Named after a Melbourne bookshop co-owned by Paul Collins and Rowena Cory, the Cory and Collins press was founded in 1981, following Collins's decision to close down Void Publications. The first title to be released by the new publishing house was the anthology, Distant Worlds (1981). One of the stories, Keith Taylor's "Where Silence Rules" won the 1982 Ditmar Award for Best Original Australian SF. That same year Jack Wodhams Future War (1982) became the first science fiction collection to be published by an Australian science fiction small press. In 1983 Cory and Collins published a further four titles - the anthology Frontier Worlds and three novels.
Sean McMullen notes that Cory, an artist, contributed a series of bright, primary-colour paintings for the covers, clearly defined the books as science fiction, 'something absolutely vital for marketing and distribution' ('Suffer,' n. pag.) Interestingly Void's trademark continued to be used on the spines of Cory and Collin's publications.
Cory and Collins wound up in 1985 when Collins decided to concentrate on his own
writing. In all the company published 14 titles, featuring such authors as Keith Taylor and Russell Blackford for fantasy, and A. Bertram Chandler, Wynne Whiteford, Jack Wodhams and David Lake for science fiction.
