Richard Harland was born in the north of England in the middle of the coldest
winter ever recorded. He moved to Australia on a university scholarship, fell in love
with it and stayed. Richard loves writing fantasy and science fiction for adults and
children, and has won five Aurealis awards for his novels, the Wolf Kingdom
quartet and The Black Crusade, and for his short stories.
Richard always had plenty of ideas for fantasy novels, but fell into a bad case of writer's block that lasted 25 years. he admits to having 30 unfinished manuscripts still lying in the bottom cupboard.
Richard says, ‘Worldshaker came from a dream in which I fell through a slot in the
ground, down past endless floors of machinery, metal pipes and impossibly
cramped living spaces. It took me fifteen years to develop all the details of the
world inspired by that glimpse. By the time I finally sat down to write, the story
was just bursting to come out.’
The concluding part of Worldshaker, Liberator took rather less time to write. In fact it came out in a 6 month rush. Richard Says, 'I love the downhill toboggan ride when a story and characters take charge and carry me along. It always happens when I get close to the climax of a novel, but with Liberator it began before I was even halfway through. What a ride!'