Denizen by James Mckenzie Watson 《常住居民》
Denizen by James Mckenzie Watson
Billed as a gothic thriller or psychological drama, Denizen is set on a remote property in western NSW where nine-year-old Parker battles with the fear that something is wrong with his brain. Much of the story is spent in the head of Parker and his delusional thoughts made up of meandering half sentences and missing words. The tension grows as does the disquiet, drawn not just from Parker, at the mercy of his complex inner world, but from the very bleakness of the landscape, the town and its desolation. Violent and unsettling events that take place in his childhood will later come back to haunt him as an adult and new father. When he returns to his hometown to go on a camping trip with his two best friends from high school, the nightmare reality of his mental health forces him to face his past with dire consequences.
James McKenzie Watson writes fiction with a focus on health and rural Australia. He has written for The 
Guardian, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings and the Newtown Review of Books and has appeared at many festivals and events including the Sydney Writers Festival, Newcastle Writers Festival, BAD Crime Sydney, Dubbo Writers’ Festival and National Young Writers’ Festival. He works as a nurse and co-hosts James and Ashley Stay at Home, a podcast about writing and health. Denizen is his debut novel.
Winner of the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize
Shortlisted for the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards — Best Debut
Shortlisted for the 2022 Australian Shadow Awards — Best Novel
One of the Guardian’s Best Australian Books of 2022
Denizen also received a 2021 Varuna Residential Fellowship and a 2021 KSP Residential Fellowship
ISBN 9781761046100
Format: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 352
Published: 19 July 2022
Publisher: Penguin
詹姆斯·麦肯齐·沃森小说《常住居民》简介
《常住居民》被宣传为哥特式惊悚小说或心理小说，故事发生在新南威尔士州西部一处偏僻的房子里。9 岁的帕克在那里生活，他整日忧心忡忡，担心自己的脑子出了问题。大部分的故事都在讲述帕克的心理世界，小说中破碎的句子和遗漏的词语展示了帕克混乱的幻想。紧张和不安的气氛与日俱增，这不仅仅来自帕克复杂的内心世界，也来自萧瑟的地貌、小镇极其荒凉的景象。童年时期发生的暴力和令人不安的事件，在他长大成人、初为人父后，又开始困扰着他。当他回到家乡，与高中时的两个好友一起去露营时，他噩梦般的心理问题迫使他不得不面对自己的过去，及其严重的后果。
詹姆斯·麦肯齐·沃森创作的小说以健康和澳大利亚乡村为主题。他曾为《卫报》、文学杂志《米安津》（Meanjin）、文学杂志《杀死汝爱》（Kill Your Darlings）和在线书评网站《新城书评》（Newtown Review of Books）撰稿，并参加过许多节日和活动，包括悉尼作家节、纽卡斯尔作家节、BAD悉尼犯罪文学作品作家节 （BAD Crime Sydney）、达博作家节（Dubbo Writers' Festival） 和 全国青年作家节。他是一名护士，并共同主持关于写作和健康的播客节目《詹姆斯和阿什利待在家》（James and Ashley Stay at Home）。《常住居民》是他的处女作。
2021企鹅文学奖
入围2023奈德·凯利奖最佳处女作
入围2022澳大利亚影子奖最佳小说
卫报2022澳大利亚最佳文学作品之一
获得2021 Varuna 驻地作家项目和2021 KSP 驻地作家项目
