Ephiny Gale is the author of more than two dozen published short stories and novelettes that have appeared in publications including Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Constellary Tales, and Daily Science Fiction. Her fiction has been awarded the Sundress Publications’ Best of the Net award and the Syntax & Salt Editor’s Award. Gale has also written several produced stage plays and musicals, including ‘How to Direct from Inside’ at La Mama, and ‘Shining Armour,’ which premiered at The 1812 Theatre. Her stage scripts have been collected in The Playbook and much of her recent short fiction has been collected in Next Curious Thing. She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her wife and a small army of bookcases.
1. Tell us about your recent publications/projects?
My last few publications have been ‘The Candle Queen’ at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, ‘CurioQueens’ at Constellary Tales, and ‘The Orchard’ at Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. I’ve been lucky enough to have the latter two chosen as finalists for the upcoming 2019 Aurealis Awards in the Best Fantasy Short Story and Best Fantasy Novella categories. All three of these recent publications have been different sub-genres of adult fantasy with a sapphic romance, but I do write other things, too; I’ve just finished drafting a young adult science fiction story titled ‘Marina, Hel and Cady Save the Universe’.
2. What has been the best publishing experience of your career so far?
The best publishing experience of my career so far has probably been working with Constellary Tales on ‘CurioQueens’. It was an honour to sell a story to such a great magazine, and their whole publishing process was a real pleasure to be part of.
3. Which recent Australian/NZ work would you recommend to international fans interested in expanding their Antipodean spec fic knowledge?
For international fans wanting to expand their knowledge of recent Antipodean spec fic, I would recommend either Tara Calaby’s ‘Three Days with the Kid’ (2020) or Octavia Cade’s ‘We Feed the Bears of Fire and Ice’ (2018), both published by Strange Horizons. Both are excellent, gripping short stories with a distinct Antipodean feel and sensibility, and both are about the potential effects of climate change on the Antipodean landscape.
Australian SF Snapshot Project 