Anthony Fordham Portfolio

Science, technology and games: features, explainers, reviews and video scripts.

Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia – 25 years in magazines. I edited PC PowerPlay, Hyper and Australian Popular Science, and since 2018 I've written for popsci.com, GadgetGuy and eSafety's Be Connected. I'm available for commissions.

Commission me

Published in Popular Science, DK, Australian Popular Science, PC PowerPlay, Hyper, PC & Tech Authority, Science Illustrated, GadgetGuy, eSafety's Be Connected, Inside Film, The Australian, Australian Macworld, Aurealis and Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror.

Anthony Fordham working a hot-cell manipulator at ANSTO — On assignment for Australian Popular Science: trying out a hot-cell manipulator at ANSTO, Australia's nuclear science organisation, at Lucas Heights in March 2013. The arms reach through a shielded wall, so operators can handle radioactive material on the far side of the amber lead-glass window.

Selected works

British Airways Concorde G-BOAF in flight, undercarriage down

A farmer flying a quadcopter drone over a field

Sydney from a plane window, the Harbour Bridge below, with St Leonards circled in red and the words I was here

Issue300 PCPP#300 Invitational Feature: Editing PC PowerPlay, 2001–2003 and 2007–2010 PC PowerPlay

GadgetGuy

Be Connected

PC PowerPlay

Popular Science

Science Illustrated

#52What Happens to Ultra Smart Kids When They Grow Up? (Profile of Galileo Galilei)Explainer

Inside Film

My work as Editor

My favourite covers from PC PowerPlay and Australian Popular Science, and the stories behind them.

All my favourite covers

Live now

Recent work you can read where it was published.

NOTE: Some of this is sponsored and Australian Commonwealth government work, with no byline. Email me for confirmation this is my work.

15 Oct 2026GadgetGuy, for RingKnow more, check less: getting more with Ring ProtectCustom content
15 Sep 2026GadgetGuy, for RingPrivacy features your smart home security system must haveCustom content
14 Sep 2026GadgetGuy, for TP-LinkTP-Link Deco 7 powers the Wi-Fi 7 mesh upgrade you needCustom content
24 Jul 2026Be ConnectedHelping you identify text message scamsArticle
2026Be ConnectedTop tips for shopping safely online this sale seasonArticle
2025Be ConnectedState and territory government services online (8 courses)E-learning
17 Mar 2025GadgetGuyDe'Longhi Magnifica Evo Next reviewReview
2024–25Be ConnectedWeb tracking and data breaches explainedE-learning
6 Dec 2024Be ConnectedHow to scan QR codesArticle and animation
3 Sep 2024GadgetGuyHow to create a great home network with mesh Wi-FiExplainer

Fiction

Openings and scenes from published stories and works in progress.

Novel in progress · Book 1 in draft The Totality Road The opening of the novel I’m working on now. A fake locksmith wakes up on a desert road under two suns. The Mariner cycle · Complete Mary C Rabbitt and the Gun Out of Time From the Mariner stories. The Aspect Hunter, the USGS, and a new aunt. Tales from the Bad Edge · In progress Whalefall Prologue The prologue of Whalefall, a space opera I’m still writing. Out on the Bad Edge, a scavenger called Andrik the Scab dips into the wake of a posthuman coreship. Novel in progress · Incomplete draft Airport Novel From a thriller I haven’t finished. Space-tourism billionaire Dennis “Pickles” Branston has a very bad morning on the Jumeirah Coast, the world’s youngest democracy, on the day of his first orbital launch. Published book · Yellow Boots Launch Party Massacre Chapter 6 of my book Yellow Boots. A launch party for a dinosaur-hunting game, in a wine cellar in The Rocks, with rubber dinosaurs, cheap sparkling white wine and two art directors with history. Published short fiction · Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales Aspect Hunter My story from Daikaiju! (2005). Glaciers are at war with humanity, and there’s a yak. Published short fiction · Aurealis #31 Steely Harbour My story from Aurealis #31. A man in an airship comes to the last town on a dying world.

Humour columns

Yellow Boots · PC PowerPlay #160 The Road This is the way the world ends: with both a bang, and a whimper Lab Rats · Australian Popular Science #113 In Defence of the Coma There are worse ways to get a year off, all expenses paid

Books

Book (non-fiction) · Idiot's Guides · DK · Jun 2014

Science Mysteries Explained

My Idiot’s Guide: about 130 science questions, from Earth science to cosmology.

288 pp. Paperback ISBN 978-1-61564-458-2; ebook ISBN 978-1-61564-519-0.

Sample entries:

Cover of Yellow Boots, illustrated by Jimmy Stockton

Book (humour) · Self-published (Kindle) · Mar 2014

Yellow Boots: Warped Reflections of a PC Gaming Journalist 2001–2011

Ten years of my back-page column from PC PowerPlay, collected with Jimmy Stockton’s illustrations.

Kindle edition, 403 pp. Illustrated by Jimmy Stockton.

About

I started at PC PowerPlay in late 2000 with a tax file declaration and a review of Star Trek: New Worlds, and edited the magazine twice. In 2010 I was Group Editor of PC PowerPlay and Hyper, then moved to Australian Popular Science, where I was publisher as well as editor in 2011 and 2012. I went on to edit it alongside Science Illustrated through to 2018. Since then I've written for popsci.com, GadgetGuy and eSafety's Be Connected, a program for Australians who want to learn more about using the internet and technology safely.

My fiction has appeared in Aurealis, Daikaiju! and Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror, and from 2002 to 2004 I wrote Aurealis's science and technology column, Digital Dreams. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Broadcast Journalism) from Charles Sturt University and a Master of Creative Writing from the University of Sydney.

Contact: anthony.fordham@gmail.com

Anthony Fordham in a Hawaiian shirt on the bow of a yacht, Sydney Harbour Bridge ahead — En route to the PC PowerPlay and nextmedia Christmas party, way back in 2008.

An office desk under a wall of science posters: an Australia map, a space shuttle launch, a tree frog, the Rosetta Stone and sharks — My Australian Popular Science (and Australian Science Illustrated) desk at the nextmedia offices in Sydney, Australia, 2015.