- Lori Hurst is president of Writers In Townsville Society (WITS) and a member of Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) and Australian Society Authors.
As well as completing a creative writing course, she has a BA majoring in English Literature and History. She has further honed her skills in the craft of writing by participating in writing and editing workshops, master classes and writer’s retreats.
My short stories have been published in America, United Kingdom and Australia in magazines and on line. One story was selected for the “A Prisoner of Memory: And 24 of the Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories by Ed Gorman (Editor), Martin H. Greenburg (Editor),
several others for Six Sentences anthologies and one for a North Queensland Anthology. On line and magazine credits include, Skive, The Outpost, The Yellow room, Ripples Magazine, Linnet wings, Artgaze Magazine and the Queensland writers Centre magazine with a humorous take on places to write. My non-fiction writing encompasses the boating scene and I have been widely published in boating magazines including Cruising helmsman, Multihull world, Afloat, Yachting Monthly, Practical boat-owner and others. Several of these articles allude to the humorous side of boating. The Coastal Passage a boating newspaper with a world -wide distribution has published my humorous articles about boating and reprinted a short story from my recently published collection. I was featured as a local author in a Townsville lifestyle magazine called Duo in their September ’10 issue.My speculative fiction novel The mask of Deceit was highly commended for a Varuna Writers scholarship in 07. My writing has been picked up by ABC Radio National for broadcast on the Book show and other scheduling via ABC Pool and I collaborated to write a humorous radio play in 2006 for ABC North Queensland which was subsequently produced for the Townsville’s writers Festival.
I have self published my humorous novel Literary Licence and a collection of short stories After the Rains and other stories in 2011.
At Monash University, from 1977 to 1980, while studying successfully for a Bachelor of Economics degree, he hung out in a part of the library where hardly anyone went, devouring poetry books, and Michael Dransfield became his very favourite poet.
To this day, notwithstanding he now has many other favourites, Dransfield’s “to be a poet in Australia is the ultimate commitment” remains seminal. Since university, Michael has made a point of reading poetry, often in translation, from as many poets the world over as he can.
Michael now lives in Townsville, enjoying the north Queensland tropical sunshine. He is a valued member of Writers In Townsville Society, whose website is: http://witsnq.blogspot.com/.
Nikesh Murali's poems and short stories have appeared in ebooks, ezines, anthologies, journals and magazines all over the world. His works have been translated into several languages. He was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2007.
He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia for which he was awarded the Griffith University Award for Academic Excellence in 2005, and his Masters in Teaching from James Cook University in Townsville, Australia and a Bachelors degree in English Literature and World History from University of Kerala, India. He is a tutor and researcher at James Cook University and is working towards his Doctorate in Creative Writing.
SHAUN ALLEN
I had an interest in writing throughout my youth and have written a large number of short stories or flash fiction just for the enjoyment of it. It was not until I was 27 years of age that I decided to take my hobby of writing a little more seriously and have since completed a lengthy novel which is currently being split into a series of three. I have also commenced a second novel, or what could end up being my fourth novel, depending on how you look at it!
Originally from Canberra, ACT, and now living in Townville, Qld, I have been involved (and am still involved) in writers groups such as the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild and the Writers in Townsville (WiTs) group.
As you’ve no doubt already established, from what has been posted, I write speculative fiction, but, can sometimes lean towards the horror / thriller genre. If my arms twisted enough (so that it’s close to breaking!) I can write more general fiction too. Most of what I write is aimed at adult audiences and with an occasional required tweak it can also be suitable to young adult audience too.
I have long been fascinated with the histories of humanity at war, in particular World War Two, and the tactics involved in fighting. I also have an interest in weaponry and armour throughout the ages, from the simple sword to the most complex modern weapon systems. War tactics, campaigns and weaponry feature strongly throughout my work and I'm frequently studying the subject matter between my day job, home commitments and writing.
That’s my background with regard to writing.