Michael Pryor
Michael Pryor's bio
Check out my Fantasy podcast, 'The World Below the War in the Heavens' wherever you get your podcasts!
I was born in Swan Hill, Victoria. I spent my childhood in country Victoria and Melbourne before moving to Geelong at the age of 10. I lived in Geelong until I went to university in Melbourne after secondary school.
I currently live in Melbourne. I’ve worked as a drainer’s labourer, a truck driver, a bathroom accessories salesperson, an Internet consultant, a Multimedia Developer, a Publisher, in a scrap metal yard and as a secondary school teacher. Whew.
I’ve taught English, Literature, Drama, Legal Studies and Computer Studies.
I've published over thirty-five novels and more than sixty of my short stories have appeared in Australia and overseas in publications such as Overland and the New South Wales School Magazine. My writing moves from literary fiction to genre Science Fiction to slapstick humour, depending on my mood.
I’ve been shortlisted eleven times for the Aurealis Award for Speculative Fiction, and have also been nominated for a Ditmar award. My short stories have twice been featured in Gardner Dozois’ ‘Highly Recommended’ lists in The Year’s Best Science Fiction and The Year’s Best Fantasy. Nine of my books have been CBC Notable Books, I’ve been longlisted for a Golden Inky and I’ve been shortlisted for the WAYBRA Award. I’ve also twice won the Best and Fairest Award at West Brunswick Amateur Football Club.
My reviews tend toward the three word style of the trenchant critic, N. Molesworth.
“Inilah perbedaan di sebuah kode dan sandi rahasia. Kode adalah komunikasi rahasia di mana sebuah kata atau frase diganti dengan kata lain, simbol, atau angka. Sandi rahasia jauh lebih elegan dan lebih lentur. Sebuah sandi rahasia mengubah huruf-huruf daripada kata-kata.”
“People who have outrageous skills and abilities are the gold nuggets in the river bed of human history.”
“George grinned. 'A pity you're perfectly dreadful at shooting.'Aubrey shrugged. 'I've had all the lessons. I'm adequate.''Adequate? I suppose it depends on what you mean. If you mean that you haven't actually shot yourself by accident, then by all means describe yourself as adequate.'George laced his fingers together and placed them on his chest. ''I'll come, then I might be able to spare you some embarrassment.''I'm honoured.”
“I can be a little prickly when people make assumptions about women.”
“Caroline rose. She studied him for a moment before sitting on his knee.He wasn't quite sure exactly how it happened. If pressed, he would have asked for three or four hundred pages to write a description of the series of impossibly graceful bendings and movements that ended with her perched there with one hand on his shoulder. He didn't understand - and he was sure that it defied physics - how Caroline could be so light on that tiny patch of his legs, and yet so weighty in the way her presence affected him. Her gaze, for instance, probably clocked in at about fifty or sixty tons, to judge from the effect it was having on him.He never wanted to move. Never, ever, ever. Let the heat death of the universe come along and he'd be quite happy to still have Caroline Hepworth sitting just like that, on his knee, looking at him without speaking. The tiny light of the shaded lantern was irrelevant. He saw everything, as if it were the brightest of middays.It was so perfect, so hoped for, that Aubrey knew it couldn't last. He glanced around.'What are you doing?' Caroline asked very, very softly.'Looking for whoever is going to interrupt us.''That's a pessimistic outlook.''Wars, especially, have a habit of ignoring the lives of people.''If you follow that through, it suggests living for the moment is best.''Live without planning? Without dreams? That sounds rather limited.''And that sounds rather like Aubrey.”
“This was war: a vast machine that chewed up people.”
“Aubrey Fitzwilliam hated being dead. It made things much harder than they needed to be.”
“This first part may be a little rough.' He waved a hand and did his best to appear as if he'd had enormous experience with levitating buildings.”