Carol Ryles worked for fifteen years as a registered nurse, including a three and a half year stint in occupational health on Hainan Island, China (1985-1989). During her time in Chttp://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A74210?editing=yes#hina she also taught English at various colleges and institutions in her spare time. In 2007 completed a BA in English (Hons 1) and later completed a PhD in Creative Writing (focussing on steampunk). A graduate of Clarion West 2008, Ryles served as a steering Committee member and editorial consultant for Trove, an online journal of creative writing from The University of Western Australia, between 2010 and 2012.
Although the idea of writing fiction had long appealed to Ryles, it was not until 1997 that she attempted to write a structured piece of work. Her first completed short story, ‘Seas of Change’, was Highly Commended in the inaugural Katharine Susannah Prichard Science Fiction and Fantasy Award (1998), and subsequently published in Eidolon 29/30 (2000). Since then she has appeared in such anthologies as Elsewhere (2003), Encounters (2004), Fables and Reflections 6 (2004), Eidolon 1 (2006), Belong (2010), More Scary Kisses (2011) and Winds of Chnage (2011), as well as in magazines and zines such as Antopidean SF and Jackhammer.
