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 tenth 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 lives in the garage Mel lives upstairs. Her boyfriend Warren moved in some time later. When they moved out, replaced by Andy the med student (nicknamed "Dr Death") moves in Tom moves out and is replaced by: Derek the bank clerk 2nd Place Tom and John got a new place Derek the bank clerk (lived in a tent). Replaced by Martin the paranoid wargames enthusiast. Lasted three weeks and was replaced by Taylor the taxi driver 3rd Place – King Street PJ Milo PJ moved out, replaced by The 7 ft nurse, replaced by Ray, replaced by Malcolm and his Charlie Brown-themed bowls, replaced by Victor the Rastafarian, replaced by McGann the American in his mid 40s with a fondness for prostitutes, replaced by Taylor the taxi driver. 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) "Thunderbird Ron" Macgyver the mushroom farmer Neal the albino moontanner Howie (Neal's friend) Satomi Tiger