Our New Gods, the debut novel from Melbourne writer Thomas Vowles, is among the latest in LGBTQI+ Australian fiction. The descriptions of sordidness and sex in inner-city Naarm are reminiscent of Loaded (1995), the debut novel of Christos Tsiolkas – who has praised Vowles’ book. Our New Gods: suspense in the unsaidAsh desires James, we realise, because he embodies the sexy, street-smart future our protagonist so desperately seeks. Our New Gods: unsettlingly humanAs he attempts to unravel the accumulating mystery, Ash becomes the kind of miscreant he abhors. These events play out against the backdrop of a Melbourne evoked with cinematic vividness, reflecting Vowles’ background as a screenwriter.