Julian Gough

Julian Gough (born 1966) is an English-Irish musician who was the singer and lyricist for the Galway band Toasted Heretic, and is best known for his songs "Galway and Los Angeles", "You can Always go Home" and "LSD (isn't what it used to be)", as well as writing the end poem of Minecraft, which he released into the public domain, under CC0 1.0 Universal, in December 2022.[1]

For the scientist, see Julian Gough (scientist).
Julian Gough
Born1966 (age 56–57)
NationalityIrish
EducationUniversity College Galway
Known forCreating the "end poem" in Minecraft
Websitejuliangough.com

Since Toasted Heretic's early 1990s break-up, Gough has established a career as satirist, novelist and writer of children's books.

Career

Gough grew up near Heathrow Airport in London, before moving to Nenagh aged seven.[2] He was studying English and philosophy at University College Galway in the late 1980s when he and some friends founded Toasted Heretic. The band recorded four albums and had one top-10 hit, "Galway and Los Angeles", in 1992.[3][4] Gough's first novel, Juno & Juliet, was published in 2001 by Flamingo, almost a decade after Toasted Heretic split up. His second novel, Jude: Level 1, was published in 2007[5] at Old Street Publishing, shortly after he won the 2007 National Short Story Award for the book's first chapter, titled "The Orphan and the Mob".[6]

In 2010, Salmon Poetry released Gough's first poetry collection, Free Sex Chocolate, which juxtaposes Gough's more recent forays into poetry with his earlier lyrics written for Toasted Heretic.[7] He is also the author of several short stories and novellas that satirize global economic policies, including 2003's Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble[8] and CRASH! How I Lost a Hundred Billion and Found True Love. In 2015, Gough signed a book deal with Picador.[9]

In November 2011, Gough was invited by Markus Persson, creator of Minecraft, to create a story for the ending of the game, in preparation for its release.[10] Despite being an iconic part of the game, the poem has garnered mixed reception; Kevin Thielenhaus, writing for The Escapist, called the ending "mysterious, and kind of weird, and probably not what most of us were expecting from a Minecraft ending."[11] while an article in The Atlantic, written by James Parker, called the ending both "goofy" and "beautiful".[12] Gough would also later go on to refer to the poem as "peculiar" in an article he wrote in The Irish Times.[13] On December 7, 2022, he revealed on multiple sites including Reddit and Twitter that he would be officially releasing the End Poem into the public domain, as he never signed a contract with Microsoft or Mojang.[14]

Gough writes columns and opinion pieces for various newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian,[15] Prospect Magazine[16] and A Public Space.[17] His novel Jude in London came third in the 2011 Guardian Not The Booker prize[18] after the author threatened to share pictures of him "wearing only the [Not The Booker trophy] mug" should he win the competition.[19]

Publications
  • I Totes Love the Christian Brothers (Self-published)
  • Juno & Juliet (Flamingo) ISBN 978-0-00-710810-7
  • Jude: Level 1 (Old Street) ISBN 978-1-905847-24-2
  • Free Sex Chocolate (Salmon Poetry) ISBN 978-1-907056-36-9
  • Jude in London (Old Street) ISBN 978-1-905847-83-9
  • CONNECT a novel (Doubleday) ISBN 978-0-385541-33-6
  • Trapped in a Stephen King Story: My Spiraling Descent into Madness (Macmillan, forthcoming)
  • Minecraft End Game Poem (End).

References
  1. Gough, Julian (7 December 2022). "I wrote a story for a friend". theeggandtherock.substack.com. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  2. Barter, Pavel (27 April 2014). "Making the Leap". The Sunday Times (Irish ed.) – via NewsBank.
  3. Gough, Julian (2 October 2005). "The bedsit of horrors - Time and place". The Sunday Times (Irish ed.) – via NewsBank.
  4. Murphy, Peter (4 June 2009). "Choose your top 20 indie moments!". Hot Press.
  5. "Writer Profile Julian Gough". Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  6. "BBC National Short Story Award". Booktrust. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  7. "Free Sex Chocolate – Poems and Songs". salmonpoetry.com. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  8. "The Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble - Julian Gough's website". www.juliangough.com. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  9. Doyle, Martin (16 April 2015). "Julian Gough signs major book deal with Picador". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  10. Chatfield, Tom (9 January 2012). "Ending an endless game: an interview with Julian Gough, author of Minecraft's epic finale". Boing Boing. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  11. "8 Weirdest Endings That Left Us Saying "Huh?"". The Escapist. 30 August 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  12. Parker, James (22 May 2014). "Minecraft: The Most Creative Game Ever Made". The Atlantic. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  13. "Another Day, Another Riot, another world: Julian Gough on Toasted Heretic 30 years on". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  14. Gough, Julian. "I wrote a story for a friend". theeggandtherock.substack.com. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  15. Gough, Julian (17 September 2007). "A New Way With Words". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2011. The traditional division between the novel and short story is becoming increasingly blurred.
  16. Gough, Julian (26 May 2007). "Divine Comedy". Prospect Magazine. Retrieved 6 May 2011. It's time writers got back to the serious business of making us laugh.
  17. Gough, Julian (2010). "Reality is a Bananaskin on Which we Must Step". A Public Space. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  18. Jordison, Sam (18 October 2011). "Not the Booker prize: we have a winner!". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  19. Jordison, Sam (18 August 2011). "Not the Booker prize 2011: the shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
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