I have been a reader of speculative fiction for as long as I can remember. As soon as I was able to hold a book, I gravitated to fantasy and science fiction: fairies, robots, spaceships, selkies, ghosts and hauntings. I always wanted the stories that filled me with awe and wonder, and often bafflement, too. I don’t mind bafflement. To me it means complexity, and that’s exciting. My life’s busy. I don’t have enough time to keep up with it all, but I read what I can. There is still awe. There is still wonder. And yes, there is still sometimes bafflement.
As for my own writing, and as with many of the Australian writers I enjoy reading, I’m inspired by the Australian environment, and what this means for us as humans and as a culture. I am interested in exploring the Australian stories and themes that may be morphing into myth, the visions, the narratives, the memories that haunt our continent, like lost kids, extinct animals, intelligent marsupials, old mining towns. I want to hear and to tell the stories that resonate with us for reasons we don’t fully understand. We crave myth, I think, for it allows us to approach our anxieties and fears, and to move closer towards a grasping, and an acceptance, of the incomprehensible.
So Much Water, So Much Sky 