Mates of Mars

The title of Mates of Mars relates to a diverse group of martial arts fanatics, which includes the ex-bouncer Steve Overton, paralysed from the waist down and eventually literally legless; a Jewish professor, Bruce Nonnemacher; a Chinese doctor, Lim; a feminist self-defence teacher, Jade; a male model, Sven; and a Black footballer, Cyril. When this oddly assorted group travel to Cyril's home, Never-fuckinlose in the Northern Territory, they discover the ineffectiveness both of their 'chi' and of their various cultural identities in the face of the uncompromising Aboriginality of the land itself; as in Foster's other novels, entropy is the characteristic experience.