He Died with a Felafel in His Hand
He Died with a Felafel in His Hand is a purportedly non-fiction autobiographical novel by Australian author John Birmingham about his experiences as a share housing tenant, first published in 1994 by The Yellow Press (). The story consists of a collection of colourful anecdotes about living in share houses in Brisbane and other cities in Australia with variously dubious housemates. The title refers to a deceased heroin addict found in one such house. The book was subsequently adapted into the longest running stage play in Australian history and, in 2001, was  made into a film by Richard Lowenstein, starring Noah Taylor, Emily Hamilton and Sophie Lee. A sequel, "The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco", was published in 1998. In 2004, to celebrate the book's ten-year anniversary, Birmingham approached comic artist Ryan Vella to produce a graphic novel of the book. The pair met in April of that year at Artspace Mackay, for the opening of the Headspace exhibition. The comic was published in September 2004 by Duffy & Snellgrove (). Paul Dawson calls this a grunge lit book. Synopsis. While the book is not written in a linear fashion the order of houses  (and housemates) John lives in is as follows: 1st Place – The Boulevade Tom moves out and is replaced by: 2nd Place 3rd Place – King Street Taylor at the time was having personal issues. He ambushed his fellow housemates with a toy gun after hiding for an hour. He told them if it was a real gun they would all be dead. John saw this as good reason to move out. 4th Place – Duke Street (Brisbane) John moves out for reasons not made clear. 5th Place – Melbourne John moves out when her loud sex sessions became too much to bear. 6th  Place – Fitzroy As a result of the fallout from this new relationship Greg moves out and John follows suit. 7th Place – Carlton After trying to freeze out the Daves from the house by cutting off the gas and electricity John gives in and moves to a loft in Fitzroy. 8th Place – Fitzroy After Wendell's threats to kill him, John moves out and sleeps around at friends' places. 9th Place – Auchenflower in Brisbane 10th Place – Brisbane goth house (not clear how this move came about) All the goths run away after the bailiff came round to collect unpaid rent. John  keeps the house on and in moves: Nina move out to live with her friend Tanya 11th Place The book then segues to 12th Place – band house in Darlinghurst, Sydney 13th Place – Kippax street Downstairs Ivan and Uptight Martin move out within 3 days of each other and are replaced by Birmingham's narrative is interspersed with humorous testimonials from other veterans of the Australian share house lifestyle, and descriptions of common share house paraphernalia, such as the bucket bong, the ubiquitous "brown couch", and milk crates serving as makeshift furniture. He Died with a Felafel in His Hand He