Michael Pryor is an Australian writer of

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

Biography

Pryor was born in

Swan Hill, Victoria Swan Hill is a city in the northwest of Victoria, Australia on the Murray Valley Highway and on the south bank of the Murray River, downstream from the junction of the Loddon River. At , Swan Hill had a population of 11,508. Indigenous Peopl ...

and currently lives in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

with his wife and two daughters. His first work to be published was the short story "Talent" in 1990, which was published in ''

Aurealis ''Aurealis'' is an Australian speculative fiction magazine published by Chimaera Publications, and is Australia's longest running small-press science-fiction and fantasy magazine. The magazine is based in Melbourne. History and profile ''Aureali ...

'' No. 1. He received his first nomination for his work in 1993 when the short story "It's All in the Way You Look at It" was nominated for the

Ditmar Award The Ditmar Award (formally the Australian SF ("Ditmar") Award; formerly the "Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award") has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention (the "Natcon") to recognise a ...

for best short fiction, however it lost to

Greg Egan Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australian science fiction writer and amateur mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, an ...

's "Closer". In 1996 Pryor released his first novel, ''The Mask of Caliban'', which was a finalist for the 1997

Aurealis Award for best young-adult novel The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and WASFF to published works to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers". To qualify, a work must have been fi ...

. In 2003 he started writing novels in '' The Quentaris Chronicles'', a shared universe with several other authors. In 2015, Pryor switched gears to writing books for children. He first published ''Leo da Vinci Vs. The Ice-Cream Domination League'' in 2015, then three other books for children up to the present, with ''Gap Year in Ghost Town'' being nominated for the Aurealis Award for best fantasy novel in 2017. Pryor has been nominated for an Aurealis Award a total of nine occasions with the most recent being in 2018 for his short story "First Casualty".

Bibliography

Novels

''Doorways Trilogy'' *''The House of Many Rooms'' (1998) *''The Book of Plans'' (1998) *''The Unmaker'' (1999) '' The Quentaris Chronicles'' *''Beneath Quentaris'' (2003) *''Quentaris in Flames'' (2003) *''Stones of Quentaris'' (2004) *''Nightmare in Quentaris'' (2005) *''Stars of Quentaris'' (2006) *''Battle for Quentaris'' (2008) ''The Laws of Magic'' *''Blaze of Glory'' (2006) *''Heart of Gold'' (2007) *''Word of Honour'' (2008) *''Time of Trial'' (2009) *''Moment of Truth'' (2010) *''Hour of Need'' (2011) ''The Chronicles of Krangor'' *''The Lost Castle'' (2007) *''The Missing Kin'' (2008) *''The King in Reserve'' (2009) ''The Extraordinaires'' *''The Extinction Gambit'' (2011) *''The Subterranean Stratagem'' (2013) ''Leo Da Vinci'' * ''Leo da Vinci Vs. The Ice-Cream Domination League'' (2015) * ''Leo Da Vinci Vs. The Furniture Overlord'' (2016) ''Ghost Town'' *''Gap Year in Ghost Town'' (2017) *''Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town'' (2019) ''Other novels'' *''The Mask of Caliban'' (1996) *''Talent'' (1997) *''Cosmic Cook'' (2002) *''Blackout'' (2000) *''Bruno Trask & The Dark Lady's Jewel'' (2002) *''10 Futures'' (2012) *''Machine Wars'' (2014)

Short fiction

*"Talent" (1990) in ''

'' No. 1 (ed.

Stephen Higgins Stephen E. Higgins (born 1938) was the third Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms from 1983 to 1993, subsequently known as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Life and career Higgins joined the IRS ...

Dirk Strasser A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...

) *"Softly They Go Feral in the Night" (1991) in ''

'' No. 4 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *"Long Live the King" (1991) in ''

'' No. 6 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *"It's All in the Way You Look at It" (1992) in ''

'' No. 10 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *"Shadows on the Heart" (1993) in ''

'' No. 12 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *"Home Free" (1994) in ''The Patternmaker : Nine Science Fiction Stories'' (ed.

Lucy Sussex Lucy Sussex (born 1957 in New Zealand) is an author working in fantasy and science fiction, children's and teenage writing, non-fiction and true crime. She is also an editor, reviewer, academic and teacher, and currently resides in Melbourne, Aus ...

) *"Hunter of Darkness, Hunter of Light" (1994) in ''

'' No. 15 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *"Time to Burn" (1996) in ''

'' No. 18 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *"Australian Visions" (1998) in ''

'' #20/21 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *"Room for Improvement" (1999) in ''Gadgets and Gizmos'' (ed.

Meredith Costain Meredith is a Welsh Brittonic family name, and is also sometimes used as a girl's or boy's forename. The Welsh form is "Maredudd". People * Meredith (given name) * Meredith (surname) Places Australia * Meredith, Victoria United States * Meredit ...

, Paul Collins) *"Sewercide" (2000) in ''

'' #25/26 (ed. Dirk Strasser, Stephen Higgins) *"EvilCo" (2001) in ''

'' #27/28 (ed. Dirk Strasser, Stephen Higgins) *"Waste" (2003) in ''

Forever Shores Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama * ''Forever'' (1992 film), an American ...

'' (ed.

Margaret Winch Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular through ...

Peter McNamara Peter McNamara (5 July 1955 – 20 July 2019) was an Australian tennis player and coach. McNamara won five singles titles and nineteen doubles titles in his career. A right-hander, McNamara reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 14 March ...

)

Essays

*The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Otto Greenbach (1990) in ''

'' No. 1 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: E. Freeport Rickenbacker (1990) in ''

'' No. 2 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Wanda Stambridge (1991) in ''

'' No. 4 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Bamber Fortescue (1991) in ''

'' No. 5 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Cosmo Tucker (1991) in ''

'' No. 6 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: G. K. "Doc" Tolliday, D.D. (1992) in ''

'' No. 7 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Anna Michailovna Tikhonova (1992) in ''

'' No. 8 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Gaston La Rue (1992) in ''

'' No. 9 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Malcolm Corkindale (1992) in ''

'' No. 10 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) *Classic SF (2001) in ''

'' #27/28 (ed. Dirk Strasser, Stephen Higgins) *The Art of Successful Collaboration (2004 with Paul Collins) in ''

'' #33–35, (ed. Keith Stevenson) Source
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Nominations

Aurealis Awards * Best fantasy novel **2006: Nomination: ''Blaze of Glory'' **2007: Nomination: ''Heart of Gold'' **2017: Nomination: ''Gap Year in Ghost Town'' * Best horror short story **2000: Nomination: "Sewercide" * Best science fiction short story **1998: Nomination: "Australian Visions" * Best young-adult novel **1996: Nomination: ''The Mask of Caliban'' **2007: Nomination: ''Heart of Gold'' *Sara Douglass Book Series **2016: Nomination: ''The Laws of Magic'' * Best young-adult short story **2018: Nomination: "First Casualty" Ditmar Awards * Best short fiction **1993: Nomination: "It's All in the Way You Look At It"

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pryor, Michael 1957 births Australian fantasy writers Australian science fiction writers Living people