As well as being co-director of the Cat and Cauldron witchcraft shop in Glastonbury, UK, Liz writes science fiction and dark fantasy. Her 19 novels have been published, among others, by Bantam Spectra and Night Shade Press in the USA and by Tor Macmillan in the UK. She also has 3 short story collections in print. Four of her novels have been nominated for the Philip K Dick Award, and Banner of Souls was also nominated for the Arthur C Clarke Award.
Liz has appeared regularly on the New York Times’ Best of Year lists. She has published over 80 short stories, many of which have been awarded honourable mention or been published in the Best of Year collections. She is secretary of the long-running Milford SF Writers’ Workshop, and has also written travel pieces for the Rough Guide.
She currently writes on Paganism and the philosophy of science for the Guardian.
Liz has degrees at BA and Master’s level in Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence and a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science, the latter from the University of Cambridge, and worked for over a decade in international education, working with Central Asian governments and arranging scholarship programmes before freelancing as a writer.
From 1996 onwards, she lived and worked intermittently in the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia, and has returned there on several occasions to research esoteric issues: visiting shamans in the Siberian Altai, and travelling across Uzbekistan and the Gobi Desert in search of (allegedly) ancient Celts.
Liz has been a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids for many years and at Druid grade, has worked as a tutor for the Order. She has also trained with Emma Restall-Orr. From a Welsh and Scots background, with a family in Pembrokeshire, she has a particular interest in Celtic studies. Her work as a writer has led her into research in the subjects of John Dee and Enochian magic, Kabbalism, and the Golden Dawn.
She has completed a certificate in Herbal Medicine and with her partner Trevor, she has a particular interest in environmentalism, organic gardening, and sustainable development. She has been a volunteer conservationist in Pembrokeshire on the island of Skomer, and in Sussex. She has also worked as a volunteer archaeologist, at the Crickley Hill fort in Gloucestershire.
Liz has read Tarot for 25 years (including a stint on Brighton Pier).