The Short of It

I write fantasy and science fiction for all ages, but specifically enjoy writing for young adults. By the end of 2015 I will have completed a PhD in English (Creative Writing), which required the completion of a creative work as well as a critical exegesis. My study’s focus was social media in young adult science fiction and addresses the changing concept of friendship and our relationships with technology. I have presented at multiple speculative conferences including the Eaton Science Fiction Conference, Riverside, CA, in 2013 and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, in 2014, and look forward to lecturing on Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber this semester at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

A Bit More

I began writing when I was little (as most writers claim) and was super pleased when I finished my first “book” called Cat Island that was a whole 45 pages long! I even illustrated it! When I was 14ish I wrote my first novel length story during my Maths class that reached well and truly over 200 pages (and that was after I made the font smaller and removed the double space between lines because this was back before we had laser printing and one whole page took at least an hour to print). The story was called Immortal and included vampires, werewolves, elves, and the lost city of Atlantis.

Whilst editing that story, I wrote Kangaroo Feathers, the first in the Hopscotch Chronicles, in two weeks and, because it was much shorter than Immortal, I decided to try and publish that one first. In 2004, when I was only 16, I self-published Kangaroo Feathers in time for ANZAC day. It had a front cover and everything!

Since then I’ve been to Uni, travelled around Europe for 5 months (including participating in San Fermin or better known as the Running of the Bulls), taught karate, learnt piano, ran 52kms in a relay race of 100kms through the Blue Mountains, Australia, (and then the following year tried to do the full 100kms because once wasn’t clearly enough) and other crazy, somewhat stupid, but usually very exciting things.

The one thing I’ve been consistently passionate about has been writing.

Writing is like having a good sneeze, releasing tension and all those icky emotions that I dangerously bottle up and sometimes unleash on unsuspecting victims. I’ve never not written. Looking back on stories I wrote in primary school, it is often amusing to see how my brain functioned then. It’s almost better than writing in a journal everyday as with every passing year I am now beginning to notice the change in my writing style. (Hopefully for the better!)

I’m a huge fan of books, all sorts, and would love to hear about what other people are reading, especially in the genre of science fiction and fantasy as well as young adult literature, so drop me a line!