I find the heady power of writing speculative fiction incredibly addictive.
A non-fiction writer is allowed to say, 'Wellington defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.'
A fiction writer is allowed to say, 'Wellington felt the futility of man's worldly struggles as he surveyed the battlefield at Waterloo.'
But a speculative fiction writer is allowed to say, 'Wellington ordered his magician to bring the dead soldiers back to life,' (Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell).
Or, 'Time travel to Victorian England is OK, but you can't go to the Battle of Waterloo because it's a crisis point,' (Connie Willis, To Say Nothing Of The Dog).
You can even say, with perfect aplomb, 'Dragons were used with deadly force in the Napoleonic wars,' (Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon).
How much more fun is that?
Published Work:
2012:
White Lies - Redstone SF, February 2012
Read it here: White Lies; read associated interview here: Redstone Interview
Sleeping Beauty - forthcoming, Apocalypse Hope anthology (working title) from Fablecroft Publishing, June 2012
The Second Card of the Major Arcana - forthcoming, Apex, April? 2012
Kapras of Many Voices - forthcoming, Daughters of Icarus anthology from Pink Narcissus Press, June? 2012
Twelve Planets short story collection - Untitled - forthcoming, Twelfth Planet Press's Twelve Planets Series, 2012
Buy it here: Twelve Planets at TPP Online store
2011:
Complaints Department - Nature 478, 280, 13 Oct 2011
Read it free online HERE
The Bird, the Bees and Thylacine - ASIM #51, June 2011
Buy it HERE
Fruit of the Pipal Tree - After the Rain anthology, Fablecroft Publishing, May 2011
Buy it from the Fablecroft Online Shop or Fablecroft stockists including Avid Reader, Education World, Fantastic Planet, Infinitas, Planet Books, Pulp Fiction, Slow Glass Books and Westbooks.
Breaking the Ice - COSMOS #37, February 2011
Now with added LOCUS RECOMMENDED 2011!
Buy it from Australian newsagents and other retailers during Feb-March 2011
Read it online HERE
Read reviews here: Last Short Story, Catsparx
Review snippets:
"This piece is a bleak adventure of iceberg piracy set in a not-so-far-off future where the Antarctic is melting and some desperate countries may be hurrying that melt along for only short term gains. I liked this piece a lot" - Tansy Rayner Roberts, Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth
"Issue #37 features Thoraiya Dyer's awesome 'Breaking the Ice', a dystopian tale dealing with refugees, climate change and damn fool crazy schemes worthy of the Bondiest Bond plot ever. To my mind, it's a perfect fit for the magazine. A talented new writer on the rise." - Cat Sparks
Jerbilliru - Infinitas Newsletter Volume 20 No 2, February 2011
Download full newsletter PDF HERE
2010:
The Company Articles of Edward Teach/Angaelien Apocalypse by Thoraiya Dyer/Matthew Chrulew, Novella Doubles Series, Twelfth Planet Press - Ditmar Awards, Best Novella/Novelette WINNER
Buy it here: Edward Teach at Twelfth Planet Online Shop, or in bookshops including Infinitas in Parramatta, Galaxy in Sydney, Maclean's in Hamilton and Planet Books in WA.
Watch the trailer here: ET trailer at YouTube
Bestseller! (As reported in Newcastle Herald Weekender, March 19th 2011: Large picture download - scanned-in proof)
Read Reviews: ASiF, Mondyboy, Ben's Best Australian SF Stories of 2010, Last Short Story
Review snippets:
"I hadn't read Thoraiya Dyer before this, but I'll be watching for her work from now on. I loved this story." - Charles de Lint
"This is the rare story that leaves you wanting more, not just of the story itself but also of the author's writing. I haven't read anything by Thoraiya Dyer before but after this gem of a tale I can't wait to read more of her work." - Mitenae, Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus
"I was really excited by the portrayal of both Layla and Avi...Sentence to sentence, Thoraiya's prose has spark and depth" - Ian Mond, Mondy's Adventure
"The Company Articles of Edward Teach," Thoraiya Dyer, Twelfth Planet Press.
This story which is half of the latest TPP Double (due out next month) is a very powerful YA piece about a young Muslim girl and a Jewish boy who find themselves transported back through time to the ship of one of the most infamous pirates ever, in bodies which are not their own. It's a great adventure story that touches upon more serious themes of culture, religion, gender and sexuality." - Tansy Rayner Roberts, Last Short Story
"Thoraiya Dyer read from her story...In this story a boy and a girl find themselves transposed into the bodies and living the lives of real pirates, as a consequence of a costume party dress up. Each is resisting taking the path parents have laid out for them, and the reluctant med student is brought face to face with 'good old days' disease and the reluctant law student is brought to view the excesses and cruelties of an entirely lawless society." - Garry Dalrymple, Freecon Report
"I really am proud of this book...Thoraiya was supposed to be writing her story for Sprawl when she sent me this novelette. She asked me to read it for an opinion - she thought it might be too offensive to submit anywhere. That immediately piqued my interest. I took it to Conflux with me to read and sat down one day at breakfast and inhaled it. As I began to read I got goosebumps (I buy anything that gives me goosebumps) because here was someone who knew what it was like to be me. What it was like to grow up in Australia and be culturally different. She nailed it. There's a little bit of me in Layla and a little bit of me in Avi. And I LOVE that - because I think that means that maybe there is more that is the same about being different than ... maybe being the same? I see this very much as a YA story - but a mature (language wise) YA story. These characters are struggling with the issues I struggled with at their age - at 15 and 16 and heck even maybe 19 and 20. They struggle with who they are and who they want to be whilst also struggling with the pressure of being who other people want and expect them to be. Oh yeah, and there's pirates. But you know, I'm not that into pirates ..." - Alisa Krasnostein, editor at Twelfth Planet Press
"Night Heron's Curse" (see reviews below), first published in ASIM #37, reprinted in Fablecroft Publishing's anthology Australis Imaginarium, September 2010
Buy it here: Fablecroft Shop
"Yowie" - Sprawl, Twelfth Planet Press, 2010 - Aurealis Awards, Best Fantasy Short Story WINNER
Listen to podcast here: Twelfth Planet Cast Episode 3
Buy it here: Sprawl at Twelfth Planet Online Shop
Read reviews here: ASiF, Guy Salvidge's Review
Review snippets:
"I was especially enamoured with Thoraiya Dyer's "Yowie", which begins: "There was dog shit on her shoe." (p. 47) This is another tale of the difficulties of motherhood in an uncaring world, and the story combines realistic and fantastical elements most effectively. I'm not going to try to summarise the story's rather complex plot here, but suffice to say that I think this one should be nominated for an award or two." - G Salvidge
"I think Dyer's story is my favourite of the entire anthology, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed it. It...is harrowing, thanks to the atmosphere Dyer creates and because it struck me very close to home. It's made up of two stories. In one, a young mother struggles with the change from having a successful career to being at home with a baby. Dyer is sympathetic towards Zoe, but all too well captures the feelings of frustration and despair that can attend such a situation. This story is paralleled by that of the Yowie, on a quest to find something he has lost, and in the process returns other lost things to their rightful place. The result is a story that is a superb look at one aspect of suburban life, teamed with a gentle magic." - Alex Pierce, ASiF
"Thoraiya Dyer, "Yowie," Sprawl - I love this story completely. It took me three readings to completely understand it, but it was so worth it. The themes of motherhood and loss of identity and missing a person who is part of yourself are all so raw and powerful, the images so vivid. And yes, I did read this one for the TPP podcast, but you know, if I hadn't, I might have only read it once." - Tansy Rayner Roberts, Last Short Story
"The War of the Gnome and the Mountain Devil" - Zahir #23, July 2010
Read it here: Zahir Magazine
"Ambassador" - Destination:Future, Hadley Rille, February 2010
Buy it here: Amazon or Borders
Read reviews here: Melissajm, Rise Reviews
Review snippets:
"Plant-based people are the only ones who can save stranded humans- but the cost is drastic. Talk about putting your characters in tough situations! And this story's got really neat aliens, too." - Melissa Mead
"Keeping the level of excellence high, Thoraiya Dyer's "Ambassador" shifts in a cascade of meanings that lead up to a surprising, poignant and uncanny moment of alien and human interaction" - Cat Rambo, Rise Reviews
"Sir Pesky Poos-A-Lot and the Pony" - Worlds Next Door, June 2010
Buy it here: Fablecroft Shop
"Death's Daughter and the Clockmaker" - Aurealis #43, June 2010
Buy it here: Aurealis Magazine
Read reviews here: HorrorScope Australian Dark Fiction
Review snippets:
"Dyer's tale of death's daughter who lures a young apprentice to his doom is a beautifully dark adaption on the quest for eternal life. Both gripping and entertaining it is the perfectly executed tale of woe." - Mark Smith-Briggs, HorrorScope
"Finally Thoraiya Dyer offers "Death's Daughter and the Clockmaker," also arguably a horror story, but one that is sufficiently original, and with a sufficiently ambiguously toned ending, to please me more than most. The plot is simple -- an apprentice to a master clockmaker is lured to the strange woman in the upstairs room, eventually to be seduced by her apparent sad plight. She's not what she seems, of course. And the apprentice is in serious trouble -- but just perhaps there is a way out. And there is, but not the routine solution we might have expected. Nice work." - Rich Horton, The SF Site
2009:
"The Platter of Palate's Pleasure: A Tale of Belshazzar, King of Thieves" - ASIM #41, October 2009
Buy it here: Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine
Review snippets:
"Thoraiya Dyer gives us 'The Platter of Palate's Pleasure'. It's a fun intersection of Persian myth and the souring of one man's dream." - Tony Owens, HorrorScope
"There was also fine work from Thoraiya Dyer..." - Rich Horton, the Elephant Forgets
"The Widow's Seven Candles" - New Ceres Nights Anthology
Buy it here: Twelfth Planet Press Online Shop
Read reviews here: Specusphere, Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth, and ASif.
Review snippets (beware of SPOILERS):
""The Widow's Seven Candles," Thoraiya Dyer, New Ceres Nights: I first read this story much earlier in the year and it has stuck with me - simply a beautiful piece of work, a science fiction story that reads like an elegant but chilling fairy tale. The depiction of the master craftsman constructing the candles, and the dark sexuality of the story comes together to make a very memorable short story." - Tansy Rayner Roberts, Last Short Story
"Of the stories in New Ceres Nights, I was particularly taken by the sinister glow of "The Widow's Seven Candles", an exercise in brilliantly-sustained tension by Thoraiya Dyer..." - Simon Petrie, Specusphere
""The Widow's Seven Candles", by Thoraiya Dyer, is in some ways completely different from "Debutante" - its content and style are miles apart. Yet, aside from just being on the same planet, the two stories (as with most in the anthology) are held together by something more: a shared sense of the virtues and vices that are at the heart of New Ceres society (and therefore, I think, at the heart of our modern view of the real Enlightenment). Here, a chandelier - Etienne - is required to make seven candles for Widow Courboin. It's not nearly so easy an assignment as it sounds, of course, and there's an even greater twist just waiting to pounce on Etienne." - Alexandra Pierce, ASif
2008:
"Night Heron's Curse" - Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #37 - Aurealis Awards, Best Fantasy Short Story SHORTLIST, Ditmar Awards, Best Short Story SHORTLIST
Buy it here: Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine
Read reviews here: The Elephant Forgets and The Fix.
Review snippets (beware of SPOILERS):
"Written simply but beautifully, "Night Heron's Curse" is a tribal fairy tale steeped in the mysticism of native Australia. Well told and thoroughly enjoyable, this story is uniquely Australian in theme and gets better with every reading." - Aurealis Awards 2008 Fantasy Short Story Judges Report
"Four novelettes were standouts ... "Night Heron's Curse", by Thoraiya Dyer, from #37, is a strong story set in Australian Aboriginal culture, about two sisters, one of whom loves the man the other is supposed to marry, and the result of their resistance to this." - The Elephant Forgets
"Thoraiya Dyer also turns to Australian aboriginal mythology in "Night Heron's Curse." Swamphen is a plain girl in love with a man who is to be betrothed to her beautiful sister, Night Heron. But Night Heron doesn't want to marry Crooked Spear, so she runs away. Being a good sister, Swamphen goes with her. As they flee, Night Heron is cursed by their tribe's shaman and is turned into a cliffside. Swamphen is saved, but she must kill the gigantic Eel-Shark in order to save her sister from the curse. About the rewards of self-sacrifice and the vanity engendered from everything coming easily, Night Heron's curse is greater even than that which the shaman put on her. This story ends happily for Swamphen and is a sweet tale, almost a myth, about nobility of character." - The Fix
"The Peat-Digger's Tale" - Canterbury 2100
Buy it here: Twelfth Planet Press
Read reviews here: AS if!.
Review snippets (beware of SPOILERS):
"It wasn't until I got to Thoraiya Dyer's "The Peat-Digger's Tale" that I realised the stories up to this point hadn’t had much in the way of romance. This isn't a bad thing as such, just an interesting point about the issues explored: focal relationships had tended to be friendships, or parent/child. Here, though, the focus is a married couple, and the lengths one will go to for the other. As with the other stories, there are also some broad hints at events from the intervening century. Medicine is one area that has been dramatically affected, as has transport; and this seems perfectly likely. The Peat-Digger is probably the nicest narrator of the anthology." - Alexandra Pierce, ASif
"Thoraiya Dyer's "The Peat-Digger's Tale" is another full-circle story that shows Earth's future as getting disturbingly close to being medieval all over again, at least in some social and technological aspects... well, apart from the robotic horses." - Tansy Rayner Roberts
In The Pipeline:
Stay tuned for (hopefully) the eventual successful sale of one or more of my novels.
Meanwhile, for a big helping of sarcasm and spite, head to Demented World to view my angry-at-advertising blog: http://www.dementedworld.com.
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Dune by Frank Herbert, has to be the best sci-fi novel ever written. Not only is the story compelling, the characters are fascinating and the world-building is meticulous. Dune is a real place. You can feel the sand scouring your face. Sink into it.
The Dispossessed, by Ursula LeGuin, is a book that hunts down the essense of humanity, exposing the horror of our flaws and the delicate beauty of our souls. It's about the individual and it's about community. Mostly, it's about an anarchist called Shevek who ships out to a capitalist world and tries to come to grips with what he finds there. Read it!
The Prophet by Kahil Gibran, is inspirational, poetic, concise and memorable. A wise man departing the shores of his adopted home gives advice to the people he is leaving behind. Brutally honest and yet full of hope.
The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, is lyrical, magical and heart-wrenching. Full of the power and mystery of women, I wish more men would read this book to better understand us, but I'm happy enough for the girls to get into it. 
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, is the story of Raskolnikov and his tortured soul. A totally sympathetic murderer in a world of poverty and desperation, this book will linger in your thoughts for days after you finish reading it. 
Magician, by Raymond E. Feist, is one of the first fantasy books I ever read and fell in love with. Heroics, battles, coming-of-age, handsome princes and portals to other worlds. What's not to love? Magician's derivative nature was lost on me at the time; not having read The Lord Of The Rings, I was intrigued by the concept of tall, graceful elves in a tree city (as opposed to little ugly ones that fixed shoes in the middle of the night). Well, perhaps Feist didn't invent elves, but he invented Pug, Tomas, Arutha and Jimmy the Hand. Huzzah!
Looking for a picture of the front cover of The Hounds of the Morrigan, by Pat O'Shea, I was confused by the fact I didn't recognise any of them. Then I remembered: I bought this book, ripped in half and with no cover, at a garage sale with 20 cents Dad had given me. After realising it was not just a torn pile of pages but a portal to an incredible, living, breathing world of Irish legend, my childish hands bound the whole lot lovingly together with clear contact that my Mum had supplied to cover my schoolbooks. I still adore this story and read it once or twice a year.
Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder, is the only introduction to philosophy that the world needs. Exquisitely readable. Funny and sweet. Kick off from here in your search to understand everything.
Foxmask, by Juliet Marillier, draws you along with Creidhe on her journey to the Light Isles - a depiction of the Faroes that brought me to tears with its power and beauty - and her struggle to unweave the magic which murders newborn children. When I don't have money to travel, or I feel like the world is just too ordinary, I drown myself in a Juliet Marillier book.
The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende, is a classic that reminds us how important it is to dream. Try to get the hardcover version with the two different colours and the gorgeous illustrated capitals. And try to forget the films!
Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow, by Peter Hoeg, is gritty, sharp, cold and clean. A murder-mystery page-turner, yet so full of piercing imagery that you can't resist underlining bits. Even when you've borrowed it from the library. 
The Wheel of Time Series, by Robert Jordan, needs no introduction. How the man managed to hold all these plot threads together in his head, I'll never know, but he managed a marvel, even if we did lose him before he finished the series. The wheel of time turns, unfortunately. Yes, I am encouraging you to get sucked into an unfinished series. Trust Harriet. The last book is coming.
