A deeply Australian post-apocalyptic tale.  

In a thirsty, drought-stricken future Australia, the country is well and truly sunburnt.   

As the Eastern states are evacuated to more appealing climates, a stubborn few resist the forced removal. They hide out in small country towns – where no one would ever bother looking.  

Bill Cook and Tobe Cousins are two such holdouts, united in their disregard of the law. Aussie larrikins, they pass their hot, monotonous existence drinking at the barely standing pub. When strange lights appear across the Western sky, it seems that those embittered by the drought are seeking revenge. 

And Bill and Tobe are in their path.   

In the heat of the moment secrets will be revealed, and survival can’t be guaranteed.  

Praise for The Rain Never Came  -

“A fresh look at the genre: A dystopia centred around the relationship between two knockabout blokes trying to survive. The strong Australian pride and wording sets The Rain Never Came apart from the competition, and it’s filled with beautiful imagery and Australian characters” – Aurealis 

“Walter constantly goes back to the land in this novel, using it as the touchstone reminder of devastation, and of apocalypse. Readers are never allowed to forget the enormity of the ecological devastation that’s at the very centre of this narrative, and neither are the characters” – Strange Horizons  

“The Rain Never Came has peculiarly Australian depths and dimensions that make it exceptionally rewarding… When the climate turns bad, the government has to force people to evacuate, but Bill and Tobe refuse to leave. The question of the exact nature of the inevitable price paid by them informs The Rain Never Came with an unexpected potency” – Analog Science Fiction and Fact

“The current weather situation makes the whole scenario to be not so far-fetched – it could become reality. The descriptions are all too familiar with the scenes being played on my TV on the nightly news. Excellent Stuff” – Books and Musings from Downunder  

“As a resident of inland Australia, where the droughts are becoming worse and the future is likely to hold more of the same, I can only hope this book is not prophetic” – Jai Baidell: Australian Author  

“The bleak reality of the arid, drought-stricken environment of Australia is evocatively described, and the picture of a drought-stricken, lawless world was quite chilling… In three words: Compelling, dramatic, thought-provoking” – What Cathy Read Next  

“A tale of contrasts: Happiness and sadness, beauty and harshness, levity and seriousness… I felt the scrub desert, and the sweltering heat” – Port Jericho  

“The author brings to life a fascinating landscape which cannot be ignored, mostly because it engulfs everything and everyone in a manner that I saw as total control – no escape from its hardship, nor relaxing from the stranglehold” – Bona Fide Book Reviews  

“The story was not so far-fetched from reality. Although the settings and descriptions have not yet happened in the current world, the thought of it was alarmingly close to what could be” – Review Tales by Jeyran Main