Ian's Story

Ian Irvine is a marine scientist who has developed some of Australia's national guidelines for the protection of the oceanic environment, as well as an author of bestselling fantasy novels and futuristic eco-thrillers.

Ian grew up in a forest and spent his entire childhood reading books and climbing trees (and frequently both at once, to the terror of his parents). He had no interest in writing as he'd always wanted to be a scientist. After much procrastination and mucking around Ian gained a Ph. D. from the University of Sydney, somehow becoming an expert in the management of contaminated sediments in the process. Work has since taken him all across the eastern hemisphere, including to such idyllic locations as Mauritius, Bali, Fiji and Western Samoa. This provided absolutely no inspiration for his books as Ian prefers to send his characters to unpleasant places, there tormenting them to the limit of human ingenuity.

Ian began the creation of his Three Worlds fantasy environment in the late 1970's, as an escape from the rigours (more correctly, horrors) of writing his doctoral thesis. Before he'd finished world-building, Ian had covered the walls of his flat with enormous, intricately detailed maps, charts and histories, and his thesis was a year and a half late.

On graduating in 1981, Ian joined an international consulting firm but, after leading two ill-fated environmental expeditions to Sumatra (the first a mere fiasco, the second a complete and utter cockup) concluded that project management was not for him. He set up his own consulting firm and resolved to concentrate on science.

Science proved insufficient. Beset by creative urges that by 1987 had become irresistible, Ian got out his maps and histories and began writing the first book of what was to become his 'Darwinian' fantasy quartet, The View from the Mirror. He worked on it continually until the final volume was published in 1999, and has been a full-time writer ever since.

Ian lives with his family in the mountains of northern NSW. Having completed both his Human Rites Eco-thriller trilogy and Well of Echoes fantasy quartets, Ian is relaxing by writing the first book in a fantasy quintet for younger readers. It's called The Children's War and Book 1 is The Gate to Nowhere.