Meet Our Authors

Vicky Adin
Historical fiction author, Vicky Adin is a genealogist in love with history and words. After decades of research Vicky has combined her skills to write heart-warming novels about the early immigrants to New Zealand, weaving family and history together in a way that makes the past come alive. Her passion is for inter-generational sagas linked by journals, letters and heirlooms. Fascinated by the 19th Century women who undertook hazardous journeys to find a better life, Vicky draws her characters from real life stories - characters such as Brigid The Girl from County Clare and Gwenna The Welsh Confectioner, or Megan who discovers much about herself when she traces her family tree in The Cornish Knot. Her 2019 release, The Costumier's Gift, is the dual-timeline sequel to the family sagas of Brigid The Girl from County Clare and Gwenna The Welsh Confectioner. In 2020, Vicky released Portrait of a Man, the soul-searching conclusion to The Cornish Knot. Vicky Adin holds a MA(Hons) in English and Education. She is an avid reader of historical novels, family sagas and contemporary women’s stories and loves to travel. She especially enjoys caravanning around New Zealand with her husband and biggest fan; and spending time with her family.
Pat Backley
Pat Backley is an English woman, who at the age of 59 decided to become a Kiwi. She now lives in Auckland and when not writing, she loves to travel the world (Covid permitting) especially to Fiji where she has a large extended family
Stephen Johnson
Stephen Johnson is an Auckland writer whose debut novel, Tugga’s Mob, was a finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards for Best First Novel. It was inspired by three seasons working as a tour guide on double-decker buses around Europe in the 1980s; but written during a motorhome grand tour of the Continent in 2017. Stephen wanted to escape work - Tugga's Mob was the untended consequence of that freedom to explore and write. The story draws upon Stephen's travel experience and four decades as a TV producer in New Zealand and Australia. The Ngaio Marsh Awards opinion on Tugga's Mob: "An enjoyable thriller entwined with the classic antipodean OE. Well written with its mix of prose, diary entries and news commentary." The pandemic delayed publication of the second novel, Boxed, until 2021. It features the crime-solving current affairs crew from Tugga's Mob. If Stephen can't be found in his attic office overlooking the Tamaki River, it's probably because he's out paddling in the sea kayak.
Robyn Kamira
Robyn Kamira lives in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and hails from the northern tribe of Te Rarawa. She is a kaitiaki, guardian, of the writings of her great-grandfather, a tohunga, sage. After spending her life studying and writing about the esoteric knowledge of her people, recent world events and challenges have inspired her to share the knowledge of her ancestors. These books are under her pen-name Mariko B. Ryan. She is a new author but not a new writer. She has written for digital news sites, tribal newspapers, published several academic and non-academic articles, written several professional reports, and penned several chapters in other people's books.
Anna Klein

Anna Klein grew up on fantastical fairy tales and hasn't yet seen any reason to grow out of playing pretend. She was born in Hungary, and moved to Aotearoa New Zealand when she was seven years old. Anna completed a Masters degree in English in horror literature and now writes about sweet, geeky and slightly awkward people finding love. In addition to writing novels, she writes and runs live action roleplaying (LARP) events in a variety of genres. She loves to escape reality through books, TV, movies and roleplaying games. She believes art is the closest thing to magic in the world. She also likes pretty dresses, and cats, and lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her husband.

Andrene Low
Andrene, or Andie as her cozy mystery readers know her, has a love of writing instilled in her by her mother. Although, if her mum was still alive, she'd be smacking Andrene across the back of the head given the direction some of her writing has taken. Irreverent, cutting and reflecting her background as a stand-up comic, it's edgy with humour that can be very dark in places. She also enjoys a good bit of snark. Andrene lives in the beautiful Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand with Mia a tabby so keen on the local bird life, she's going the right way to end up decked out in enough bells to be mistaken for a furry little Morris Dancer.
Kirsten McKenzie
Kirsten McKenzie fought international crime for fourteen years as a Customs Officer in England and New Zealand, before leaving to work in the family antiques store. Now a full time author, she lives in New Zealand, alternating between writing time travel trilogies and polishing her next thriller. Her spare time is spent organising author events and appearing on literary panels at festivals around the world.
Karen McMillan
Karen McMillan is the author of 18 books, published in nine countries, a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and children's books. Her non-fiction titles include Everyday Strength, Unbreakable Spirit, Love Bytes, Feast or Famine, and From the Blitz to the Burmese Jungle and Beyond. Her fiction titles include the bestselling novels The Paris of the East, The Paris of the West and Brushstrokes of Memory. Karen is also the author of the popular Elastic Island Adventure series for children, that is in early development to be made into a series of animated movies. Karen was the resident book reviewer on The Cafe TV3 in 2019 and 2020, and she appears regularly in the media. She has been a speaker at many festivals and events, including the Going West Festival, the Devonport Arts Festival, the Tauranga Arts Festival, Brisbane Book Week (with thanks to Creative NZ Funding)​ and Hamilton Book Month.
Johanna Rae
 Author Johanna Rae is a former fashion designer and married mother of three. She lives in Hamilton, NZ, with her family and two gorgeous ragdoll cats: Macchiato (Macky) and Smudge. Balancing the needs of three sporty and musically inclined teenagers and her writing schedule doesn't always leave much time for leisure, but in the quiet moments, Johanna can be found crocheting up a storm or nursing her caffeine addiction.
John Reynolds
Dr John Reynolds is an independent writer. He has travelled widely and has had experience as a teacher/lecturer in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Canada, the USA and Zimbabwe. He has written five full-length musicals with local composers Gary Daverne and Shade Smith, and published four novels. He has a BA from the University of Auckland, an MA from San Jose State University, California (assisted by a grant from Creative New Zealand) and a PhD in Film, TV and Media Studies from the University of Auckland. As well as his writing and publishing he records audio books for Blind and Low Vision NZ
Rookery Publishing

Rookery Publishing is a boutique publisher of quality genre fiction by New Zealand based authors.
Jamie Sands
Jamie is a non-binary, pansexual kiwi who's always been wondering 'what if'? They write stories about ghosts, monsters, magic, love and how the world could be. Jamie grew up in Wellington but now lives in Auckland with their wonderful spouse and a round cat.

They also write sweet fluffy queer fiction under the name Jaxon Knight 
Darian Smith

Darian Smith writes mainly speculative fiction (fantasy) and lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife (who also writes) and their black cat (who doesn’t) and by day works with people living with haemophilia. He has won two Koru Awards, the SpecFicNZ/Steam Press manuscript competition, a Sir Julius Vogel Award, assorted short story competitions, and been a finalist for the international fantasy novel award known as SPFBO. Darian is a qualified counsellor/family therapist and has used this knowledge of psychology to create a resource for writers on developing characters and conflict in fiction. He can also be seen - by those very swift with the pause button - on television shows such as Legend of the Seeker and Spartacus where he is invariably a henchman of some kind and is most easily recognized on screen while being murdered by Spartacus.
Lizzi Tremayne 
Lizzi grew up riding wild in the Santa Cruz Mountain redwoods, became an equine veterinarian at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and practiced in the Gold and Pony Express Country of California before emigrating to New Zealand. She is the proud mother of two boys in that sea of green. When she's not writing, she's swinging a rapier or shooting a bow in medieval garb, riding or driving a carriage, playing in the garden on her hobby farm, singing, cooking, being an equine veterinarian or high school science teacher. She is multiply published and awarded in special interest magazines and veterinary periodicals. With her debut novel, A Long Trail Rolling, she was Finalist 2013 RWNZ Great Beginnings; Winner 2014 RWNZ Pacific Hearts Award for the unpublished full manuscript; Winner 2015 RWNZ Koru Award for Best First Novel and third in Koru Long Novel section; finalist in the 2015 Best Indie Book Award and Winner True West Magazine’s Best Western Romance 2016. Lizzi’s two current series are: The Long Trails saga of Historical Suspense/ Women’s Fiction novels and the Once Upon a Vet School series of multiple semi-autobiographical, age-relative works of Contemporary Women’s through Children’s Fiction. Her books are independently published by her own imprint, Blue Mist Publishing.