Long (~600 words)
Timothy writes from experience. A rich life filled with passionate relationships, diverse careers and questionable judgement has provided Timothy with a backlog of characters and situations competing for a place on his page.
Before he could write his own name, he was dictating poetry to his mum. Then in response to his reading diet, he began writing science-fiction short stories in his teenage years. While working at his first job as a computer administrator he escaped into a mind bending world of spiritualist and avante garde prose, between swapping backup tapes and dealing with data emergencies. Night shifts were often spiced with visits from drunk, beat-poet friends and his new wife.
Fleeing the soul sapping world of the corporate highrise, he began a journey of self discovery in the steel manufacturing industry. A workplace of deep cuts, high falls and swinging cranes was the breeding ground for ideas about labour, systems and authority. During this time he swapped suburbs for island life, bought a house, and had his first daughter.
The commute and other island lifestyle choices made unemployment the common state and while Timothy frequently joined this communal pass-time, he also did a correspondence course in journalism, taught in the local school as a teacher aide, started an organic farm and laboured on a canal estate. This did not get in the way of learning bass and forming a band; getting environmental in various groups; and spending the majority of his days at the beach with his daughter.
Kickstarting a period of tortured poetry, his marriage collapsed a few months after the birth of his second daughter. These years are better expressed as art than text. Through swirls of vivid-coloured smoke you might recognise scenes of construction work, single parenting, massive tanks of live fish, airports and a bizarre parade of bohemian characters that would defy credibility in fiction.
Eventually, this carnival of chaos settled into an easy rhythm and as the pungent mists cleared we would find Timothy back in suit and tie, guiding various corporate entities towards systems that improve quality, while applying similar approaches to bringing up his two teenage daughters. It was during these calmer days that he discovered Brisbane’s Vision Writers group and developed writing skills, learnt to critique and edit, and found a community of like minds.
While short fiction honed his skills and developed his pithy style, his visions and characters demanded a broader playing field. His first novel, The Ghost of Newsangtown, explores how we sugar-coat death, embrace the mercy-killing of animals, and support murder when it is authorised. Having never considered himself a horror writer, the tone of this novel surprised him. Though a quick browse through his opus of short stories should have been fair warning. His second novel, Tiphany Cuts Loose, delved even deeper into the darker side of his psyche. He eventually clawed his way back out, but not without scars and inky red smears.
Having tried his hand at every career and lifestyle that came his way in Australia, and with two successful and independent adult daughters, he ejected his old life before it went into continuous repeat. Taking his partner Kassandra with him, he now lives, writes and edits full time in Cambodia. Learning the language, and absorbing the culture, Timothy is now exploring identity as he gathers even more characters and stories to release into fictional worlds.
Medium (~180 words)
Timothy Marsh is a fiction novelist who cut his teeth writing short stories in the speculative fiction genre. His first novel, The Ghost of Newsangtown, is a thriller suited to young adult readers and is set in a contemporary city. His next novel, Tiphany Cuts Loose, is a rollicking sea epic set in a 17th century still populated with witch doctors, zombies, vampires, and clockwork soldiers. As an Australian born in the late sixties, his voice is both direct and laconic. Because the protagonists from his first two novels are female, he utterly fails to see how his gender has effected his writing.
Timothy lives in Cambodia with his partner and considers it legitimate to say he is a full-time writer even though considerable amounts of his time are spent at the beach, and learning the local language. Social justice, environmental issues, and the efficiency of systems all push Timothy to follow politics and advocate for better policy through social media. He also finds playing instruments, dabbling in art and writing software all compete for a slice of his time. Sometimes he does a bit of cooking.