FLY SOUP

Interview: Thoraiya Dyer By Chris Large Australian author Thoraiya Dyer spoke with me about her award-winning short story Wine, Women and Stars , her recent three book deal with Tor, the purpose of writing awards, and her no-holes-barred determination to put words to page. This interview first appeared in Aurealis #84. Welcome back to Aurealis Thoraiya, and a huge congratulations on winning your third Aurealis Award at the 2015 ceremony. You now have two awards for fantasy and a third for science fiction. In your own words you were ‘a bit weepy’ when you accepted the 2015 gong. What does it mean to you to win awards for your writing? I guess it depends on how confident you’re feeling in your skills at the time. I’ve been writing short  fiction for a while now but also, in the background, I’ve been writing novels. The reason I was so weepy about that particular award was because last year my husband lost his job and the bank took our house, so we were fo...

One thing I've really enjoyed about 2015 has been talking with a bunch of writers at the top of their game. I genuinely get a kick out of chatting with guys as talented, engaging and passionate about what they do as the likes of Shane Abbess and John Scalzi. Most recently I had a chat with Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C.Clarke award winning author Ann Leckie. It was just prior to the release of her new book Ancillary Mercy and I think I was almost as excited for the book's release as she was. Ann can be unexpectedly hilarious though, and we took  a couple of winding diversions in the interview which really surprised me. I think sometimes interviewees get sick of answering the same questions over and over, so if something a bit different pops up they really run with it. You can find the full interview in Aurealis #86 . Also, not sure I fully pimped my interview with Thoraiya Dyer. I think of it as her origin story, since it's a tale of the heartbreaking setbacks that have...

My story, Perfect Kills , is out now in Aurealis, Australia's coolest SFFH magazine. I've had a fair bit to do with Aurealis this year, mostly through my author interviews (check out the September issue for my chat with the unbelievably determined and incredibly amazing, Thoraiya Dyer), but I am really excited to have some fiction published in this month's issue. There's also a great story from Tracy Washington, and Terry Wood's interview with Peter F. Hamilton. So go get it by clicking here . It's fully as awesome as it looks.