Alan Richard Baxter (born 18 April 1970,

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, United Kingdom) is a British-Australian author of

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

thrillers, horror and

dark fantasy Dark fantasy, also called fantasy horror, is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporates disturbing and frightening themes. The term is ambiguously used to describe stories that combine horror fiction, horror ...

, and a teacher and practitioner of

kung fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

and

qi gong Qigong ()) is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine, Chin ...

. He has published several novels, novellas, collections, and over 100 short stories. He has also co-written several novels with American action-adventure author, David Wood. He has won four Australian Shadows Awards and one

Aurealis Award The Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award. History The Aurealis Award was established in 1995 by ...

Early life and influences

Baxter was born in 1970 in

Crawley Crawley () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a populat ...

, UK. At the age of 7, his family moved to

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

where Baxter remained until emigrating to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

permanently in 1999 after 2 years of world travel. His earliest writing was an infamous short story in school, aged 7.^{unreliable source?''">Wikipedia:Reliable sources">unreliable source?''/sup>

His interest in speculative and genre fiction persisted from childhood into adulthood. He maintains that everyone reads speculative fiction

Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...
as children, but at some point some people choose to stop. Drawn especially to dark fiction and horror, Baxter cites among his influences people such as Clive Barker

Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English writer, filmmaker, and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of short stories collectively named the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading horror author ...
, H P Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Kaaron Warren, and Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
. Baxter has also cited comic books as being big influences on his work, in particular work like Garth Ennis's "Hellblazer" and Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...
's "Sandman". Baxter's dark urban horror thrillers often feature realistic violence, often gleaned from first-hand experience, the author having spent a lifetime training and teaching martial arts. Baxter has often expressed his love of mashing genres and writing across formats. His work regularly addresses themes of death and mortality, and the justices and injustices in life.

Personal life

Aside from writing, the other main professional focus of Baxter's life has been martial arts. He says that running up against bullies in school drove him towards competitive martial arts in his childhood, and that he found a lifelong path there. After studying a variety of arts, he is now a practitioner and teacher of Choy Lee Fut Kung Fu, and is an international master and Fire Dragon Disciple of Grandmaster Chen Yong Fa. Baxter has competed in a number of competitions in the UK, Australia, and China. In 1996 he won the British Wutan Federation National Championship title in the UK.

Baxter is married to Glover Prize-winning Australian artist, Halinka Orszulok.

Awards

Baxter's writing accolades include being a thirteen-time finalist in the Aurealis Award

The Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award.
History
The Aurealis Award was established in 1995 by ...
s, an eight-time finalist in the Australian Shadows Awards and a fourteen-time finalist in the Ditmar Awards. He won the 2014 Australian Shadows Award for Best Short Story ("Shadows of the Lonely Dead"), the 2015 Australian Shadows Paul Haines Award For Long Fiction ("In Vaulted Halls Entombed"), the 2016 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collection (''Crow Shine''), and the 2019 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collection (''Served Cold''). He is also a past winner of the AHWA Short Story Competition ("It's Always the Children Who Suffer"). Alan's work has made the Preliminary Ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards three times (''Crow Shine'', 2016 Bram Stoker Award (TM) for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection, The Gulp 2021 Bram Stoker Award (TM) for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection, and ''Sallow Bend'' 2022 Bram Stoker Award

The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing.
History
The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since ...
for Superior Achievement in a Novel).

Alan's 2015 Australian Shadows Paul Haines Award-winning story, "In Vaulted Halls Entombed", was adapted for Season 3 of the Netflix Original Series, Love, Death & Robots.

From November 2020 to November 2023, Baxter was President of th
Australasian Horror Writers Association
He's also a Full Active Member of the US-based Horror Writer's Association.

*THE LEAVES FORGET – a supernatural mystery novella (Absinthe Books, September 2023) – Finalist for the 2023 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novella; Finalist for the 2023 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novella
*"All the Eyes That See" – ''Cosmic Horror Monthly'' issue #42, ed. Charles Tyra (December 2023) Finalist for the 2023 Australian Shadows Award for Short Fiction
*''SALLOW BEND'' – Finalist for the 2022 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel; Finalist for the 2022 Ditmar Award for Best Novel
*''DAMNATION GAMES'' – Finalist for the 2022 Ditmar Award for Best Horror Collected Work
*''THE FALL: Tales From The Gulp 2'' – Finalist for the 2022 Aurealis Award for Best Collection; Finalist for the 2022 Ditmar Award for Best Horror Collected Work
*"Gulpepper Curios" – 2022 Ditmar Award finalist for Best Novella
*''THE GULP: Tales From The Gulp 1'' – Australian cosmic horror novella collection/mosaic novel (Self-published, January 2021) – Winner of the 2021 Aurealis Award for Best Collection; preliminary ballot for the 2021 Bram Stoker Award (TM) for Best Collection; 2021 Ditmar Awards Finalist for Best Collected Work
*"The Band Plays On" (from The Gulp) – 2021 Aurealis Awards Finalist for Best Horror Novella
*"Mother in Bloom" (from The Gulp) – 2021 Aurealis Awards Finalist for Best Fantasy Novella
*''GHOST RECALL: Eli Carver 3'' – Finalist for the 2021 Ditmar Award for Best Novella
*''THE ROO'' – Finalist for the 2020 Ditmar Award for Best Novella
*SERVED COLD – (Grey Matter Press, ed. Anthony Rivera, September 2019) – Winner of the 2019 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collected Work.
* "The Ocean Hushed The Stones" – Served Cold (Grey Matter Press, September 2019) – Finalist for the 2019 Australian Shadows Award for Best Short Story.
* "Yellowheart" – Served Cold (Grey Matter Press, September 2019) – Finalist for the 2019 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novella.
* DEVOURING DARK – (Grey Matter Press, 2018) Finalist for the 2018 Australian Shadows Award for Best Novel.
* DEVOURING DARK – (Grey Matter Press, 2018) Finalist for the 2018 Ditmar Award for Best Novel.
* DEVOURING DARK – (Grey Matter Press, 2018) Finalist for the 2018 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel.
* "Crying Demon" – Suspended In Dusk 2 (ed. Simon Dewar, Grey Matter Press, August 2018). Finalist for the 2018 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story.
* The Book Club – (PS Publishing, May 2017) – Finalist for the 2017 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novella.
* Crow Shine – (Ticonderoga Publications, September 2016) – Winner of the 2016 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collected Work; Finalist for the 2016 Aurealis Award for Best Collection, Finalist for the 2016 Ditmar Award for Best Collected Work.
* "Served Cold" – Dreaming in the Dark anthology (ed. Jack Dann, PS Publishing, December 2016) – Finalist for the 2016 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novella]; Finalist for the Australian Shadows Awards, 2016 Australian Shadows Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction.
* "Raven's First Flight" – SNAFU: Black Ops anthology (ed. Geoff Brown & A J Spedding, Cohesion Press, September 2016) – Finalist for the 2016 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novella.
* "In Vaulted Halls Entombed" – SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest anthology (ed. Geoff Brown & A J Spedding, Cohesion Press, September 2015) Winner Australian Shadows Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction 2015 – Novelette
* "The Chart of the Vagrant Mariner" nominated for the 2015 Ditmar Award for Best Short Story; included on the Tangent Online 2015 Recommended Reading List; reprinted in Year's Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2015 (Ticonderoga Publications); included on Ellen Datlow's Honorable Mentions Long List for The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 8.
* "Shadows of the Lonely Dead" (Suspended In Dusk anthology, Books of the Dead Press, ed. Simon Dewar) Winner of the 2014 Australian Shadows Award for Best Short Story
* "Mephisto" finalist in the 2014 Australian Shadows Awards for Best Short Story
* "Obsidian: Alex Caine #2" finalist for the 2014 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel
* "Bound: Alex Caine #1" finalist for the 2014 Ditmar Award for Best Novel
* "The Darkness in Clara" finalist for 2014 Ditmar Award for Best Novelette or Novella; included on Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year Vol. 7 Recommended Reading Long List; included on Recommended Reading List, Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2014, ed. Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene, Ticonderoga Publications
* "Not the Worst of Sins" finalist for Best Short Story Ditmar Award, 2013
* "It's Always the Children Who Suffer" – Joint winner of the 2013 AHWA Short Story Competition
* Nominated for a Ditmar Award – Best New Talent, 2011

Bibliography

Novels

*2024
Blood Covenant
(Cemetery Dance Publications)
* 2022
Sallow Bend
(Cemetery Dance Publications)
*2018
Devouring Dark
(Grey Matter Press)
*2018
Hidden City
(Gryphonwood Press)
*2014
Abduction – Alex Caine Book 3
(HarperVoyager)
*2014
Obsidian – Alex Caine Book 2
(HarperVoyager)
*2014
Bound – Alex Caine Book 1
(HarperVoyager)
*2010
MageSign – The Balance Book 1
(Gryphonwood Press
*2010
RealmShift – The Balance Book 2
(Gryphonwood Press)
Novels (Co-Authored with David Wood)

* 2020
Sanctum – Jake Crowley Adventures Book 0
(Adrenaline Press)
* 2019
Crocalypse – Sam Aston Investigations Book 3
(Adrenaline Press)
* 2019
Revenant – Jake Crowley Adventures Book 3
(Adrenaline Press)
* 2018
Overlord – Sam Aston Investigations Book 2
(Adrenaline Press)
* 2017
Primordial – Sam Aston Investigations Book 1
(Adrenaline Press)
* 2017
Anusbis Key – Jake Crowley Adventures Book 2
(Adrenaline Press)
* 2016
Blood Codex – Jake Crowley Adventures Book 1
(Adrenaline Press)
* 2013
Dark Rite
(Gryphonwood Press)
Collections

* 2021
The Fall: Tales From The Gulp 2
(self-published)
* 2020
The Gulp: Tales From The Gulp #1
(self-published)
* 2019
Served Cold
(Grey Matter Press)
* 2016
Crow Shine
(Ticonderoga Publications)
Novellas

* 2023
The Leaves Forget
(Absinthe Books)
* 2021
Ghost Recall
(Grey Matter Press)
* 2020
The Roo
(self-published)
* 2020
Recall Night
(Grey Matter Press)
* 2018
Manifest Recall
(Grey Matter Press)
* 2017
The Book Club
(PS Publishing)
* 2010
Ghost of the Black
(self-published)
Short stories

* A full bibliography of Baxter's work can be found on his website.

External links

Alan Baxter's website
*
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, Alan
1970 births
21st-century Australian novelists
Australian male novelists
Australian science fiction writers
Australian male short story writers
Living people
Australian publishers (people)
British science fiction writers
21st-century Australian short story writers
21st-century Australian male writers}