Cary Lenehan is a former trades assistant, soldier, public servant, cab driver, truck driver, game designer, fishmonger, horticulturalist and university tutor – among other things. His hobbies include collecting and reading books (the non-fiction are Dewey decimalised), Tasmanian native plants (particularly the edible ones), medieval re-creation and gaming. He has taught people how to use everything from shortswords to rocket launchers. He met his wife at an SF Convention while cosplaying and they have not looked back. He was born in Sydney before marrying and moving to the SnowyMountains where they started their family. They moved to Tasmania for the warmer winters and are not likely to ever leave it. He has just stepped down as Deputy Chair of TasWriters. Looking out of the window beside Cary’s computer is a sweeping view of MountWellington/ kunanyi and its range.
Cary is the author of four internationally published books (with publisher IFWG), over thirty short stories and novellas, and various poetic contributions to collections and other works in Australia and overseas. He has also written chapters on the economy for the Tasmanian Year Book and articles for the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce. Among other qualifications, he is a sociologist, mathematician, and horticulturalist. He has tutored at the University of Tasmania in various faculties. He is compiling a cookbook to go with his books (often using Tasmanian endemic plants and original recipes) and in retirement is keeping up writing (including weekly blogs), recording his stories for SoundCloud, has starting doing workshops through TasWriters, and is an interpretation guide at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.
His Patreon page is at: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3009225
Website: https://caryjlenehan.com.au/
1. Tell us about your recent publications/projects?
In the Warriors of Vhast series, book 4, Scouring the Land was released December 2019. Book 5 (Gathering the Strands) is with my publisher (IFWG) and should be out this year. In my Patreon releases over 35,000 words of short stories have been released in four stories (most are multi-part), as well as recipes from Vhast, maps, details and drawing of the plants and animals and six more of the Tarot cards from there.
2. What has been the best publishing or SF community experience of your career so far?
Saying hello to my first overseas fan to visit me down here (who found my books accidentally) and this rates alongside the amazing feeling of holding a physical copy of my first book in my hands and being able to show it to my mother. Community? Showing various writers around Tasmania and explaining the plants and animals (and history) to them.
3. Which recent Australian/NZ work would you recommend to international fans interested in expanding their Antipodean spec fic knowledge?
Aiki Flinhart’s Blackbird Sings.
Australian SF Snapshot Project 