Steven Paulsen

Steven Paulsen
Born1955 (age 70–71)
Melbourne, Australia
OccupationsWriter, Editor
Writing career
Period1982 to present
GenresScience fiction, fantasy, horror
Websitestevenpaulsen.com

Steven Paulsen (born 1955) is an Australian writer and editor of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction whose work has been published in books and magazines around the world. He is the author of the best selling children's book, The Stray Cat, which has seen publication in several foreign language editions. His short story collection, Shadows on the Wall: Weird Tales of Science Fiction, Fantasy and the Supernatural), won the 2018 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collected Work, and his short stories have appeared in anthologies such as Dreaming Down-Under, Terror Australis: Best Australian Horror, Strange Fruit, Fantastic Worlds, The Cthulhu Cycle: Thirteen Tentacles of Terror, Cthulhu Deep Down Under: Volume 3, and Killer Creatures Down Under. His YA historical fantasy novel, Dream Weaver, was nominated for the 2024 Ditmar Award for Best Novel.

Paulsen has also written extensively about Australian speculative fiction in various publications including Bloodsongs, Eidolon (Australian magazine), Sirius, Interzone, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, Fantasy Annual, The St James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers, and The Melbourne University Press Encyclopedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy. In the 1990s he conceived and edited The Australian SF Writer's News, a writer's resource magazine for Australian Speculative Fiction writers, which was later incorporated into Aurealis magazine. He has conducted interviews with a variety of Australian Speculative Fiction writers, and was a judge for 2000 Aurealis Awards.

He has also co-edited two anthologies of horror, fantasy and science fiction short stories with Christopher Sequeira: Nosferatu Unbound (shortlisted for the 2024 Australasian Shadows awards for Best Collected Work); a collection of fiction by contemporary horror writers inspired by FW Murnau's masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema Nosferatu. Into the Cthulhu-Universe: Lovecraftian Horrors in Other Literary Realities; a collection of tales where strange Lovecraftian ideas have spilled into the worlds of characters readers know and love, like Alice's Wonderland, Tom Sawyer, Dracula, John Carter of Mars and more. Not mash-ups, but original stories in other literary landscapes.

Awards and nominations

Wins

Source:

Nominations

Source:

Contribution Wins

Source:

Bibliography

Books

English Language Editions
  • The Stray Cat (illustrated by Shaun Tan), Lothian Books, 1996. ISBN 978-0-85091-785-7
  • The Stray Cat (illustrated by Shaun Tan), Franklin Watts (UK), 1996. ISBN 978-0-7496-3523-7
  • Shadows on the Wall (Weird Tales of Science Fiction, Fantasy and the Supernatural), IFWG Publishing, 2018. ISBN 978-1-925496-44-4
  • Dream Weaver (YA Historical Fantasy novel), IFWG Publishing, 2023. ISBN 978-1-922856-35-7
Foreign Language Editions
Edited Anthologies

Short stories (selected)

Essays (selected)

  • "The State of the Australian Horror Fiction Magazine" – Bloodsongs No. 1, ed. Chris Masters and Steve Proposch, 1993
  • "The Quest for Australian Fantasy" (with Sean McMullen) – Aurealis No. 13, 1994
  • "The Search for Early Australian Horror" – Bloodsongs No. 2, ed. Chris Masters and Steve Proposch, 1994
  • "The Hunt for Australian Horror" (with Sean McMullen) – Aurealis No. 14, 1994 (reprinted in The Aurealis Mega Oz SF Anthology, edited by Stephen Higgins and Dirk Strasser (Chimaera Publications), 1999 and The Best of the Scream Factory, edited by Peter Enfantino, Robert Morrish and John Scoleri (Cemetry Dance Publications), 2019
  • "The Art of HAK" – Bloodsongs No. 3, ed. Chris Masters and Steve Proposch, 1994
  • "The State of the Aust. Horror Fiction Magazine (reprint) – SF Fan Resource Book, 1995
  • "Pulp Fiction in Oz" – Bloodsongs No. 4, ed. Chris Masters and Steve Proposch, 1995
  • "Kid's Stuff " – Bloodsongs No. 5, ed. Chris Masters and Steve Proposch, 1995
  • "The Hunt for Australian HorrorFiction" (with McMullen & Congreve) The ScreamFactory #16, 1995
  • "Australian Children's TV" (with Sean McMullen) – Sirius No. 10, 1995
  • "A Touch of Darkness – Gary Crew)" – Bloodsongs No. 6, ed. Chris Masters and Steve Proposch, 1995
  • "Cowboys and Atmosfear)" – Bloodsongs No. 7, ed. Chris Masters and Steve Proposch, 1996
  • "Australian Fantasy (with Sean McMullen)" – The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, ed. John Clute and John Grant, 1997
  • Author entries (with Sean McMullen) for Conrad Aiken, Gary Crew, Terry Dowling, G. M. Hague, Robert Hood, Victor Kelleher, Rick Kennett, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Rosemary Timperley – St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers (St. James Press), ed. David Pringle, 1997
  • "A History of Australian Horror (with Sean McMullen & Bill Congreve) " – Bonescribes: Year's Best Australian Horror: 1995 (1996) ed. Bill Congreve and Robert Hood, 1996
  • "The Quest for Australian Fantasy – Continues" (with Sean McMullen) – Fantasy Annual (USA), 1997
  • "Fantastique et horreur made in Australie" (with Bill Congreve) – Ténèbres No. 3, ed. Daniel Conrad (France), July 1998
  • "Golden Age or New Dawn?" – Aussiecon 3 Souvenir Book for the 57th World Science Fiction Convention, ed. Marc Ortlieb, 1999
  • "Hakwork: An Appreciation of John Brosnan" – Studies in Australian Weird Fiction Volume 3, ed. Benjamin Szumskyj, 2009

Editor (Non-Fiction)

  • The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy, 1998 (assistant editor with Sean McMullen and Paul Collins)
  • The Australian SF Writers' News – Editor, issues 1–10 (March 1992 – June 1994)
  • Eidolon – Contributing Editor, issues 19–27 (1995–1998)
  • The Coode St Review of Science Fiction (with Jonathan Strahan), 1999

Interviews (selected)

Steven Paulsen conducted interviews with a number a leading Australian Speculative Fiction writers during the 1990s. These were notable because Paulsen conducted most of these interviews face-to-face instead of via e-mail, recording the interviews and transcribing the conversations. He also conducted a few interviews in collaboration with Van Ikin.

References

Specific
  1. ↑ "AustLit Database listing for Steven Paulsen".
  2. 1 2 "sfadb : Steven Paulsen Awards". www.sfadb.com. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
  3. ↑ "2024 Australasian Shadows Awards Winners".
  4. ↑ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: Ditmar Nominees List". Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  5. ↑ "Australian Shadows Awards - Past Winners".
  6. ↑ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: Ditmar Nominees List". Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  7. ↑ "Australian Shadows Awards - Past Winners".
  8. ↑ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: Ditmar Nominees List". Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  9. ↑ "Australian Shadows Awards - Past Winners".
  10. ↑ "1999 World Fantasy Award Winners". Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  11. ↑ Dream Weaver. ISBN 978-1-922856-35-7.
  12. ↑ Nosferatu Unbound. ISBN 978-1-925759-61-7.
  13. ↑ Paulsen was "Assistant Editor" along with another Australian SF writer, Sean McMullen.
General