I was as surprised to discover that I’ve been on Substack for more than two years now. I’m now at the point where I’ve got a couple of hundred followers, and I think that’s as good a time as any to define who I am, what I do, and what I want this Substack to be moving forward.

So, first of all: Hello. This is me.

My name is Henry Neilsen. I’m a science fiction writer from Melbourne, Australia. I’ve recently published my first novel, SUNWARD SKY, which was funded through Kickstarter in late 2024. One of my short stories, Life in the Dirt, was a finalist in the 2025 Aurealis Awards for best Science Fiction Short Story. I’m a member of Meridian Australis, Melbourne’s Speculative Fiction Collective. I have two novels and an anthology in the wings, the first of which is coming later this year.

I studied architecture at university, and have worked as an environmental designer since 2018. I’ve always been a big reader, a guitarist (metalhead), and a computer enthusiast with a fascination with how things work (I built Ben Eater’s excellent breadboard computer in 2022 to understand computers at the most basic level).

In short: ich bin ein nerd.

Lovely to meet you. Thanks for stopping by. Let me tell you about why I write, and what I want this publication to be.

Why I write

I would describe myself as a “recovering tech enthusiast”. That is, I spent a good portion of my life and education fascinated by computers and technology, and was convinced that technology in and of itself was some kind of panacea to the human condition.

At some point, constantly chasing down a more “pure” technological way of achieving good design, good art, and correct culture strained me. The more I examined art and architecture and design, the more I read and the more I thought about what art and culture actually bring to us, the more I understood that to reduce these things to numbers was to miss the point entirely.

(It didn’t stop me from burning through my graphics card mining bitcoin and dogecoin in 2013 though. We all have skeletons in our closet) 1

So, armed with a fairly thorough understanding of how technology worked, I stepped back from the pursuit of it as some pure end goal. In 2017, I decided to pursue what I’m sure is the goal of many people: becoming an author. I started writing short stories, just little ideas, usually no more than 500 words, and I thought about the day I’d be good enough to write a novel. None of these short stories will ever be shared. They are terrible, but they are a necessary series of potholes to fall down along the road to getting gud.

As I was finding my voice as a writer, things were beginning to shake in the world. In America, toxic ideologies like Qanon were beginning to set root and spread through the populace. 2019 was a year of flooding and bushfires and portents of the changing climate. 2020’s Covid pandemic saw the world shift on its axis in a way that nobody was prepared for and supercharged a population-level animosity that was chilling to watch as it spread.

I, like you, saw so many things happening that it was hard to take it all in. The populism and gloating obscenity of the alt-right, the boorish idiocy of the tech industry, the straining belts of global capitalism as it struggles to hold in the corpulent gut its greed has birthed, and the constant stream of inanity that floods our neutered social networks all flooded through me.

I found that after years of writing practice, not only did I know how to say things now, but I had things to say.

About the Publication

The ideas behind my stories are technology. The human condition. Worlds filled with politics and places, and though my stories are fiction, they’re grounded in the things I see in my everyday life. This publication, then, is going to be about the ideas from the real world that inspire my fiction.

I’ll write essays about technology, but I won’t be sycophantic. I’m not interested in how much money it will make, nor the genius of the tech itself. I want to think about what is going to happen to people that use it.

I’ll write essays about art. These will be movies and books and TV shows that I like, and I’ll talk about what they do that compels me. I’ll be critical, but it will also be personal - why did I like it? What didn’t I like? How is it reflective of broader society right now?

I’ll write about my politics. I’m not going to be an election campaigner, I mean more along the lines of worker’s rights, activism, criticism of social structures, and the like. I’ll call out what I think is nonsense and lend my small voice to the dissent.

And I’ll write about my projects, when it’s relevant. I’ll shout with joy when I get a publication or I release a new story (the process is long and difficult), and I want my audience to be the first to know and to celebrate with me.

I’ll also try to be funny. Jury’s out on whether that’s gonna work.

I don’t have a “platform” and I’m not a highly successful influencer. I have a small following here and on Instagram, a self-published book and a desire to make my voice heard. But that’s how a good thing starts; small and with ambition.

And you can help me do that.

How can you Support?

If you read this publication, and you find it useful or engaging or interesting, the best thing you can do is subscribe and share it with people. The bigger my audience, and the more people who read it, the better. I don’t write just to fill computers with unread words, after all.

Secondly, leave comments! Tell me what you think about things I’m writing about. Tell me if you agree or disagree or point me to new sources. This is a newsletter about ideas, and I like talking about ideas with people. Talk to me, I promise I won’t yell at you.

Finally, if you are most generous and kind; I want to be able to do this work that I do in a sustainable fashion. At the moment, I make a little from my books and a little from tutoring and sustainable design work, but I’d love to make enough to justify the time I spend writing. With your help, I can do that.

You can support me for just five dollars (AUD) a month, or if you sign up for a yearly subscription you save 50% (AUD$30). The subscribe button gives you the option to pay. You’ll get early access to posts, and I will post polls occasionally to ask for ideas of subjects to write about.

If you like the sound of it, sign up and I’ll see you in the next one.

Welcome to Of Books and Bots.