The Director and the Daemon
Pitaya Chin

The Director and the Daemon follows the director of a big budget Australian sci-fi TV show grappling with the dilemma of corporate sponsorship, and their infatuation with their beautiful but selfish lead star, Kit; and an unnamed young radical struggling to find themselves as their political movement-and the found family derived from it-implodes around them. The two characters' worlds become increasingly interconnected as they're forced to make big decisions, and take action, in the face of civil unrest. The Director and the Daemon is a character-driven novel of ideas that is beautiful, funny, provocative, and deeply felt. It pokes fun at the arts industry, even as it values creativity and art-making, while asking difficult questions about action without ideology and ideology without action. It challenges all of us to think about how we can move from passivity to change, especially in the face of climate change.