Patrick Coogan

About Patrick Coogan

Patrick Coogan is a first-generation Irish New Zealander brought up in Dunedin. He studied literature at Massey University and completed teacher training in Palmerston North. During the seventies, he published poetry and short stories in various student protest and literary magazines. As a teacher, he wrote and directed a number of children's plays which were performed for teacher's college students. In 1977, he “dropped out” to live in the bush of the Far North. For twelve years he lived without electricity in a home-made bush hut much like the early settlers. As a hunter and gatherer, he shaped his manhood in harmony with the rugged spirit of the NZ landscape. During this period, he developed his distinctive voice, before he returned to society and travelled to Australia to complete an honours degree in theology at the University of Newcastle. After some years travelling he returned to the bush where he lives today. The Floods of 2030 is his first novel. It was inspired by his concern as he witnesses the crumbling of civilization as we know it. The rapid increase in AI-driven personal surveillance, which will soon be enforced by CBD’s and Social Credit Systems he believes is pushing us into a Transhuman Dystopian Technocracy, that will erode the human spirit. With a prophetic voice, he projects us a few years into the future and offers a possible alternative based on his own experiences and the lessons of the past.