Sean Williams

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Sean Williams was born in the dry, flat lands of South Australia, where he still lives with his wife and family. He has been called many things in his time, including 'the premier Australian speculative fiction writer of the age' (Aurealis), the 'Emperor of Sci-Fi' (Adelaide Advertiser), and the 'King of Chameleons' (Australian Book Review) for the diversity of his output. That award-winning output includes forty novels for readers all ages, eighty short stories across numerous genres, the odd published poem, and even a sci-fi musical. He is a multiple recipient of the Aurealis and Ditmar Awards in multiple categories and has been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Seiun Award, and the William Atheling Jr. Award for criticism. He received the 'SA Great' Literature Award in 2000 and the Peter McNamara Award for contributions to Australian speculative fiction in 2008.

When he’s not writing or in meetings he likes to eat chocolate and DJ, but rarely at the same time.

Author's Comment:  Q: I have read the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, I can see there is some influence in Jump. Where were you and what were were you doing when you came up with the idea for the Twinmaker series?

SW: Isn’t the Uglies series great? Scott (Westerfeld) and I have been friends for ages, and I remember talking about the idea for Jump with him long before I started writing it. I was worried that Jump might be too much like his books, but he reassured me they weren’t (and wrote an excellent blurb to back that up, much later). The idea of combining d-mat with urban myths and teen anxieties about appearance (not so different to grown-up anxieties) came to me in a flash one day – I don’t know where or how, but I remember sitting with Scott and trying to see if it would go somewhere interesting. So in a very real way he was there at the very beginning, and encouraged me to keep going.

Nationality: Australian