About Kyla Ward

Kyla Ward

© Cat Sparks
I was born (or so they tell me) in New South Wales, Australia, and have lived in various parts of it ever since. I gained a BA Communications. Hons. At the University of Technology, Sydney, and my work history demonstrates the interesting variety so often associated with such degrees. Presently a freelance writer and actor.

The New Weekly magazine once called me a genre cliché.

Writing: Fiction

I am a co-author of the novel Prismatic, under the name Edwina Grey. I have had short fiction published in Ticonderoga Online, Shadowed Realms, Borderlands, Gothic.Net, Agog!, Agog! 2, Passing Strange and Aurealis. My poetry appeared in Bloodsongs, Abbadon and gothic.net. I have made Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's Year's Best honours list four times, once for poetry. My stories 'Kijin Tea' and 'The Bat's Boudoir' have been shortlisted for Ditmar and Aurealis Awards.

Writing: Non-fiction

During its lifespan, I contributed many articles to Burnt Toast. This association led to my becoming co-editor, with David Carroll, of Tabula Rasa. This in turn led to us co-writing the Australian entry to the BFI Companion to Horror, ed. Kim Newman, Cassell, 1996.

I also have non-fiction in various issues of Black Magazine, Art Monthly Australia, Black Gate, Bloodsongs and Viewpoint magazines. My interview with Robert Hood appeared in his anthology Immaterial.

Writing: Gaming

The first piece of writing I ever sold was an article to Australian Realms magazine. I have since added Dragon Magazine, Pyramid and d20weekly.com to the list.

I contributed to White Wolf's Demon: The Fallen game line. I also worked on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game from Eden Games Studio, and have Unisystem material available on-line as part of Eden's Mystical Places page.

Of course, I wrote and ran my own LARPs or freeform games at Sydney clubs and conventions for years. The Masquerade, a 50-player game set in 18th century France, was run as a charity fundraiser in 1993.

Acting:

I am a member of the Theatre of Blood reparatory company with a number of roles in their current productions. Previous outings include the miniseries Mary Bryant, the educational video A Page In History a very strange ad for Connex and the "festal follies" of the Medieval and Renaissance Society. As well as playing the lead, I wrote and produced the short film Bad Reception, which premiered at A Night of Horror 2009 and screened at the Vampire Film Festival in New Orleans.

Other Things:

I have worked on a number of short films in crew roles ranging from Assistant Director to Sound Recordist.

My artwork has appeared in Fables and Reflections, on the cover of Epiphanies of Blood -- Tales of Desperation and Thirst (MirrorDanse, 1998), in Southern Blood (Sandglass, 2003), Borderlands, Bloodsongs, Tabula Rasa and Burnt Toast.

In 1995 and 1996 I organised and ran 'The Great Escape', a publicity event for Australian speculative fiction at the Sydcon roleplaying convention. It featured displays, sales, signings and writer's workshops, plus Bill Congreve, Terry Dowling, Richard Harland, Rob Hood, Kate Orman, Sean Williams and the giant brain slug from The Roly-Poly Man.

And that's pretty much it to date. More to follow.