Sean McMullen

Sean Christopher McMullen (born 21 December 1948 in Sale, Victoria) is an Australian science fiction and fantasy author.

Biography

McMullen is one of Australia's leading science-fiction and fantasy authors and has written over 70 stories and 17 books. In 2011, his novelette "Eight Miles" was the runner-up in the Hugo Awards. He has won the Analog Reader's Award twice, for "Ninety Thousand Horses" in 2013 and "Tower of Wings" in 2002.

His first novel was originally published in Australia as two separate books, Voices in the Light (1994) and Mirrorsun Rising (1995). His first internationally published novel was The Centurion's Empire (1998), which featured a time machine built during the Roman Empire. After this book's success, his first two novels were rewritten and combined for a publication in the US as Souls in the Great Machine (1999), which, in turn, became the first volume of the Greatwinter trilogy, a unique mix of the generally anti-genres steampunk and cyberpunk. This was followed by the Moonworlds series, which saw McMullen blend science and romance in a fantasy setting. His most recent series is the Century War series for young adult readers, set in Melbourne in 1901.

McMullen's non-fiction work includes Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction, a history of Australian science fiction jointly written with Van Ikin and Russell Blackford. He also co-wrote the first histories of Australian fantasy and horror with Steven Paulsen.

McMullen has a degree in physics and history from Melbourne University (1974), a postgraduate degree in library and information science, and a PhD in Medieval Literature.

He was a professional musician in the 1970s, concentrating on singing and guitar playing.

McMullen has recently retired from a career in scientific computing to concentrate on his literary work.

He is a fourth dan black belt in karate, teaching at the Melbourne University Karate club.

He is the father of Catherine Smyth-McMullen, an Australian screenwriter and author. She wrote the feature film The Other Lamb, Episode 11 of S1 of The Sandman (TV series), and two episodes of Australian crime series The Killings at Parrish Station.