Richard Harland lives between the golden beaches and green hills of Wollongong, south of Sydney in Australia. For 10 years, he was a university academic, with three published books on the philosophy of language. Then he resigned to become a full-time writer. He has published SF thrillers (the Eddon and Vail series), a fantasy trilogy (the Ferren books) and two gothic cult novels. His latest novel, The Black Crusade, won the Aurealis Award for Best Novel in any category of SF, fantasy or horror.