Summer is here, and with it long days, longer weekends, and – hopefully – more time to sit back and have a long, luxurious read. And, as tradition dictates, The Monthly has you covered, with our bumper summer reading issue: a great mix of journalism, essays, criticism and personal reflection, plus some new fiction thrown in for good measure.Don Watson travels to the north-east of Victoria to explore the region that has given rise to Dezi Freeman and a wave of citizen dissatisfaction.James Bradley goes beyond the panic and politicking to better understand the science behind South Australia’s devastating algal bloom.Zoe Daniel relitigates the case for gambling-advertising reform and asks why inertia continues to rule when the argument for change is so clear.In the United States, the influence of tech titans and techno-libertarians is being felt in the destruction of government institutions. Elmo Keep examines whether Australia might avoid a similar trajectory.Ceridwen Spark asks if we’re failing in water safety, and what roles culture and gender play in our national drowning numbers.Plus there’s quantum science, understanding the First Nations traditions underpinning a beloved art space, the collision of fashion and climate action, David Byrne, popular history, the late John Marsden, jazz, new fiction and much more besides. A bumper summer read.