I love throwing complex characters into sweeping conflicts, intense relationships, and deeply immersive worlds. I really don’t want them to get hurt but so often they do. I suppose that’s why people want to read these virdamming books.

Born in the Netherlands and raised between Australia and Europe, I fell in love with epic fantasy as a boy when my stepfather gave me old copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I was sick at the time and stuck in a room, but Tolkien’s world swallowed me whole and lit a fire that has burned in me ever since. Sometimes it’s been a little too burny, if I’m going to be honest. But that’s the price of wanting to be a mad wizard.

My debut epic fantasy series, beginning with Gods of the Hollow Wild, will be published by Text Publishing in Australia and Tor in the UK.

My work has been influenced by the scale, character depth, and philosophical ambition of writers such as Steven Erikson, Brandon Sanderson, N. K. Jemisin, Pierce Brown, and John Gwynne.

I live on the east coast of Australia, where I swim, run as if pursued by demons, and teach creative writing at the University of Newcastle.