G S Johnston’s poignant and dynamic novel FOR A MOMENT MORE (Broadcast Books 2026) is a fictional account of a particularly traumatic, divisive, misunderstood and tragic time, that of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the mainly 80’s and 90’s. For me, this time is represented in my memory as associated with the TV Grim Reaper ads, the ghoulish figure scything down everyone from young children to adults, but of course especially homing in on the queer community, mostly young gay men.
Gays were widely considered to be promiscuous, and along with drug users and sex workers, targeted as the primary ‘victims’, although in most conversations (remember the protests? Fred Niles?) they were denigrated as somehow having brought this on themselves through their actions and choices.
Johnston’s novel is a sometimes sad but often joyful and optimistic account of the opposite side of the coin. He explains how the lack of knowledge of this new and devastating virus restricted any widespread information about protection, either through prophylactics or preventative medication. He details the convoluted journey of medical progress, the experimental drugs, first only for treatment but then for prevention, and the many awful co-existing diseases that developed because of a HIV positive lack of immunity, and how these illnesses were often the ones that caused death. He notes the terrible physical symptoms of HIV/AIDS and the debilitating conditions they caused. He doesn’t hold back. This is a novel that looks HIV/AIDS face on and explores the impact it had then on the day to day life of people who were not only living with the disease, but often without knowing they had it, frightened to admit they had it (especially to family and friends), guilty for believing they had somehow brought it on themselves, at a loss as to how or who to approach for care (and often being turned away or shunned) and feeling survivor guilt as one by one their friends died painful and sometimes lonely deaths.
But despite the subject and awful brutality of this novel, it is not dispiriting or depressing. Rather it is the story of Chris, a young man of 33 who is living with all the emotional and physical effects listed above, but nevertheless attempting to make the best of his life and to make healthy decisions about his lifestyle and relationships.
Set in 1993 in Sydney, Chris has been HIV positive for eight years. He has had a difficult past relationship and is wary of entering another. He has friends and lovers with whom he has complex and complicated physical and emotional navigations. But he does have a sort of epiphany during the midst of the gay ghetto nightlife scene: this disease does not have to be a life sentence, and if he’s going to get through it, he must do everything in his power to alter the course of his life.
This means making some difficult decisions, ones he often cannot square with the opinions of his friends and family, some also HIV positive, who have either a cavalier or depressive attitude, and are unable to share his views. He has experiences both positive and negative with medical professionals and educators. He must overcome his own fear of speaking out. He must decide how hard he wants to fight, for himself and for those he loves. He must choose between telling people what they want to hear, and living his own truth. His life becomes one of resilience and resistance.
FOR A MOMENT MORE is full of acerbic wit (the kind of black gallows humour only the severely ill and dying can muster), fierce love, desire and tenderness, human connection, perseverance, tolerance and compassion. Through this time and story of fear, Johnston constructs a balance of determination, self-belief and defiance.
The postscript, set after the COVID pandemic, echoes many of the same themes, and reminds us of our human vulnerabilities but also the strides in medical progress and viral immunity treatment and prevention.
This is an excellent resource about a time which so many of us know so little about (but unfortunately, for some readers, will resonate all too clearly). Whichever reader you are, this book will engage you in a warm and compelling story.
At the time of reading, I find myself in hospital, and many of Johnston’s references, fears and anxieties are very real to me. It’s comforting to read a version of your own story in another’s writing, even if the subject, content or circumstances may be very different. This is why stories are so important. They breed tolerance for difference, and engender resonance for the familiar.