News

Welcome to the website of award winning author Jane Routley who also writes as Rebecca Locksley.

- Clan Destine Press have released Mage Heart, Fire Angels, and Aramaya as E-Books!  

I am so excited to see what will happen. Check out the fantastic author page they made for me: http://clandestinepress.com.au

-  Stand up comedian Uma Thakar is hosting me on her blog this month.

Post: MEET AWARD WINNING WRITER JANE ROUTLEY
Link: http://theumahuma.blogspot.com/2011/07/meet-award-winning-writer-jane-routley.html

-  My short story The Seal Wife has been published in Roar and Thunder on-line magazine. www.roarandthunder.com.au

-  I've entered the 21st century with a Podcast of me reading my short story Bats available after 15 Feb 2011 at www.tisf.com.au

It's also appearing in hard copy in Dead Red Heart : Australian Vampire Stories , editied by Russel B.Farr for Ticonderoga Press at www.ticonderogapublications.com

  Yggdrasil body art by Mark S Holsworth

  (http://melbourneartcritic.wordpress.com)

Books

Mage Heart

Provincial and naive - and a powerful mage - young Dion is an innocnet adrift in a world of intrigues and treacheries with hungry demons lurking just behind its borders.  Andnow she has been called up on to protect the Dukes favourite mistress : the extraordinary Kitten Avignon, Our Lady of Roses.  For the mesmerising courtesan is a woman in dire peril, stalked by a necromancer who will not sleep until his beautiful prey suffers horribly.

Review
"One of the genre's bright new stars ... Routley produces a fantasy that can be read for more than myth or pyrotechnics...While many fantasists simply add magic to political intrigue, Routley's are noteworthy for the natural and inevitable intertwining of the two.. Well drawn backgrounds and characters add to the appeal." Publishers Weekly

“A highly original romantic fantasy.” – Cherry Wilder, author of Signs of Life

“A superb entry into the realm of magic and demons…a wonderful addition to the fantasy genre.” – Affaire de Coeur

“Compelling…evocative…intriguing.” – Fantasy and Science Fiction

  Ebook edition: http://clandestinepress.com.au

Fire Angels

An accomplished fantasy of maturity and depth, Routley's second novel (after Mage Heart) continues the story of Dion Holyhands, raised by a stern foster-father to develop her outstanding magical powers. Here, Dion is reintroduced to the extended family she had lost and continues her coming-of-age, including renewed battle against her lover and foe, the demon Bedazzer. Dion is a strong character, introspective but often misled by self-doubt and guilt. Aided by the gypsylike Wanderers, she finds that her magic has destined her for a central role in the government of her homeland, Moria. While many genre fantasies simply add magic to political intrigue, Routley's are noteworthy for the natural and inevitable intertwining of the two. Here, for instance, different countries prohibit and allow different magics, thereby controlling their citizens. Well-drawn backgrounds and characters add to the appeal, as Routley produces another fantasy that can be read for more than myth or pyrotechnics, accelerating her rise as one of the genre's bright new stars.

Aramaya

The third fantasy outing (after Fire Angels) of the mage Dion Holyhands (aka Dion Demonslayer, Lady of Ruinac) takes her across the ocean to the land of Aramaya, the center of civilization and, she suspects, the current home of her missing niece, Syndal (aka Dally). Dion and her friend Kitten survive shipwreck to reach Akieva, the capital of a country with most of its features borrowed (if intelligently) from czarist Russia, and soon encounter the niece. But Dion's niece turns out to be in thrall to a powerful conspiracy of necromancers, and is in fact possessed by Dion's old nemesis, the demon Bedazzer. In rapid succession, Dion begins an affair with the demon-hunter Count Nikolai Terzu, rescues her niece, is reconciled with her ex-husband and has to chase down the necromancers to their stronghold in the southern marshes of Aramaya's latest conquest, Mazorra. Even Dion needs help on the last errand, and gets it from Aliceander the Crocodile Goddess, ruler of the marshes. Like its predecessors, the book combines romance, mystery and adventure in a fantasy setting, and in spite of the author's very fair degree of skill, this particular troika doesn't pull well in harness. Dion's obsession with her childlessness will surely grow tedious for some readers. Routley deserves credit for superior world-building and above average characterization, however; even if she isn't doing anything new here, she is at least covering familiar ground with more aplomb than are many of her colleagues. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Three Sisters

Once the Tari – a mysterious race of visionaries and healers whose power has since faded to legend – ruled in Yarmar.  Then the armies of Mir came to destroy and enslave.  Now, in their relentless drive for domination, the cruel Mirayan Prince Scarvan and his loyal duke, Wolf Madraga, have both claimed a prize beyond compare.  She is called Elena Starchild, the bewitching wife of a newly slain woodlands leader.  She is Tari, possessing a "fatal beauty" that confounds and obsesses her captors.  And she will not be abandoned.

Drawn from their island sanctuary by a sister's plight, a warrior and a sorceress return to an oppressed land, carrying with them the magic of hope, spirit, and glorious rebellion.  But there are shadows in their own pasts that first must be conquered before a prisoner is freed ... and a mighty destiny can come to pass.

"Rebecca Locksley writes with a freshness and vigour rare in today's crowded market.  Her characters are a dextrous mixture of the astute, the delightful, and the deceptive, displaying the full range of human weakness and wonder - no wonder the plot guides forward so effortlessly."  Sara Douglass.

Short Stories

The Goddess Wakes (1995) in She's Fantastical (ed. Lucy Sussex and Judith Buckrich)

The Empty Quarter (1996) in Dream Weavers (ed. Paul Collins)

Stealing the Seed (1997) in Eidolon, Issue 24, Autumn 1997 (ed. Jonathan Strahan, Jeremy G Byrne, Richard Scriven)

To Avalon (1998) in Dreaming Down-Under (ed. Jack Dann, Janeen Webb)

City of Whirlwinds (1998) in Fantastic Worlds (ed. Paul Collins)

Liars Brooch (2001) in Spinouts (ed. Paul Collins)

A New Creation (2002) in Meanjin, Volume 61, Number 3 2002 (ed. Micheal McGirr)

Celia (2007) in Cicada, Vol 10, No 2, Nov/Dec 2007 (ed. Marianne Carus)

Awards

2000 Nominated for a Ditmar award for “To Avalon”

1999 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel for “Aramaya”

1998 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel for “Fire Angels”

1989 Won the Mooney Valley Library Short Story Competition with the story “Red Roses”

My Bio

I was born in Melbourne, Australia, went to Preshil, Strathcona, and Monash University where I studied history, and RMIT where I became a Librarian.

I’ve had a variety of careers, including Fruit Picker and Occult Librarian and I lived in Germany and Denmark for a decade.  Now I’m back in my beloved Melbourne and working on the railways.

I’ve published 3 books as me including the Aurealis Award winners Mage Heart and Fire Angels as well as Aramaya, and one book as Rebecca Locksley – The Three Sisters.  My short stories have been widely anthologized, appeared in Meanjin, and have been read on the ABC.

My favourite writers are Jane Austen, Angela Carter, Sara Douglass, and Janet Evanovich.

My current life ambition is to see an erupting volcano.

Contact Details

You can contact me on

rebeccalocksley@netspace.net.au.

Follow me on Facebook at   www.facebook.com

On Wordpress at                  www.theimmaculateconfection.wordpress.com
On Goodreads at                  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/333390.Jane_Routley