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The ten stories in ThylaXene encompass
many genres, from traditional SF, to cyberpunk, comedy, horror and romance.
The authors are three Hobart men with largely spotless reputations. These
then, are their stories...
Niall has worked in such diverse fields
as spider research, cave ecology, and plankton harvesting. He holds a doctorate
in Zoology (on the manipulation of biota in polluted water bodies in Victoria),
has written management recommendations for threatened
burrowing crayfish species in Tasmania, has worked in World Heritage
Area management, and has helped develop
State
biodiversity policy. He currently works on the protection and management
of all threatened fauna species in Tasmania. Previously involved in the
production (as opposed to performing) side of theatre for nearly a decade,
Niall has only recently been able to find time to develop his writing beyond
a long standing hobby. In 1994, he wrote Desdichado Publishing's first
publication, The Chronological Adventures of Detrius
Thesper, and has since produced occasional short stories for a
range of publications and markets. With an unhealthy interest in pyrotechnics,
Speculative Fiction and poisonous animals, writing keeps Niall off the
streets.
Despite Niall's dire warnings, Stuart
has also put himself through the suffering of a PhD in Zoology, looking
at krill biology and ozone depletion.
An ex-pom, by 1995 he was in Australia and writing science fiction, on
the grounds that works of imagination precludes all the dull research that
other writers do. Stuart's other interests include guitar,
stage lighting, and more recently, web
page design. He made the mistake of contacting Niall and Craig in early
1996, and was sucked screaming into the mad vortex of small-press publishing.
Whatever he is doing now, it is unlikely to amount to very much. But you
have to start somewhere, do you not?
Craig's writing credits include scripts
for stage, radio and television; most notably, The D Generation Triple
M radio series Funky Squad (1994/5), Something Hot Before Bed for ABC
Television in 1995 and The Tasmanian Tiger - The Definitive Documentary
for Winning Post Productions (1996). His first children's book Willis and
the Echo was published by Hyland house (March 1996) and has been nominated
for the 1997 Children's Book of the Year Awards. As well as being a writer,
Craig is an accomplished actor, director and producer for stage, radio
and television. Among many other things, it is his ambition to write screenplays
for cinema.
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