person or book cover
Source: www.amazon.com
Cat Sparks Cat Sparks i(A72459 works by) (a.k.a. Catriona Sparks)
Born: Established: 1965 Sydney, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 1 y separately published work icon Calvaria Fell : Stories Cat Sparks , Kaaron Warren , Atlanta : Meerkat Press , 2024 27520205 2024 selected work short story

'Calvaria Fell is a stunning collaborative collection of weird tales from two acclaimed authors, Kaaron Warren and Cat Sparks. It features previously published stories from both authors, along with a new novella by Kaaron Warren and four new stories by Cat Sparks. The collection offers a glimpse into a chilling future world that is similar to our own. Readers will be drawn into experiences at once familiar and bizarre, where our choices have far-reaching consequences and the environment is a force to be reckoned with. The title of the collection tethers these stories to a shared space. The calvaria is the top part of the skull, comprising five plates that fuse together in the first few years of life. Story collections work like this; disparate parts melding together to make a robust and sturdy whole. The calvaria tree, also known as the dodo tree, adapted to being eaten by the now-extinct dodo bird; its seeds need to pass through the bird’s digestive tract in order to germinate. In a similar way, the stories in Calvaria Fell reflect the idea of adaptation and the consequences of our actions in a changing world.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 The Space Between All Possible Ways Cat Sparks , 2022 single work short story
— Appears in: Phase Change 2022;
1 Dead Men Cat Sparks , 2022 single work short story
— Appears in: From the Wasteland 2022;

'Digging for the truth in Cat Sparks’ ‘Dead Men’, teenage friends uncover more truths than they expect when a fierce storm washes up old technological artifacts.'

Source: https://clarerhoden.com/from-the-wasteland-the-writers/from-the-waste-land-meet-the-stories/

1 Dreams of Hercules Cat Sparks , 2021 single work short story
— Appears in: Relics, Wrecks and Ruins 2021; (p. 317-334)
1 Hacking Santorini Cat Sparks , 2020 single work short story
— Appears in: Dark Harvest 2020;
1 3 y separately published work icon Dark Harvest Cat Sparks , England : NewCon Press , 2020 19689020 2020 selected work short story

'Multiple award-winning author Cat Sparks writes science fiction with a distinctly Australian flavour – stories steeped in the desperate anarchy of Mad Max futures, redolent with scorching sun and the harshness of desert sands, but her narratives reach deeper than that. In her tales of ordinary people adapting to post-apocalyptic futures, she casts a light on what it means to be human; the good and the bad, the noble and the shameful.

'Dark Harvest gathers together Cat’s best short fiction of recent years, as selected by the author herself: fourteen stories, two of them novelettes, including one brand new tale and two Ditmar Award winners.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Cassini Falling Cat Sparks , 2019 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Antipodean SF , May no. 250 2019;
1 Before Dominica Cat Sparks , 2019 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Kaleidotrope , Autumn 2019;
1 You Will Remember Who You Were Cat Sparks , 2019 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Dimension6 , no. 16 2019;
1 y separately published work icon Capitalocene Dreams : Dark Tales of Near Futures & The 21st Century Catastrophe : Hyper-capitalism and Severe Climate Change in Science Fiction Cat Sparks , Perth : 2018 16429751 2018 single work thesis

'This thesis investigates the research question: What is the role of speculative fiction in a climate changed world? The short story collection: Capitalocene Dreams: Dark Tales of Near Futures explores life on the fringes of disintegrating Australian enclaves during the dying days of neoliberal excess. The exegesis: The 21st Century Catastrophe: Hyper-capitalism and Severe Climate Change in Science Fiction, contrasts ecocatastrophe science fiction of the sixties and seventies with contemporary climate or Anthropocene fiction.'

Source: Curtin University.

1 Why Speculate – the Current State of ‘Spec-Fic’ Publishing Rose Michael , Cat Sparks , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 51 2018;

'This collaborative paper explores how the ‘spec-fic’ category may be responding to contemporary political and environmental challenges. It presents two case studies, in the personal writing and professional publishing experiences of authors Rose Michael and Cat Sparks, to consider the ways speculative fiction engages with real-world concerns. The paper acknowledges the genre’s contested relationship to harder-to-categorise cross-genre or interstitial forms of non-realist fiction, as well as its obvious antecedents in science fiction and its arguable overlap with ‘big L’ literature. As creative practitioners and published authors who dis/identify with generic labels in different ways, the authors contend that the use, misuse, and abuse of genre conventions has been, and continues to be, personally and professionally productive – particularly in a contemporary publishing landscape impacted by changes to technology and platforms that have transformed traditional relationships and roles.'  (Publication abstract)

1 And the Ship Sails On Cat Sparks , 2018 single work novella
— Appears in: Aurum : A Golden Anthology of Australian Fantasy 2018; (p. 139-176)
1 Fata Morgana Cat Sparks , 2018 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Mother of Invention 2018; (p. 117-140)
1 Science Fiction and Climate Fiction : Contemporary Literatures of Purpose Cat Sparks , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Ecopunk! Speculative Tales of Radical Futures 2017; (p. 17-20)
1 Prayers to Broken Stone Cat Sparks , 2017 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Kaleidotrope , Spring 2017;
1 y separately published work icon Ecopunk! Speculative Tales of Radical Futures Cat Sparks (editor), Liz Grzyb (editor), Nedlands : Ticonderoga Publications , 2017 10702076 2017 anthology short story

A collection of cli-fi and eco-thriller short stories, but with a focus on optimistic endings and problem-solving, rather than a post-apocalyptic or dystopian mood.

1 6 y separately published work icon Lotus Blue Cat Sparks , Manhattan : Talos Press , 2017 10600341 2017 single work novel science fiction

'Powerful war machines of the far-future collide across a barren desert world in this post-apocalyptic debut novel from award-winning Australian author Cat Sparks.

'Seventeen-year-old Star and her sister Nene are orphans, part of a thirteen-wagon caravan of nomadic traders living hard lives travelling the Sand Road. Their route cuts through a particularly dangerous and unforgiving section of the Dead Red Heart, a war-ravaged desert landscape plagued by rogue semi-sentient machinery and other monsters from a bygone age.

'But when the caravan witnesses a relic-Angel satellite unexpectedly crash to Earth, a chain of events begins that sends Star on a journey far away from the life she once knew. Shanghaied upon the sandship Dogwatch, she is forced to cross the Obsidian Sea by Quarrel, an ancient Templar supersoldier. Eventually shipwrecked, Star will have no choice but to place her trust in both thieves and priestesses while coming to terms with the grim reality of her past—and the horror of her unfolding destiny—as the terrible secret her sister had been desperate to protect her from begins to unravel.

'Meanwhile, something old and powerful has woken in the desert. A Lotus Blue, deadliest of all the ancient war machines. A warrior with plans of its own, far more significant than a fallen Angel. Plans that do not include the survival of humanity.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 No Fat Chicks Cat Sparks , 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: In Your Face 2016; (p. 1-18)

In the near future, a mystery virus has rendered all women obese, and one group of male friends are not coping with the new world order at all well.

1 Dragon Girl Cat Sparks , 2015 single work short story
— Appears in: The Never Never Land 2015; (p. 289-298) The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2015 2017;
1 Hot Rods Cat Sparks , 2015 single work short story
— Appears in: Loosed Upon the World : The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction 2015; (p. 487-510)
'The winds blow pretty regular across the dried-up lake. Traction’s good — when luck’s on your side you can reach three hundred KPH or faster. Harper watches the hot rods race on thick white salt so pure and bright the satellites use it for colour calibration…' A near future tale of climate change, weaponised weather, and flying Elvis.
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