In a not-too-distant future Australia, the eastern states have become the world’s newest autocracy – a place where pop music is propaganda, science is the enemy and moral indecency is punishable by indefinite detention.

Julian Ferryman, bass player for the Acceptables, returns to Melbourne after a year overseas and reconnects with his bandmates to record their highly anticipated second album. On their whirlwind tour of the east coast, he gets hooked on a new designer drug, F, a powerful synthetic hallucinogen that gives users a glimpse of their own future. Rumour says, the more you take, the further you see … maybe even to the end of time.

Big Time is an anti-fascist ode to the power of pop music, wrapped up in an unforgettable, psychedelic road trip.

University of Queensland Press, 2024