Bird Deity

by John Morrissey

David is a scout. For ten years he has plundered the ruins of an alien civilisation about which he knows nothing. Now his contract is ending, and he’s ready to go home, a wealthy, successful man.

Except that everything seems to be slipping out of his control. His mentor Tom vanished on a recent expedition. David doesn’t know what has happened to him. And, as he waits for the ship that will take him away, he begins to question the choices he has made.

That’s when he is visited by a researcher, a specialist in non-human societies. She has travelled far to learn about this strange world and wants to hire David as her guide. One more expedition, one more trip to the rainswept wasteland of the plateau—and he can go home at last, rich beyond his dreams.

But he comes to realise that he may yet lose everything, as he is drawn inexorably towards an encounter with the terrifying soul of this world. John Morrissey’s Bird Deity is a novel like no other. At once disconcerting and eerily familiar, it’s a cosmic horror story about power, theft, love, loss, and destiny.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Book Club, Speculative Fiction, Australia

203 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2025

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite one genre or another, BIRD DEITY by First Nations author John Morrissey is a literary speculative fiction novel that still has me pondering. Set on another planet covered almost entirely by ocean, humans have built a settlement (run by the Governorate) and send Scouts from the Geographers Association up onto the plateau on what is the only continent. There, the Scouts steal the metallic adornments from the 'ashies', or parasapes: human-like creatures who can't talk, aren't aggressive and seem barely functional.

David is a Scout whose ten year contract has drawn to a close; he's merely waiting for the frigate to return so he can go home and enjoy the wealth he's accrued. But when he's approached by an anthropogist calling herself Sarah and offering more money than he's ever made to take her up onto the plateau to study the parasapes, he immediately says yes. He has a few weeks to wait, after all. But it's illegal for anyone other than Scouts to go there, so things get furtive.

Part mystery, part analogy, Bird Deity is a fascinating book. What happened to the parasapes - why they are like they are - is slowly revealed, and a strange change comes over David as he's forced to recognise their human-like traits (and thus, their humanity). What really amps up the strangeness is the weather: it's almost always raining and muddy. Their home are either waterproof plastic huts or mouldering apartment buildings full of damp. The weather feels like a character itself, the way setting often does. It's inescapable. I love rain but when it's incessant I start to get depressed, so I don't think I'd manage! David isn't bothered though, he just accepts it.

As you would expect, their dehumanising treatment of the parasapes leads to their own lack of humanity. David doesn't like the other Scouts. Many of them leave him uncomfortable though he's not sure why. It allows the reader a sense of mild superiority, that in similar circumstances we wouldn't possibly be as inhuman. We know now how untrue that is (exhibit A: Palestine).

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started in a somewhat intriguing manner, and as the journey to the plateau continued, some interesting ideas and PoV chapters emerged. The promise of this was lost at the end when the authors reach far exceeded their grasp and it all fell apart.

There is nothing wrong with leaving some questions to be answered, or ambiguity at the end of a novel, but this rather felt as if there was no clear path at all.

They parallels to the South American experience of the 16 Century were interesting, and there were clear attempts to make statements about colonisation, and reflect on what is lost. Ultimately however this novel has more gaps than parts.

[Robert Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Speculative fiction has been a powerful tool for exploring real world issues for Australian indigenous authors. Claire G Coleman focussed on invasion and colonialisation in her novel Terra Nullius. Mykayla Saunders took on a range of topics in her book Always Will Be and curated a fabulous collection of Australian indigenous speculative fiction in This All Come Back Now. One of the authors in that collection, John Morrissey, has now released his debut science fiction novel Bird Deity.
Bird Deity is set on an unnamed planet where there is a human outpost. People are sponsored to go to the planet and essentially work off their debt in various ways. David was a scout for ten years. His job was to go up to the mysterious tableland that looms above the settlement to hunt for artefacts created by the local indigenous species, known as the parasapes. Those artefacts need to be handled with care as they can effect the human brain. David’s contract is finished and he has earned enough to go home. But despite this he agrees to take on one more mission, an illegal trip in which he will take an anthropologist to the tableland.
There are strong analogies here to the actions of colonial invaders. The indigenous species on the planet, despite clearly having some technological knowhow are treated as if they are just annoying animals. Towards the end of the book, Morissey starts to give readers some glimpses into the parasape culture which is far richer than humans can comprehend. The artefacts are raided and taken to Earth to be studied.
Alongside this Bird Deity is also about a flawed, conflicted individual. David is a scout, so he has been taught to see the parasapes as lower than human, an understanding that will be challenged on this journey. David is in love with Eliza, his best friend’s wife, who has had a child that might be his. That friend, Tom, has been missing for weeks. David is scheduled to return but is conflicted about this choice, the alternative being to stay for another five year contract.
Bird Deity holds its secrets close. Some of the key scenes have a dreamlike quality that can be interpreted in numerous ways. But what Morissey successfully does with this technique is to give the reader the feeling of those who first came in contact with Indigenous Australians – of their lack of understanding or appreciation of what was and still is a deep culture. As with Coleman, Morissey is able to put readers in a position to think about these issues in a science fiction context without the historical or cultural baggage that they might otherwise bring to this issue.

[RobotAlice · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter brought this book home from the library and recommended it to me. I was a bit unsure because my TBR is so very long but she convinced me that I could smash it out in a weekend if I put my mind to it. I put my mind to it (and ignored all the things that needed doing around the house) and did finish it a weekend.

This book starts off with a very simple premise but very quickly morphs into a novel where you need to start paying attention. David is a scout on an alien world and has made himself very rich by plundering the artefacts of an ancient and possibly/maybe dead civilisation. His ten year tenure is about to end but then his mentor goes missing and an anthropologist, Sarah, arrives who wants to study the remnants of this ancient civilisation. David is convinced to take her where she needs to go because it means that he might also be able to find his mentor, Tom. Intertwined in this story is the politics of the town, the world Morrissey has created and the politics of interpersonal relationships. There is much left unsaid and it is up to the reader to work out what is going on. Is the company corrupt? Is the society morally bankrupt? Is David the true father of Tom's baby. Sometimes when an author hints at things and then never fully explains, it can be frustrating but the writing here is so well crafted that it's actually not annoying at all.

Once David and the Sarah fully enter into the alien territory the book really starts to take a different turn and while this was fantastic to read and made me question everything I had already read, it was a little frustrating. I could see what the author was trying to do but I don't think he quite stuck the ending. But, the world building and atmosphere Morrissey created was so well done that I can forgive that.

Recommended

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am too fond of reading at whim to participate much in challenges, but John Morrissey's debut novel Bird Deity is a serendipitous addition  both to Kaggsy's Reading Independent Publishers Month, and also to the #SpeecyFicChal hosted at Book'd Out.  It qualifies for two of Bec's categories: it's published in 2026 and it's a speculative novella of less than 250 pages.  But it's more than just speculative fiction...

Contemporary authors keen to revisit history via a less familiar perspective on the past while sidestepping historical or cultural baggage are using two forms of genre fiction to explore it: historical fiction and speculative fiction, often blending the two.For example, African authors of historical fiction who've written what I've labelled 'hidden history' include Fred Khumalo who introduced me to this hybrid genre with his article about how contemporary historical fiction is being written in South Africa as an activist’s tool and with attitude and a breathless literary intensity; a fire in its belly.  I read his novel Dancing the Death Drill (2017) which uses the sinking of a ship carrying Black South African soldiers during WW1 to explore other issues.  Amongst others that I've categorised as 'hidden history',  I've also read:

Eyes in the Night, an Untold Zulu Story (2016), by Nomavenda Mathiane, telling the story of war and dispossession from the perspective, not of the British victors nor the defeated Zulu warriors, but from a woman’s point of view;
She Would Be King (2018), by Wayétu Moore; blending historical fact with magic realism to trace the emergence of modern Liberia on the West African coast;
 The Shadow King (2019), by Maaza Mengiste, revealing the role of women soldiers in the Ethiopian war against Mussolini’s Italy in 1935; and
The Detective Emmanuel Cooper series  by Malla Nunn, set in Apartheid South Africa.

First Nations Australian authors have used historical fiction in this way too:

Every Secret Thing (2009) by Marie Munkara, a sharp satire set in Mission Era Arnhemland
Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms (2017) by Anita Heiss, bringing together an escaped Japanese POW and local Aborigines during WW2;
That Deadman Dance (2010), by Kim Scott, exploring what might have been if First Contact had been different.

I don't read much speculative fiction and what I have read is mostly dystopian climate-change fiction, but some Australian authors that I've categorised as 'genre-benders' have used speculative fiction to cast a different light on history:

On a Barbarous Coast (2020), by Craig Cormick and Harold Ludwick, a reimagining of the Captain Cook landing;
Songwoman (2018), by Ilka Tampke, exploring the impacts of Roman colonisation of Britain; and
Terra Nullius (2017), by Claire G Coleman, telling a colonisation story of from the perspective of the settlers and the people they dispossess in an utterly unexpected way.

John Morrissey's Bird Deity is another example of speculative fiction being used to shed light on the impacts of colonialism.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2026/02/03/b...

[Julie Capell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A slow burn science fiction novel that resists facile explanation. On the surface, the message is important: colonizers dehumanize those they are colonizing, and end up losing their own humanity in the process. The author shows the horror of colonization in a unique way, more through the existential ennui affecting everyone concerned than through horrific action sequences. A sense of dread pervades every scene, as the true situation gradually reveals itself...mostly.

What I liked most about this book were the very evocative descriptions of the alien planet, its inhabitants, and the weather there. In this, it reminded me a bit of Jeff Vandermeer's Annhilation.

What was hard for me was the way there was never a real explanation of what was actually going on with the alien beings. But I realize that my heritage --that of the colonizers--is probably preventing me from complete comprehension of the mystical turn at the end of the book.

Still, I'm very grateful to the bookseller in Newcastle who recommended it to me when I asked for a scifi book by an Australian author. It made me think more deeply about how hard it is for people from different cultures to understand one another.

[Coz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really struggled with this book. For a 200 page book to get to page 140 with barely any plot progression was really tough. That, along with no chapters (only parts) really made it hard for me to stay invested and I kept losing interest.
It’s not that it’s necessarily a bad book, it just truly wasn’t for me.
I do want to thank Text Publishing for sending me a finished copy.

[Keelan · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Morrissey, an indigenous Australian author, delivers a unique debut novel with Bird Deity. The story centres on David, a scout who has been living on an alien planet for ten years.

At its core, Bird Deity is a story about colonialism. The human settlers who have claimed this alien world kill and plunder wealth from the native species (known as parasapes). While this theme isn’t new to science fiction — the Avatar films are an obvious comparison — Morrissey’s take is more intimate and morally murky. What’s striking is that the settlers don’t view the native species as enemies, instead they barely view them as anything at all. That indifference is more chilling than outright hostility, with their apathy becoming its own form of violence.

The novel takes its time to get moving, with the first two-thirds devoted largely to world‑building and backstory. Once the plot finally accelerates, it does so with real momentum, but the book’s slim length means that just as the story becomes gripping, it reaches its abrupt end. At just over 200 pages it often feels closer to an extended novella than a fully realised novel, leaving some of its most intriguing ideas only partially explored.

David is written as emotionally numb and indifferent to the world he inhabits, which makes him both a compelling but distanced protagonist. At times David’s choices seem driven more by narrative necessity than by the logic of his character.

While Bird Deity has striking imagery and a clear thematic ambition, the novel never quite delivers on the promise of its premise. Its brevity limits the depth of its plot and characters, with the story never getting the chance to spread its wings. Morrissey’s voice shows potential, but the book ultimately feels more like an intriguing sketch than a fully realised work.

[liv turko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this! Such a fantastic premise that innovatively communicates a postcolonial reality.

Morrissey illustrates this foreign planet with such concise yet simple imagery, mirroring both the bleak grey landscape, and human's complete disinterest of the environment. This bleak is intercepted sparingly, when in the rare chances we get to read from one of the parasapes' perspectives, capturing that rich and sparkling folklore of their world. Imagery of mirrors, starlight and ancient magic are intriguing and truly unique, aside from the use of crossing the body of water in a boat as a passage to the underworld (one that I really enjoyed).

There are so many strong parallels to First Nations cultures and histories here, beyond the obvious 'bird deity' - Bunjil imagery, but I don't want to reduce either of their complexities. I personally found the parasapes' artefacts to be the most profound. Violently stripped from their bodies by colony scouts for profit, the loss of these artefacts, which contain the parasapes' identity, culture and memory, are destroyed and left wandering, lost in their own land.

This stealing of land, the physical and spiritual removal from Country, banning of languages and removal of children from their communities, have violently reduced the survival of the cultures, memories and histories of our Indigenous peoples.

Though Morrissey doesn't go into too much detail, he does explore the possibilities of these artefacts acting as a kind of 'weapon' back to the humans who steal them, through what they call 'pathic radiation' - one that causes amnesia, and simplifies humans to a 'vicious outline' of themselves during the process... perhaps forcing them to experience this loss of identity too, while reducing their actions to the core as something 'inhuman' and unrecognisable.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bird Deity is a science fiction novel that brings to mind classics such as Heart of Darkness; it’s a short novel in which the mystical gradually takes over from the concrete. It’s a novel which demands a slow and thoughtful reading.

This is a challenging novel which threads a path between mysticism and the concrete. David is incurious about most things, so we learn little about the world he left behind or how humans came to be looting the stars. This is a very close up novel, concerned very much with what’s in front of David. Even later, as the novel opens up to other perspectives, David remains quite limited.

It's as the novel opens to other perspectives on the world and the aliens that mysticism creeps in. This is where thoughtful reading becomes increasingly rewarding. Some things are open to interpretation, and Morrissey rarely says anything straight out.

I did have some minor problems with this later part of the novel. There are a few pages where a character’s name changes from Arthur to Alfred and then back again; I couldn’t tell if this was an error or if it had some deep significance I’d overlooked. Because this is where a good deal of mysticism, and perhaps time jumping, is introduced, some readers may find the logic jumps a bit uncomfortable.

Still, I found this worthwhile. It makes you think about how you see and interact with the world, your values, and the extent of your own engagement with the world around you. It provokes thought, rather than giving answers.

If you enjoyed this review, please visit www.otherdreamsotherlives.home.blog to read more.

[Amy apple · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
I finished this book feeling like I was left with more questions than answers, and not in a frustrating way, but in a lingering, unsettled sense that the story is still unfolding somewhere just out of reach. What begins as a seemingly simple premise gradually becomes something far more elusive, almost slippery, as the narrative blurs at the edges and resists easy interpretation. There is a distinctly dreamlike quality throughout, where reality and imagination fold into each other, creating an atmosphere that feels both immersive and disorienting.

The writing leans heavily into mood, building a world that is deeply atmospheric and threaded with a quiet but pervasive sense of dread. Beneath the surface, the novel grapples with the complexities of colonialism, exploring its lasting psychological and cultural impacts in ways that feel both subtle and deeply affecting. As an Australian reader, I could not help but notice echoes of First Nations experiences, particularly in the way the story engages with themes of displacement, erasure, and the fragile, often fractured nature of identity.

At its core, the book seems preoccupied with the idea of lost identity, how it can be shaped, stolen, or slowly dissolve over time. By the end, I was not entirely sure what was real, what was remembered, or what was imagined, and that uncertainty is exactly what makes it linger.

[nina.reads.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so intrigued by the premise of Bird Deity by Indigenous author John Morrissey.

In an unknown world, David has spent ten years contracted to be a scout, plundering the ruins of a civilisation which is still populated by a strange species called parasapes who are so diminished they can barely communicate or survive. At the end of his contract, he is going home on the next ship a wealthy man.

But things are starting to become strange. One of his colleagues Tom has gone missing on an expedition. And then a researcher arrives hoping for a guide to help her study the strange world David has spent years depleting. So, he agrees to take her to plateau for one last trip.

This book is billed as a cosmic horror story. I think it is more in the speculative fiction vein. I found it eerie and unsettling. It was a strange world that wasn’t easily placed. But the meaning was clear – there are always colonisers and always others being colonised and destroyed in the process.

By positioning the story from the point of view of the colonisers the reader is given a perspective that is uncomfortable. The parasapes are initially barely acknowledged or described. They are voiceless and put up little resistance to the scouts who simply take treasures directly from them without thought. But as the story goes on we are transported to a different timeline of an advanced species with a culture and structure built around a bird as its deity. As this history starts to intertwine with the current timeline there was mystical quality to the story and writing that I loved.

I was wholly engaged in Bird Deity. It was so unusual but compelling. Real life is uncomfortably close but it leaves many things unanswered so you are left wondering but in a good way.

Bird Deity came out yesterday and I’d really encourage you to pick up this debut fiction.

Thank you @text_publishing for my #gifted copy.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This debut novel tells a strange tale.
David is a scout plundering ruins, at the end of his term and ready to go home rich. His mentor Tom has disappeared and Eliza and her baby are alone.
David is asked to take Sarah, a researcher, on one last trip to the plateau. The landscape is a huge character.
It is certainly interesting and kept me engaged to the last page, not sure if it worked completely or was deliberately complex and enigmatic. 3.5 stars from me.

[James Whitmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the rains and mists that slip through this novel, concealing more than they reveal, Bird Deity opens on unstable ground. Read more on my blog.

[Ailsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A melancholy and ethereal cosmic horror. I love novels with a pervasive sense of dread and unspecified unease. This is for you if you love Roadside Picnic and Solaris.

[Nicole Irwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, intriguing, weird.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story and themes were good, but I found it a bit hard to get hooked

[Emma S · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3

[Edie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i dont know how to rate this book. it was weird and dreamlike and i was confused but not in a bad way!

[Text Publishing]

The following book reviews have been shared by Text Publishing – publisher of Bird Deity

‘An original novel that rewards close reading...compelling.’
Guardian

‘Stunning…an absorbing and profound work of fiction.’
Australian Book Review

‘Morrissey…has fantastic tonal and stylistic control, balancing abstraction with emotional clarity in elegant prose. Bird Deity is a beautifully written book.’
NZ Listener

‘Speculative fiction at its thought-provoking, incisive best...evocative and deeply unsettling.’
Better Read Than Dead

‘An intriguing, subtle novel from the acclaimed short-story writer.’
Age

‘Fascinating...delivering a strange new world sometime in the distant future while also asking readers to reflect on the one in which they live.’
Pile By the Bed

‘An incredible achievement: Morrissey has created a familiar yet alien world, densely storied and dripping in dark, delicious mystery. Beautiful, gripping and grotesque.’
Mykaela Saunders

‘Bird Deity is a cosmic-horror-tinged story about purpose, loss and exploitation…A compelling read for fans of Ray Nayler and Claire G Coleman.’
Books+Publishing

‘Intriguing… Definitely recommended.’
Through the Biblioscope

‘Blisteringly hot...a vividly imaginative work that really explores the harsh legacy of exploitation and cultural attack.’
Berkelouw Leichhardt