Robert Phillips grew up in Adelaide, where he first started writing for theatre. His full-length science fiction play Technocraton was published by Heinemann in 1976. Moving to Canberra, he became an aviation risk analyst with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and its predecessors. This inspired him to write A Risky Life (Halstead Press, 2014), which describes the risks in life that people are likely to encounter. He has written several books, plays both long and short, articles, and short stories. His numerous technical papers, which often contained algebra, caused him to be accused of practicing black magic. Canberraesque was originally written in random order as a series of short stories for a writers' group that met at the ACT Writers Centre, of which he was Secretary for several years. He is also a member of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, which hasn't banned him yet despite his penchant for puns. A former Convenor of the Downer Community Association, he now lives in retirement with a Burmese cat in the Grand Duchy of North Lyneham. The author may be contacted via his website: www.robertphillips.com.au
