My Bio

I was born in Melbourne, Australia, went to Preshil, Strathcona and Monash University where I studied history and RMIT where I studied librarianship.

I’ve had a variety of careers, including fruit picker and Occult librarian and lived in Germany and Denmark for a decade.  Now I’m back in my beloved Melbourne and working for the railways.

I’ve published 3 books as me – Mage Heart and the Aurealis award winners Fire Angels and Aramaya, and one book as Rebecca Locksley – The Three Sisters.  My short stories
have been widely anthologized, appeared in Meanjin and read on the ABC.

 

My favourite writers are Jane Austen, Angela Carter, Sara Douglass, Janet Evanovich, and Gail Carriger.

My current life ambition is to see an erupting volcano.

Awards

2000 Nominated for a Ditmar Award for “To Avalon”

1999 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel for Aramaya.

1998 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel for Fire Angels

1989 Winner Moonee Valley Library Short Story Competition for “Red Roses”

 

 

 

 

Books

Mage Heart

Provincial and naive – and a powerful mage – young Dion is an innocent adrift in a world of intriguesand treacheries with hungry demons lurking just beyond its borders.  And now she has been called up to protect the Dukes favourite mistress : the extraordinary Kitten Avignon, Our Lady of Roses.  The mesmirising courtesan is a woman in dire peril, stalked by a necromancer who will not sleep until his beautiful prey suffers horribly.

 

Reviews

“One of the genres bright new stars… Routley produces a fantasy that can be read for more than myth or pyrotechnics… While many fantasists simply add magic to political intrigue, Routley’s are noteworthy for the natural and inevitable intertwining of the two.  Well drawn backgrounds and characters add to the appeal.” Publishers Weekly

“A highly original romatic fantasy ” – Cherry Wilder, author of Signs of Life

Ebook edition : http://clandestinepress.com.au

Fire Angels

An accomplished fantasy of maturity and depth, Routley’s second novel (after Mage Heart) continues the story of Dion Holyhands, raised by a stern foster father to develop her outstanding magical powers.  Here, Dion is re-introduced to the extended family she had lost and continues her coming of age, including renewed battle against her lover and foe the demon Bedazzer.  Dion is a strong character but often overcome by self-doubt and guilt.  Aided by the gypsylike Wanderers, she finds that her magic has destined her for a central role in the government of her homeland, Moria. Publishers Weekly

Ebook edition : http://clandestinepress.com.au

 

 

 

Aramaya

The third outing (after Fire Angels) of the mage Dion Holyhands…takes her across the ocean to the land of Aramaya, the centre of civilization and she suspects, the current home of her missing niece Syndal… Dion and her friend Kitten survive the shipwreck to reach Akieva… Dions niece turns out to be in thrall to a powerful conspiracy of necromancers. Like its predecessors, the book combines romance, mystery and adventure in a fantasy setting…

Routley deserves credit for superior world-building and above average characterization… covering familiar ground with more aplomb than many of her collegues.  Publishers Weekly

Ebook edition : http://clandestinepress.com.au

 

 

 

The Three Sisters

Once the Tari – a mysterious race of visionaries and healers whose power has since faded to legend - ruled in Yarmar.  Then the armies of the Mir came to destroy and enslave.  Now in their relentless drive for domination, the cruel Mirayan Prince Scarvan and his loyal duke Wolf Madraga have both claimed a prize beyond compare. She is called Elena Starchild, the bewitching wife of a newly slain woodlands leader.  She is Tari, possessing a “fatal beauty”  that confounds and obssess her captors. 

Drawn from their island home by a sisters plight, a warrior and a sorceress return to an oppressed land, carrying with them the magic of hope, spirit and glorious rebellion.  But there are shadows in their own pasts that first must be conquered before a prisoner is freed… and a mighty destiny can come to pass. 

“Rebecca Lockesley writes with a freshness and vigour rare in today’s crowded market.  Her characters are a dextrous mixture of the astute, the delightful, and the deceptive, displaying the full range of human weakness and wonder – no wonder the plot glides forward so effortlessly.”  Sara Douglass

Short Stories

“The Goddess Wakes” (1995) in She’s Fantastical (ed. Lucy Sussex and Judith Buckrich)

“The Empty Quarter” (1996) in Dream Weavers (ed. Paul Collins)

“Stealing the Seed” (1997) in Eidolon, Issue 24, Autumn 1997 (ed. Jonathan Strahan, Jeremy G.Byrne, Richard Scriven)

“To Avalon” (1998) in Dreaming Down-Under (ed. Jack Dann, Janeen Webb)

“City of Whirlwinds” (1998) in Fantastic Worlds (ed. Paul Collins)

“Liars Brooch” (2001) in Spinouts (ed. Paul Collins)

“A New Creation” (2002) in Meanjin. Volume 61, Number 3 2002 (ed. Michael McGirr)

“Celia” (2007) in Cicada Vol. 10 No 2, Nov/Dec 2007 (ed. Marianne Carus)

“The Seal Wife” in (2010) Roar and Thunder Speculative Fiction Magazine http://roarandthunder.com.au

“Bats” (2011) in Dead Red Heart : Australian Vampire Stories (ed. Russell B.Farr)