Robbie Matthews' Writing Page

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BIO:

I've been writing on and off for as long as I can remember, but only really got serious after Aussiecon III in 1999. (Mainly because I kept on running into people I know who had got themselves published. And I thought, if they can get published, then, dammit, so can I!)
I made my first paying sale early in 2000, and since then I have been heavily involved in our local writers group, the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild (CSFG) and the Critters on-line critiquing circle. In May 2001 I went to Millennium Freecon, where I read some of my work along with other writers, both established and emerging. It was very exciting!
Since then I have given readings from the Anthology at various other conventions and author readings (any place where they failed to stop me, in fact!) and I have been pushing sales of the CSFG Anthology, Nor of Human... (and now it's successor, Machinations). I've also somehow become involved in editing and publishing Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine ... which is also really excitng. And has almost completely stopped me actuall writing... :")
Update 2003: In March 2003, I won the Peter McNamara Convenors Award (part of the Aurealis Awards). I also won the Best New Designer Award for my Role Playing module "And Now Presenting: Murder!!!" at the Phenomenon 2003 roleplaying convention. So I now have an Awards Page.
Update 2007: I have signed a contract with ASF to publish all the Johnny Werewolf stories to date, plus some new material.
Update 2009: Johnny Phillips, Werewolf Detective: The Collected Case Files is now on sale!

Stats:

I was born in Innisfail,QLD in 1962 (thus sharing birth state and year with fellow CSFGer and Turner prize winner, Maxine McArthur) I have a wife and two children, two dogs, two cats, and assorted goldfish. I currently live in sunny Canberra, where I run my own Computer Consultancy business. At one stage I was highly active in Sydney SF Fandom, but that took a bit of a nose-dive after the children were born. Those of you with long memories may remember me playing my guitar at some of the Syncons in the 80's.

Hobbies:
Reading, Writing, Cycling, role-playing, guitar, singing in a local choir, comics, helping run Bridge Crew at assorted conventions, small press publishing, and wondering where all my spare time went.

Johnny Werewolf:
I have written several stories set in an world where Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies, and all sorts of Undead creatures live in modern day Sydney in an uneasy alliance with normal humans.
The main character is a struggling private investigator called Johnny Phillips. He also happens to be a werewolf.
The first of these appeared in the anthology Nor of Human... .

Here is a short story, set in Johnny's world.

Note: A couple of people have pointed out that the word Undead refers to a particular class of creatures, specifically those who a dead yet still move (like Vampires), and should not refer to Werewolves. The same people have also pointed out that a female 'Sorcerer' should, in fact, be a 'Sorceress'.

Well, this is my world, and in Johnny's world Undead is a catchall term for all those people who live an alternative, supernatural, lifestyle. And Sorcerer is a job description. (You don't refer to female lawyers as lawyeresses, do you?)

Publishing History (to Date:)

Story	Publication	Date
Johnny Phillips, Werewolf Detective: The Collected Case Files	Aust Speculative Fiction	December 2008
Shroedinger's Fruitbat	Daikaiju 2	June 2007
Blobs	Gastronomicon	April 2005
Workers of the World, Unite!	Antipodean SF ,#70	April 2004
Chance Encounters (revised)	Elsewhere	October 2003
Lamaman	Antipodean SF,#59	April 2003
The Aldrin Vial*	Machinations	August 2002
Dragon Omelette*	AustrAlien Absurdities	June 2002
Jetsam	Fables and Reflections, #2	April 2002
Stranger	Antipodean SF,#45	November 2001
Fringe Dwellers*	Nor of Human...	April 2001
First Timer	Antipodean SF, #36	February 2001
Chance Encounters	Charge Magazine #1 Vol 23	January 2001
Survival Guide	Goblin Muse #4	August 2000
Prophecy	Jackhammer #12 Vol 3	March 2000
Map Magic	Antipodean SF, #21	November 1999
Psychology	Potato Monkey #1	May 2001
Bomb Squad*	Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #4	December 2002
Wax Tadpoles	Potato Monkey #2	December 2002

(Stories marked with a '*' are "Johnny" stories.)

Barcodes:
Due to the number of times I have been asked, I have created a Barcode Generator for ISBNs.

Links:
Magazines:
DemonGround - DEMONGROUND: Reflections of a Darker Future. A fanzine dedicated to supporting the genre of Modern Horror in roleplaying games.
Antipodean SF - Quality short SF (Monthly)
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine - Fun SF,F&H, published bi-monthly

Organizations:
Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild - A ~~weird~~ great bunch of writers.
Vision Writers Group - Another great bunch of writers, this time operating out of Brisbane.

Authors:
Maxine McArthur - Fellow CSFGer and winner of the 1999 George Turner Award
Chuck McKenzie - A funny writer and editor of reknown (so he tells me...)
Geoffrey Maloney- Another fellow CSFGer, and another award winner.
Les Petersen - Yet another CSFGer, author and Illustrator
Alison Venugoban - A lovely lady and an interesting writer

Last Updated 7-Jan-2009