Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is a science fiction/noir novel by Australian author Andrez Bergen. It is set in a post-apocalyptic, near-future Melbourne, Australia. It features cover art and some illustrations by American artist Scott Campbell, and was first published through Another Sky Press in the U.S. in April 2011. Plot The narrator, Floyd Maquina - a loner and a film aficionado - "has a sick wife named Veronica who is hospitalized and may soon die. He has a job seeking out deviants, and for this he has The Guide to Deviant Apprehension & Containment, with its mantra of ‘Seek, Locate, Apprehend, Contain, Terminate '." Along the way he encounters all manner of obstruction, from an oppressive corporation that funds sinister public works, to the loss of friends and close colleagues, and even a fascist security apparatus called the Cricketing Police. Influences The city of Melbourne, where the novel is set, is a principle influence according to Bergen. "I was born there and even now, a decade after leaving, I still feel a huge affinity for the place," he told Lip Magazine. "And Melbourne is somehow appropriate to be the last city in the world... it plays the same role in Nevil Shute’s On the Beach." Tokyo, where the writer has lived since 2001, also figures highly as he told Upstart magazine. "While writing and making music, Bergen also developed what he describes as "an unhealthy obsession" with Japanese cinema directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Mamoru Oshii, and Satoshi Kon... mashed with his love for manga, Japanese techno, cuisine and anime." Reception Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat has garnered mostly positive reviews, including a glowing one from online magazine Forces Of Geek that says it's "a delicious bit of Chinatown 1930s wrapped around a Blade Runner future with a dash of post 9/11 paranoia for good measure." "The author’s self-deprecation helps ground his writing, preventing him from self-indulgence and losing himself in intellectual pretension," noted Zoe Kingsley in a review in Farrago magazine. "Bergen’s experience in journalism, photography, music and art amongst other things, easily translates into this expat Australian’s homage to Melbourne and its culture." Writing for Australian publication Lip Magazine Freya Tomren put it that, "Bergen writes with clarity, wit and ease... The imagery is evoking, characters fascinating and certain themes perturbing.” The novel has "a highly developed grasp of the English language, defying conventional story telling methods and creating a unique voice to the narrative that almost feels non-linear," wrote SF Book Reviews. " an incredible novel, completely unexpected and with such a wonderfully rich and unique style that is simply mesmerizing." Beat Magazine reviewed the novel as "Innovative, quirky, at times hilarious... this is as challenging as it is a roller coaster ride." "Bergen’s style doesn’t coddle the reader," Evan Pearson wrote in Verbicide Magazine. "His sometimes informal voice and penchant for showing and not telling require a little extra participation on the reader’s part. The result, though, is a quick but memorable excursion to a unique place that rewards the reader with invigorating style and a very satisfying ending." "A post-modern melange that is the most intriguing of novels," further assessed Guy Salvidge at Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus. "Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is a novel that manages to be hardboiled and playful at the same time." The novel has also received praise from Patricia Maunder of The Age newspaper and ABC Radio National in Australia.