Novels:
Spatterbaum and Zitherbother: Paranormal Reconciliation Agents MG series. (on submission)
When Fuchsia and Ebony Spatterbaum are told that they are being uprooted from the City to move to a decrepit mansion in Grindlemarsh-shire, their father, Doc, conveniently omits the part about having decided to set up a paranormal reconciliation agency with ex-con childhood friend Sid Zitherbother and his awkwardly behaved (and named) sons, Skull and Geek. However, their encounters with cake-baking poltergeists, orc-infested orchards, and huts on fowls’ legs pale in comparison with the terrifying presence of the Knockers, who steal the happy memories of Grindlemarsh residents, leaving darkened buildings and distraught people in their wake. With the help (and hindrance) of a librarian whose idea of a death-defying act is folding the page of a book, an architect who could be classed a hermit if not for her Facebook addiction, and a Detector unable to find even his car keys, the group descends into the land of the Knockers, leaving a lasting memory of their own.
Doppel Gang MG series
When Ivy Zhang’s reflection begins to misbehave, she finds herself invited into the ranks of the Doppel Gang, the city of Brottlesby’s preeminent organisation for disconnected youth. Her new peers include Sanjay, who can detach his shadow, Netta, a girl with phantom limb syndrom whose phantom limb has a mind of its own, and Nick, an insomniac whose wild imaginings can’t always be separated from reality.
But Ivy can’t shake the feeling that it’s not just her reflection that’s misbehaving. Her brother Victor seems to have got himself involved in something terrible. Something so terrible, in fact, that it will require all of the skills of the Doppel Gang if he’s to be saved…
The Hotel Astor. YA
Sophie Clearwater has always lived in the shadow of her actress mother. But Sophie’s life is about to undergo a dramatic change: on her fifteenth birthday she receives a mysterious letter informing her that she is the heiress of the Hotel Astor, a run-down inn by the sea. However, when Sophie arrives, she finds that there is more to her inheritance than she initially thought. Who is behind the strange letters she continues to receive about the Astor? And why is Sophie’s mother so determined never to set foot on the hotel’s grounds?
War of the Kites
For hundreds of years, kite fighting has been an activity of the noble classes, serving as a way to maintain and promote the reputations of those of the older houses, and carving a wedge between such nobles and their more recently elevated counterparts, as well as the population at large. The degree of cunning and skill shown when negotiating the skies is seen as representative of political prowess, and those who have the means to rise to the top in the annual kite fights enjoy unparalleled influence and power on the Council of Nine. For the better part of a century, this supremacy has been maintained by House Edrieau, who have narrowly beaten out the frequent challenges of the newly noble and rank-climbing Pradinoko family.
However, the position of the noble class as a whole is becoming increasingly tenuous against a backdrop of famine brought about by poor harvests, crippled trade routes, and unequal and punitive taxation. And when a young girl with no name and no history appears in the city, rallying the disenchanted youth to work together and build their own kites, the nobles find themselves facing a powerful political schism they had never envisaged.
Publications
(Fiction)
‘Above’ in Above/Below novella double, Twelfth Planet Press, 2011
‘The Possibility of Love,’ Polyphony 7, ed Deborah Layne and Forrest Aguirre, through Wheatland Press, 2009
‘Cod Philosophy,’ (reprint) Presto Strange-o, 2009 (TBA)
‘At the Soft Edges of Dawn Flies a Momentary Tree,’ Quantum Genre, ed Vera Ulea, through Crossing Chaos, 2010
‘Cod Philosophy,’ Drabblecast (audio, reprint), 2010
‘How to Select a Durian at Footscray Market,’ Sprawl anthology, through Twelfth Planet Press, 2010
‘Explorations,’ Racy Pages Surprise anthology, 2010
‘Ghost Writer,’ Short and Scary, through Black Dog Books, 2010
‘Staklena devojka gleda nazad’ (The Glass Girl Looks Back, reprint, in translation), Antares, 2009 (available online)
‘Aqua Vita,’ (reprint), LITSNACK, Nov 2009 (available online)
‘Aqua Vita,’ (reprint), Drabblecast (audio, available online), 2009
‘The King’s Edict, Edited,’ Voiceworks, 2009
‘Glass Girl Looks Back,’ (reprint) SFzine.org, (audio) 2009
‘Aqua Vita,’ Voiceworks, May 2009
‘A Pox on All your Houses,’ (reprint) La Idea Fija, 2009 (available online in translation)
‘Drinking Black Coffee at the Jasper Grey Cafe,’ Sybil’s Garage, May 2009
‘The Ringing Sound of Death on the Water Tank,’ (reprint), Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror, Brimstone Press, May 2009
‘The Ringing Sound of Death on the Water Tank,’ (reprint), Dead Souls, Morrigan Books, 2009
(Honourable Mention in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008)
‘Flower,’ Outshine, 2009
‘From Famine to Feast,’ (reprint) Hermitosis, 2008 (available online)
‘Organ Donor,’ (reprint) Microhorror, 2008 (available online)
‘From Famine to Feast,’ (reprint) Microhorror, 2008 (available online)
‘Parasols,’ ARGOT, 2008 (available online)
‘The Title of this Story,’ Ikarie, 2008
‘The Glass Girl Looks Back’, Shimmer, 2008
‘The Nabokov (Набоков)’, A Field Guide to Surreal Botany. With Ben Peek, 2008
‘The Title of this Story’, Paper Cities, ed E Sedia, 2008
‘A Pox on all Your Houses,’ Dog versus Sandwich, 2008 (available online)
‘Painting Walls in the Town of N–’, Fantasy Magazine, 2008 (available online)
‘A Soul, Touched,’ Behind the Wainscot, 2007 (available online)
‘Return to Sender,’ Mini Mysteries and Kooky Spookies, Pinestein Press, 2007
‘A Slight Hiccup,’ Mini Mysteries and Kooky Spookies, Pinestein Press, 2007
‘A Fright to Remember,’ Mini Mysteries and Kooky Spookies, Pinestein Press, 2007
‘The Boomerang Effect’, Touched by Wonder, Meadowhawk Press, 2007
‘The Ringing Sound of Death on the Water Tank’, In Bad Dreams, ed Mark Deniz and Sharyn Lilley, Eneit Press, 2007
(Honourable Mention in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008)
‘On the Day of My Detonation’, Fantasy Magazine #6, 2007
‘From Famine to Feast’, Pseudopod , 2006
‘Bones’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #24, 2006
‘From Famine to Feast’, FlashSpec Anthology, 2006
‘Cod Philosophy’, FARthing Magazine #2, 2006
‘Why the Balloon Man Floats Away’, Fantasy Magazine #4, 2006
(honourable mention in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2007)
‘Why the Balloon Man Floats Away’, Flesh & Blood Magazine #17, 2006 (magazine defunct before publication)
‘Organ Donor’, Shadow Box, 2005
‘Gloves’, Borderlands issue 4, 2005
(highly commended in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 19)
‘My Brother, The Nectarine’, Tarralla 2004
(Non-fiction)
Book reviews, interviews and features
Dreaming big with children’s fiction, Walker Books blog, 6 July 2012
‘The Twelve Planet series’, Australian Women Online, 7 March 2012
‘Australian Women Writers’, Australian Women Online, 7 March 2012
‘Why Are Our Heroines Losing Their Heads?’ Spinifex Press Blog, 11 Jan 2012
Shekilda: a conference summary, Melbourne City News, Nov 2011
‘Rubik’s Cubes and Squares’, Melbourne City News, Nov 2011
‘Touring Melbourne’, Melbourne City News, Nov 2011
‘A Conversation with Kate Forsyth’, Australian Women Online, 10 October 2011
‘The Vegemite Comeback’ Melbourne City News, Aug 2011
‘Unlocking the Genre Ghetto,’ WQ Magazine no 191, Dec/Jan 09/10
‘What you don’t know,’ WQ magazine no 189, October 09
Competitions
‘The Button Collector’
Honourable mention in the 14th Chiaroscuro Short Story Contest
‘Painting Walls in the Town of N–’
Honourable mention in the 12th Chiaroscuro Short Story Contest, 2006
Awards and Achievements
2006 Aurealis shortlist, best fantasy short story, ‘Why the Balloon Man Floats Away’
2007 Ditmar shortlist, best new talent.
2012 Ditmar shortlist, best novella or novelette, ‘Above’