Carol Ryles Carol Ryles i(A74210 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 1 y separately published work icon The Eternal Machine Carol Ryles , Australia : Myrtales Press , 2022 23913185 2022 single work novel science fiction fantasy

'A woman with the strength to rebel. A shapeshifter who wears the souls of the dead. Together, they face a lethal enemy. Em helped create it. Now she must craft its defeat.

'In a city owned by industrialists, Em sells her magic to make ends meet. The extraction procedure is brutal and potentially deadly. Desperate for change, she joins an underground resistance movement to weaponize her magic and stop the abuse of workers.

'Meanwhile, a mysterious voice wakes Ruk from a decades long slumber and compels him to become human. He wants to break free but is torn between his shapeshifter instincts and the needs of the soul that sustains him.

'On streets haunted by outcasts and predatory automatons, a new danger emerges – an ever-growing corruption of magic and science. Em and Ruk must put aside their differences and pursue it – each for their own reasons.

'What they discover will forever change their lives… Or end them.

"Victoriana comes to Sydney in an alternative 19th Century, bringing dark

'Dickensian factories and even darker souls. Mages too, practising heart magic and skin magic, along with shapeshifters, demons and automata. Mix in a mad scientist, a touch of romance and a plot to keep you guessing—wild! What’s not to love? Highly recommended."—Richard Harland.' (Publication summary)

1 She Who Played for the Morrocks Carol Ryles , 2021 single work short story fantasy
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 145 2021;
1 The Silence of Clockwork Carol Ryles , 2014 single work short story fantasy horror
— Appears in: The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2013 2014;
1 Siri and the Chaos-Maker Carol Ryles , 2014 single work short story science fiction romance
— Appears in: Kisses by Clockwork 2014; (p. 53-72)

In city that depends on highly trained singers to keep their clockwork machines in perfectly working order, one such singer, Siri, comes up against a chaos-maker, a man of power who despises the predictability of clockwork.

1 Steampunk : Imagined Histories and Technologies of Science and Fantasy Carol Ryles , 2013 single work essay
— Appears in: Heart Fire; and Steampunk : Imagined Histories and Technologies of Science and Fantasy 2013; (p. 311-374)

'With reference to James P. Blaylock’s Homunculus, China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station and Ekaterina Sedia’s The Alchemy of Stone, this exegesis explores the writing of Heart Fire as a steampunk text from the perspective of a writer in the genre of fantasy. It argues that steampunk is not limited to texts representing steamdriven machinery, but also includes fantastical texts that rely on pseudo-Victorianism often set in imaginary worlds characterized by anachronism, pseudoscience, technofantasy, magic, hybridity and imagined events inspired by science fictional history as well as real history.'

Source : Author's Abstract

1 1 Heart Fire Carol Ryles , 2013 single work novel fantasy
— Appears in: Heart Fire; and Steampunk : Imagined Histories and Technologies of Science and Fantasy 2013; (p. 1-310)

'The novel Heart Fire addresses steampunk’s darker side from the perspective of rebellious commoners battling a demon-haunted scientist and deadly automatons.

In the city of Forsham, all people are born with magic of varying degrees. The upper classes have been bred to have potentially destructive heart-magic, while the lower classes are supposedly left with weak and manageable skin-magic. Disaster strikes when factory owner, Sir Mathias Grindle – a mage without power – consorts with demons and attempts to elevate his position by eliminating all heart-magic.

Ju Weatherton is a commoner with too much magic who vows to overthrow the mages who suppress her. She joins forces with an outcast shapeshifter and a misfit dandy when another shapeshifter turned to stone in a human woman’s womb tricks her into facing Sir Mathias’s demons. Meanwhile Sir Mathias’s soul-stealing automatons terrorize Forsham’s skies, tearing out people’s heart-magic to transplant it into machines to provide them with perpetual motion.

The novel explores class oppression, Otherness, the use and misuse of technology in a pseudo-Victorian otherworld alongside the themes of friendship, trust, love, loss, grief and betrayal.'

Source: Author's Blurb

1 y separately published work icon Heart Fire; and Steampunk : Imagined Histories and Technologies of Science and Fantasy Carol Ryles , Perth : University of Western Australia , 2013 10482052 2013 single work thesis

Heart Fire

The novel Heart Fire addresses steampunk’s darker side from the perspective of rebellious commoners battling a demon-haunted scientist and deadly automatons.

In the city of Forsham, all people are born with magic of varying degrees. The upper classes have been bred to have potentially destructive heart-magic, while the lower classes are supposedly left with weak and manageable skin-magic. Disaster strikes when factory owner, Sir Mathias Grindle – a mage without power – consorts with demons and attempts to elevate his position by eliminating all heart-magic.

Ju Weatherton is a commoner with too much magic who vows to overthrow the mages who suppress her. She joins forces with an outcast shapeshifter and a misfit dandy when another shapeshifter turned to stone in a human woman’s womb tricks her into facing Sir Mathias’s demons. Meanwhile Sir Mathias’s soul-stealing automatons terrorize Forsham’s skies, tearing out people’s heart-magic to transplant it into machines to provide them with perpetual motion.

The novel explores class oppression, Otherness, the use and misuse of technology in a pseudo-Victorian otherworld alongside the themes of friendship, trust, love, loss, grief and betrayal.

Steampunk : Imagined Histories and Technologies of Science and Fantasy

With reference to James P. Blaylock’s Homunculus, China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station and Ekaterina Sedia’s The Alchemy of Stone, this exegesis explores the writing of Heart Fire as a steampunk text from the perspective of a writer in the genre of fantasy. It argues that steampunk is not limited to texts representing steamdriven machinery, but also includes fantastical texts that rely on pseudo-Victorianism often set in imaginary worlds characterized by anachronism, pseudoscience, technofantasy, magic, hybridity and imagined events inspired by science fictional history as well as real history.

1 Snake Charmer Carol Ryles , 2011 single work short story fantasy horror romance
— Appears in: More Scary Kisses 2011; (p. 41-56)
1 The Tide Martin J. Livings , Carol Ryles , Lezli Robyn , Kaaron Warren , Patty Jansen , Alan Baxter , Felicity Dowker , Andrew J. McKiernan , Chuck McKenzie , Devin Jeythurai , Daniel I. Russell , 2011 single work short story horror
— Appears in: Dead Red Heart : Australian Vampire Tales 2011; (p. 17-31)
1 Saint Olivia's Light Carol Ryles , 2011 single work short story fantasy
— Appears in: Winds of Change 2011; (p. 57-64)
1 Deeper than Flesh and Closer Carol Ryles , 2010 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Belong 2010; (p. 329-362)
1 Escaping Konakona Carol Ryles , 2007 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: TiconderogaOnline , Autumn no. 11 2007;
1 The Bridal Bier Carol Ryles , 2006 single work short story fantasy
— Appears in: Eidolon 1 2006; (p. 81-94)
1 Remembering Bliss Carol Ryles , 2004 single work short story science fiction fantasy
— Appears in: Encounters : An Anthology of Australian Speculative Fiction 2004; (p. 128-139)
1 The Retelling Carol Ryles , 2004 single work short story fantasy
— Appears in: Fables and Reflections , April no. 6 2004; (p. 6-15)
1 Orion's Womb Carol Ryles , 2003 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Elsewhere : An Anthology of Incredible Places 2003; (p. 20-28)

A spaceship pilot reflects on her ambition to live amongst the stars.

1 The Perfect Mate Carol Ryles , 2001 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Antipodean SF , May no. 39 2001;
1 Seas of Change Carol Ryles , 2000 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Eidolon : The Journal of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy , Autumn no. 29/30 2000; (p. 58-62)
1 Boom Baby Boom Carol Ryles , 2000 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Antipodean SF , January no. 23 2000;
1 Inheritance Carol Ryles , 2000 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Antipodean SF , December no. 34 2000;
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