.”

“Darkly compelling and utterly unique … the writing is exquisite.”

“Never have I experienced a story like this one and I doubt I ever will again … It is the sort of book, that you are dying for everyone you know to read so you can discuss it … avidly, over vast G&Ts until late into the night!”

“This uniquely multi-layered, multi-genre storyline, is wonderfully textured, brutally and frighteningly intense, deep and rich in atmosphere, ever evolving and written by an author who has complete confidence in the visual imagery of her words to lift the narrative and dialogue from the pages and make it come sickeningly to life.”

“I would recommend this for anyone who is interested in literary fiction, who is open to a read that will grab them and not let go. I continued to think about Dreamtime long after I finished it, and the imagery will continue to haunt me.”

“London-based author Venetia Welby conjures up haunting depictions of personal loss, societal trauma and ecological collapse in her staggering second novel.”

“the hallucinogenic edge to Welby’s prose evoking an otherworldly sense of impending reckoning for the human race…”

“In the near future of Dreamtime, Okinawa suffers still – and in the same way: increased conflict with China has led to military expansion throughout the islands. This is already happening there, but I wanted to explore it in conjunction with the threat of rising, barren seas and the extinction of island life. It is a future that in many ways is already here …”

“When I first went to Okinawa in 2017, I was not prepared – as a westerner – for the reality of the political situation. I’d thought it would be a dream tropical island, “the Hawaii of Japan”, and a fascinating hybrid culture of Okinawans, Japanese and Americans. In fact it was a state-sanctioned bastion of colonial oppression, stuck in a time warp, hidden from the eyes of the world inside military exclusion zones and spin.” My piece on the knife edge of writing about another’s culture for The Irish Times

“When finished, the appreciative audience applauded and called out as one, ‘More! More! More!’ – a first in my experience at a literary event.” Lovely write-up of the launch party by Jackie Law, of Never Imitate

“Venetia Welby’s futuristic second novel, Dreamtime, has an altogether different atmosphere and resonance to her first, Mother of Darkness, set in London’s Soho. Both novels, however, feature central characters in crisis seeking to put themselves back together one way or another as they struggle with their instincts and the conscious/unconscious part of their personality. Both are super-charged and simmering narratives with a twist, which suck you right in. Dreamtime is an unusual novel that lingers in the mind ….”

“A prowling strangeness stalks through the latter half of the novel; it hums and jitters, leaving an electric taste in your mouth. The suggestion that the uncanny weather is giving license for this otherworldliness to creep in is neatly done, too. It’s a theme tackled elsewhere, in China Miéville’s weird fiction, for instance, and in Amita Ghosh’s The Great Derangement, but it’s a treat to see it handled with such gamine authority by Welby.”

Read an extract from Dreamtime in The London Magazine online

“Welby’s writing style is original and uncompromising … A story laced with shadows and beauty that reminds the reader how much we look away when to see becomes challenging.”

“Venetia’s Dreamtime blew me away and kept me hooked.” Loved chatting to Mary Woodbury at Dragonfly about cults, shapeshifters and the American occupation of Okinawa.

“& finally, pre-order a signed September treat from Salt Publishing: Venetia Welby's journey over poisoned oceans from Tucson to Okinawa, and through tangled family & transnational histories, in DREAMTIME.” Thrilled to be included in the excellent Burley Fisher’s recommended summer reading.

Hamilton-Emery commented: "As soon as I started reading the manuscript, I knew that I had to publish Venetia Welby’s Dreamtime, which absolutely deserves to be an Observer book of the year. It reads like a modern reimagining of a classic adventure novel, centred around themes such as the climate crisis, sexual abuse, migration, virtual reality and the US–China geopolitical rift. Utterly terrifying and unputdownable."

“Brilliantly complex, emotional, and frightening … The crazy, raw descriptions of Japan are just miraculously beautiful at times.” A wonderful first review by Mary Woodbury at dragonfly.eco.