First Name Second Name

by Steve MinOn

The journey will be long and difficult, one thousand miles. Try not to be too obvious. Stick to the backroads. You’ll know you’ve arrived when you get there. Stephen Bolin leaves a bizarre note by his deathbed, asking his sisters to take his body back to his birthplace in Far North Queensland. When they ignore his request, Stephen’s corpse makes the nocturnal pilgrimage alone. But what is compelling him and what will he find there? His journey, as a kind of jiangshi, takes him back through his turbulent family history: from his Chinese great-grandfather’s life on the goldfields in 1860s Queensland, to his Scottish grandparents’ migration to Australia as ten-pound Poms, and to his own coming of age and coming out in Brisbane and London. Original and satirical, First Name Second Name follows four generations of one family through a reckoning with racial, familial and sexual identity.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Asia, Historical Fiction, Death, Historical, Speculative Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published March 4, 2025

About the author

Steve MinOn was an internationally awarded advertising copywriter before becoming a writer of fiction and children’s picture books. Born in North Queensland, he now lives in Magandjin/Brisbane. Steve’s debut novel, First Name Second Name (UQP 2025), was shortlisted for the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the 2026 MUD Literary Award and won the unpublished manuscript award at the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards. It was also nominated for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award. His children’s picture book, Make Them Say Poo (Affirm 2026) was published under his pen name, Stephen and was illustrated by Rudi de Wet.
He has written often about outsiders and his family’s mixed-race ancestral history and his articles and stories have been published in SBS Voices and various newspapers, journals and anthologies.
Steve is represented by Martin Shaw @ The Books Desk.

Reviews

[Garth Jones]

A poignant, spectral migrant’s tale spanning generations.

Steve’s deeply felt tale of otherness, familial bonds and the supernatural make for a peerlessly deft, moving debut.

[zed]

I read through this interesting novel quite quickly, it's an easy read, but I’m not sure the fantasy element worked for me as I had hoped.

The main protagonist is Stephen Bolin, a gay Chinese-Australian man who, after his death, becomes a jiāngshī, reanimated corpse compelled to journey back to his birthplace. I had no idea what a jiāngshī was before reading this, but here’s what Wikipedia has to say:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiangshi

As a jiāngshī, Stephen wanders from Brisbane to Innisfail, a 1,600-kilometre journey, back to the place where he was born. Interwoven with his journey is the story of his migrant ancestors of both Chinese and Scottish descent, Stephen’s story, as well as his relationship with his present-day family. The idea is that his a jiāngshī journey mirrors the ancestral legacy of identity and place, connecting the family’s past with its present. Conceptually, this is a strong and intriguing premise that actually held my interest, but the jiāngshī element felt very underdeveloped and out of place, not so much the idea of a dead body wandering all that distance, but rather details like the body falling apart or Stephen draining the life force (Qi) from a few individuals along the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi
On a personal level, I would have enjoyed this much more if the fantasy element had been woven in more subtly.

The author mentions in the acknowledgments that he drew heavily from family history, which was compelling enough for me as I found the depiction of a Chinese family navigating overt racism, an issue that can still rear its ugly head in Queensland to this day, particularly engaging. The final, non-fantasy chapter about a family reunion, for instance, was a terrific read. The author’s writing was especially strong at this point, and I would have been satisfied if the novel had ended there.


A minor comment: when I was a kid, we called them Ice Blocks. Who knew they were called “By Jingos” in North Queensland? Not me! I asked my wife, who was born in Central Queensland, and she recalled hearing the northern girls use this term at boarding school.

[Sheree | Keeping Up With The Penguins]

First Name Second Name is an odd book, and I’m not sure where to place it. It’s not a straight ghost story, but it’s not straight historical fiction, either. I think I would have been more engaged by it if it had been structured differently, or leaned more definitively in either direction. MinOn clearly draws directly from his own family’s history, which gives the story a ring of authenticity but perhaps curtails the freedom that should come with fiction.

My full review of First Name Second Name is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.

[EmG ReadsDaily]

A quick and interesting read, featuring a journey of four generations.

[Michelle Upton]

Captivating, thought provoking and I couldn’t help but shed a tear at the end✨

[Meg]

I liked this. I liked the subtle zombie stuff. I liked the history stuff. I most of all liked the reflections on being mixed race in Australia over the centuries. as a fellow half Chinese half Anglo Australian, thanks Steve MinOn for writing this wonderful novel!

[Vicki Thomas]

First Name Second Name takes the reader on an odyssey through a Queensland life. Original and imaginative in both story and style, this debut book from Steve MinOn is both poignant and questioning.

Skilfully and beautifully written with a gentle touch of pathos, layered, yet cleared-eyed, First Name Second Name will shake your senses awake and grab hold of your heart. I love a perfectly crafted heartbreaker final paragraph, and this book has one.

This story of a walking corpse is, at the same time, the story of one man's life, all the twists and turns and choices made along his journey of self-discovery and identity.

This is no ordinary life. This is a life that survived the bigotry and brutality of the harshest era of conservative government in Queensland.

First Name Second Name left me thinking about how we are all shaped by ancestors without our knowing and how the gift of understanding this belongs to the next generations. I'm so glad that these stories of migration to the great south land are being told.

"You'll know you've arrived when you get there."

[Jennine Heymer]

An eye-opening and profound exploration of the complexities of race, sexuality and the intricate web of family trees. A truly beautiful read.

[Anna]

This is my kind of a book: some history, some family dynamics, some crazy stuff going on. I loved it! I hope Steve MinOn will get Miles Frankiln next year.

[Brooke]

When I first read the blurb for Steve MinOn’s debut novel, First Name Second Name, I immediately knew that I had to read it.

A baffling deathbed note from Stephen Bolin to his family asking them to return his body to his birthplace of Far North Queensland is the push off point for a journey through his family history. From his Chinese great-grandfather’s life on the Queensland goldfields of the 1860s, to his Scottish grandparents’ migration to Australia and on to Stephen’s own adolescence and coming out in Brisbane and London, its an unsettling journey. Even more so as it is Stephen’s corpse making the trip after his sister’s dismissed his dying wish.

What a captivating and unique story! From the very beginning when Stephen started his nocturnal wandering, I was riveted. I loved the insight into these four generations and was particularly intrigued by Pan Bo Lin (Stephen’s grandfather) and his goldfields’ experiences and how he came to marry.

The story explores family rifts, racism, sexuality and personal identity in a poignant and also darkly humorous way. I found it incredibly thought provoking and powerful.

I also appreciated the use of the legends of the Jiāngshī, or Chinese vampires. It was such a bizarre and original idea and I found myself seeking out more information on these folk tales.

First Name Second Name was a stunning and complex debut from an author who I predict will be one to watch. I cannot wait for whatever Steve writes next.

[Helena Wang]

I loved the writing and the concept and the story. The thing I loved most was relating to the character’s culture in its entirety. It made me realise how little I see myself in Australian literature, and how desperately I want to see myself in it. Additionally, having been taught to love Queensland by friends who are now family, reading about Brisbane and FNQ and small towns I’ve visited awoke a fierce longing in me. I was really holding back a lot of emotion by the end.

[Clare Sheng]

First Name Second Name was beautifully written, and I was particularly impressed with how the intercepting storylines were executed. They kept me engaged and eager to discover what would happen next.

Although the story spans multiple generations, the pacing felt just right. I never felt rushed, yet the details were rich and vivid. As someone from a Chinese background, I also appreciated the many similarities I found between the stories of the family in the book and my own family's experiences.

One aspect that resonated with me was the portrayal of JiangShi. As a child, I was terrified of them, thanks to all the horror movies. I can't say this book has completely cured me of my phobia, but they certainly seem less scary now.

[Kim]

2026 Miles Franklin Shortlist
A fabulous original story. An epic way to tell a story over a number of generations, from the perspective of a character trying to make his way back home, after his death.
Also has a fabulous Chinese Australian perspective.
One I think I'd like to read again from the page.

[Rebecca]

You think you’ve seen it all - auto-fiction, multigenerational family saga…

But, it starts in the morgue, when the protagonist’s consciousness reconnects with his corpse.

What a new, refreshing and modern take on storytelling.

[L]

I mean it’s pretty wild. It’s family memoir, starting with the OG great great grandfather / Chinese gold rush guy in Far North Queensland. Stories about all the generations are told in sequential chapters, ending with our main guy, Stephen, who sounds quite a lot like the author. BUT this family story is interspersed with the story of Stephen’s death and zombie travel north up to the family homeland of Innisfail, north of Cairns. Like I said, pretty wild. The zombie bits are so good.

[Rebecca]

#2 in reading authors for the Whitsundays Writers Festival 2025.

This is a very unique book! We follow our main character Stephen, who has just died, as he walks from Brisbane to Innisfail and ponders his history, trying to discover who he was. He is the son of immigrants, one Chinese, one Irish, but the one that has been in Australia and the one who just got off the ship are not what you’d expect. Stephen, and his other family members in the spilt timeline narrative, discuss identity, sexuality, expectations and prejudices against them and well as prejudices they may have been subconsciously holding.

[Karen Commadeur]

Very different to what I’d normally read. Can’t wait to get back to book club to discuss it. Interesting perspective on issues-mixed race, identity, family, upbringing, death.

[Nadia Mahjouri]

This is such a beautiful debut! Touching tender and beautifully written, it was a 5 star read!

[Martin]

Yet another well written intergenerational story with a most interesting premise: the trek !
This is a product of a very fertile imagination and as a voracious reader I thank you

[Karen]

Stephen Bolin leaves a note by his deathbed requesting that his sisters take his body back to his birthplace in Far North Queensland. They ignore his request and Stephen’s corpse, as a kind of jiangshi, makes the journey alone.
Through his journey we get glimpses of the family history, from the goldfields of the 1860s where his Chinese great-grandfather lived, through his Scottish grandparents migration as ten-pound poms, to his and his sisters mixed-race heritage, sexuality and more.
This is a fascinating book, poignant, satirical, humorous. Initially it is somewhat challenging in its structure as it changes time, place and character frequently all interspersed with Stephen's corpse's journey. Although everything comes together in the end I would like to revisit this novel in the future as I am sure I would get more from it knowing what I now know having read it.
A debut novel that I found really interesting in its writing and its exploration of a multi generational family saga with questions of race and racism, identity, and sexuality. Some autofiction here?

[Christine Collyer]

I love this book, it really captured my attention.
The title of the novel is so apt, symbolic of the multi-generational impact of the “joining” that plays out in the lives of Pan Bo Lin and his descendants.
A very clever interlacing of narratives that cross generations, particularly the use of Jiangshi to describe the journey of Stephen Bolin to his birthplace.
The book is about family, families, and identity disturbance across generations. It raises questions of how we identify within our family of origin, in community, in the broader society, and the choices that are made in order to “fit in”, to be acceptable - or not.

[Mitchell]

I liked the concept of this one, but everything felt like it was just one step away from uncovering a deeper meaning.

This book does well where it examines the cultural make-up of Australia, and how we view culture in a country that has been made on the power of immigration. That being said, the historical portions of the novel tend to just talk about, rather than evaluate, the lives of the people who paved the way to the modern era. Similarly, the idea of the jiāngshī also seemed a little of an afterthought, even though it started at the very beginning.

[Annette Chidzey]

This book has been chosen for an upcoming book discussion at a book club gathering - while I may not normally have chosen to read it myself, I found it to be engaging especially in terms of the familial generations that we encounter across the narrative as well as the structure of the writing itself. The concept of a corpse making a pilgrimage to better discern and understand what was not immediately apparent during its life proves to raise interesting questions for the reader and should stimulate interesting discussion.
Parts were a bit gruesome but the notion of being drawn back to home and one’s roots upon death is a reflection that provokes further contemplation after the reading is finalised. It could have been 3.5 at least - limited by the rating system yet again.

[Meghann Kenkel]

3.5 stars for me. I liked the concept and enjoyed the multiple timelines but just didn’t connect with it a ton for some reason.

[Sally Clowes]

I loved it. The Jiangshi element was fascinating and I was cheering him on to Innisfail. Beautiful writing about family dynamics and personal history.

I heard Steve MinOn interviewed on ABC radio (Australia) in April. Hearing it was about his birthplace Innisfail grabbed my attention. It was my Mother's birthplace too, in 1926. My Grandfather was Charles Hing.

The end of this story was really touching. Thanks Steve. 🧧

[Tania]

Love the idea of this book, just not its execution. I enjoyed the generational sections which had promise but were too brief, and alive-Stephen’s story - but the walking-dead-Stephen sections were farcical, annoying, and in the end seemed pointless.

[Chris Brady]

This spiritual pilgrimage book tried to carry too many rods on its back, thus taking a potentially rollicking tale and limping across the line.

My pick for the Miles Franklin from the short list. It appears I've given another nominee the kiss of death.

[D'face]

An interesting book with dual narratives that come together and intertwined. A gay man of Chinese heritage dies and asks that his body be carried by his sisters to far North Queensland. They refuse so the body sets off alone, travelling at night occasionally stopping to suck the life out of an unfortunate person he bumps into. A second narrative explains how Steve got here from his childhood in Queensland to joining an ad agency to travelling to the UK and back again as his father is dying and his sister getting married. Another narrative reaches back to the first generations of the family in Australia from China and Ireland linking up with a large family reunion in the present day where the descendants grapple with their hidden racism. Fun and macabre and a novel approach to Australian family history.

[Anne Green]

The protagonist of Steve MinOn’s debut novel “First Name Second Name”, Stephen Bolin, is a mixed-race gay man born in North Queensland, a background very similar to MinOn’s own. However, the reader shouldn’t assume too strong an autobiographical influence, as the novel’s Stephen narrates his story as a dead man. It begins with a note he’s left at his deathbed for his sisters asking them to repatriate his remains back to Innisfail, his birthplace. He also stipulates the means of transport – they should carry his body strapped to a litter made from poles of bamboo. When his sisters, unsurprisingly, don’t cooperate, he makes the pilgrimage himself as a decomposing corpse.

This bizarre request is inspired by the Chinese folkloric concept of “jiāngshī”, an undead or reanimated corpse called a Chinese hopping vampire. The story itself, however, is concerned less with myth and legend than with the genealogy of Stephen’s family, incorporating the Chinese diaspora in Australia, beginning with his Chinese great-grandfather arriving in the goldfields of 1860s Queensland. Four successive generations of his family are depicted, struggling to find their way in a culture where racial identity and origins are consistently fraught issues and where those who don’t belong are alienated.

MinOn writes well and in this novel, he’s successfully depicted how the divisive nature of modern Australia has been shaped by history. As well, he’s devised a highly inventive and original means of telling his story.

[Chantelle B Pearce]

While I appreciate the premise and quality writing in this book, I really struggled with this book; the plot was just not for me.