McDermott, Kirstyn: - Kirstyn McDermott has been working in the darker alleyways of speculative fiction for much of her career. She is the author of two award-winning novels, Madigan Mine and Perfections, along with two collections of short fiction, Caution: Contains Small Parts and Hard Places. Her stories and poetry have been published in various magazines, journals and anthologies within Australia and internationally, with her most recent work being Never Afters, a collection of novellas that retell classic fairy tales. Her next novel, What the Bones Know, is due to be published by Mira/HarperCollins in February 2026. She also holds a PhD in creative writing with a research focus on re-visioned fairy tales and for many years produced and co-hosted a literary discussion podcast, The Writer and the Critic. Kirstyn lives in Ballarat, Australia, with fellow writer Jason Nahrung and two distinctly non-literary felines. She can be found online at www.kirstynmcdermott.com.