Born Melbourne 1944; grew up in Coburg and Reservoir; technical school education in working class Abbotsford, Melbourne, to Intermediate Certificate; 2 years in junior seminary of Blessed Sacrament Fathers, Bowral, NSW, completing Leaving Certificate; Arts degree at Monash (1962-6); co-editor of Monash student newspaper, inventing its name Lot's Wife (1964-5); worked variously as journalist, including stint with world's first pop music paper Go-Set (1967); studied computer programming 1975; freelance writing before and since. Credited in Nicholls/Clute Encyclopedia of Science Fiction with first use of the term "virtual reality" (in The Judas Mandala, 1982).

Currently full-time freelance writer and (unpaid, duty-free) Senior Fellow in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne. Four Australian Literature Board/Fund writing fellowships, 1980, 1984, 1990, 1995, one from ArtsVic 1998; various literary prizes (Schrödinger's Dog was Australia's entry for 1995 Prix Italia international radio drama award).

PhD for interdisciplinary dissertation analysing discursive structures of sciences and humanities, Deakin University, 1990. Science fiction reviewer for Age during 1980s; now regularly reviews science books for the Weekend Australian national newspaper. Lives with partner Barbara Lamar in Melbourne, Australia, and San Antonio, Texas.

Biography provided by the author, September 2002