Paul Collins (born 21 May 1954) is an Australian writer and editor who specializes in science fiction and fantasy.
Collins has written many books for younger readers. He is best known for his fantasy series, The Jelindel Chronicles (Dragonlinks, Dragonfang, Dragonsight and Wardragon) and The Quentaris Chronicles (Swords of Quentaris, Slaves of Quentaris, Dragonlords of Quentaris, Vampires of Quentaris, Princess of Shadows, The Forgotten Prince and The Spell of Undoing), and his science fiction series, The Maximus Black Files (Mole Hunt, Dyson's Drop and The Only Game in the Galaxy).
Paul's latest fantasy books, written in collaboration with Sean McMullen, are six titles in The Warlock's Child series: The Burning Sea, Dragonfall Mountain, The Iron Claw, Trial by Dragons, Voyage to Morticas and The Guardians.
In addition to his novels, Collins has written over a hundred chapter books, around thirty non-fiction hardcovers for the education market (published both in Australia and the USA), and 150 short stories, the best of which appeared in two collections. He co-edited four boxed sets of anthologies with Meredith Costain (Spinouts and Thrillogies), edited around fifteen trade anthologies, and was the principal editor of The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy.
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Biography
Paul Collins was born in England, raised in New Zealand and moved to Australia in 1972. His first published work was the Western novel Hot Lead-Cold Sweat (1975). That same year, in order to support himself so that he could write, Collins launched Void, the first professional science fiction magazine Australia had seen since the demise of the joint Australian and British production Vision of Tomorrow. Collins edited and published five issues of Void between August 1975 and March 1977, and while it only covered costs, the magazine was instrumental in encouraging lapsed writers Wynne Whiteford and Jack Wodhams to take up writing again, as well as encouraging a new generation of Australian science fiction writers and readers.
In 1978, Collins moved from magazine to book publishing, initially with the Worlds original anthology series, but later with a series of original Australian science fiction and fantasy novels. In 1981 Collins was joined by Rowena Cory (A.K.A. Cory Daniells) who painted many of the covers for their books, and Cory and Collins went on to publish fourteen Australian science fiction and fantasy novels by authors, such as Wynne Whiteford, A. Bertram Chandler, Jack Wodhams, Keith Taylor, Russell Blackford, and David Lake. With the posthumous publication of Chandler's novel The Wild Ones, however, Collins decided that publishing was interfering with his own writing and he closed the business.
Collins pioneered the publishing of adult heroic fantasy in Australia and did much to raise the profile of Australian genre writing. Many of the books and stories he published have been republished overseas. He sold his first professional fantasy story in 1977 to the United States magazine Weirdbook, and by 1980 he had sold another eleven stories to magazines and books in Australia and overseas.
Collins has a black belt in both Taekwondo and jujitsu and was a kickboxer, experience he puts to good use in his recent, fast-paced cyber-oriented tales, which have culminated in the cyberpunk novel Cyberskin. The latter has been published by clocktowerfiction.com (USA), Hybrid Publishers (Australia) and Heyne Verlag (Germany). His stories have sold to a wide variety of mainstream and genre magazines. The best of his work has been collected in The Government in Exile, published by Melbourne's Sumeria Press in 1994. A later collection, Stalking Midnight, has been published by cosmos.com in both POD and e-book.
Creative Net Speakers' Agency
Collins founded Creative Net Speakers' Agency to showcase some of the authors and illustrators he now publishes. He represents some of Australia's best-known authors and illustrators including Leigh Hobbs (Australia's Children's Laureate), Isobelle Carmody, Kirsty Murray, Gabrielle Wang, Scot Gardner and Archimede Fusillo.
Ford Street Publishing
Collins is the founder and publisher of Ford Street, "a successful small independent Australian publisher [which publishes] around eight titles a year, ranging from picture books through to novels and non-fiction for older readers." It has published books by, among others, Michael Salmon, Doug MacLeod, Sean McMullen, Justin D'Ath, Alyssa Brugman, James Roy, David Miller, Jenny Mounfield, Gary Crew, Hazel Edwards, Dianne Bates, Isobelle Carmody and Collins himself.
Awards
1980s – 2000s a handful of nominations for Best Editor and Best Short Fiction in the Australian SF Achievement Awards
1999 – Winner William Atheling Jr. Award for work on The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy; Shortlisted for the Aurealis Convenor's Award.
2000 – The Dog King, Notable Book Children's Book Council; Shortlisted for the Clayton's Award.
2001 – (With Co-editor Meredith Costain) Winner the Aurealis Convenor's Award for Spinouts Bronze published by Pearson Education. (Joint winner was Shaun Tan for The Lost Thing.)
2002 – Winner of the inaugural Peter McNamara Award for lifetime achievement in SF.
2004 – Home Run, Notable Book Children's Book Council.
2009 – Morgassa's Folly (in collaboration with Danny Willis), short-listed for the Chronos Award.
2010 – The Slightly Skewed Life of Toby Chrysler, short-listed for The Speech Pathology Award.
2011 – The Glasshouse (illustrated by Jo Thompson) chosen by international IBBY as an Outstanding Book; short-listed for the CBCA's Crichton Award.
2011 – Recipient of the Chandler Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Australian Science Fiction".
2013 – Trust Me Too Notable Book (Younger Readers) Children's Book Council of Australia (editor).
2013 – Trust Me Too White Raven selection (International Youth Library in Germany) (editor)
Quote
"Australia is not the science fiction capital of the world; in fact we are probably not even on the map. This unfortunate fact would change if we could produce more writers like Paul Collins." Michael Hanrahan, Australian Book Review.