I was born in Mosman and grew up in Sydney - in a small unit in Crows Nest, with my mother (an Israeli immigrant who spoke very little English) and my sister, Jenny. I went to Cammeray Primary School and then North Sydney Girl's High School. At the age of twelve, both Jenny and I went to live with my father and step-mother and brother, Peter. I was first sent to Hornsby Girls High School and, after my father accepted a job on the Gold Coast, Tweed River High for two years. In 1977, I returned to Hornsby Girls for Year 10 (called fourth form way back then) and, in 1979, was elected Head Prefect (I was NOT a suck - despite what my sister says - honest!).

I had always wanted to be an actress and, since the age of nine, had been heavily involved in theatre. I performed in many plays and was tutored at North Sydney Independent Theatre (with Doris Fitton - who was an amazing and quite scary doyenne of theatre) and Marion Street Theatre (with Audrey Blaxland who was an absolute doll). For some inexplicable reason, after spending six months at Sydney University doing an Arts/Law degree and hating it, dropping out and working as a checkout operator and office clerk for Coles New World (Hornsby), a Claims clerk for the N.R.M.A, working at Marion Street Theatre and performing with the Pymble Players, I joined the Women's Royal Australian Army Corp as an Officer Cadet. It was, I now realise, a moment of intense madness.

Training to be an Officer started in 1980 - it took twelve long months. At the end of this period, I was posted to Bendigo - to the Army Survey Regiment - as a Cartographer. I was a very bad cartographer and a very bad Army Officer. Think of the film, starring Goldie Hawn, Private Benjamin; change it to Cadet/Officer Benjamin, and you'll get the idea. I was also the only female Officer among 300 men and twenty-one women. I spent five, very long years in the army. And still, to this day, I cannot read a map. I justify this by telling everyone I was taught to make them not read them!

I was married in 1983 and had two children, Adam, in 1984 and Caragh in 1987. At the end of 1987, the marriage ended. So, there I was, with a three-year-old and a six-month-old. By then, I was teaching drama, running two theatre companies and had returned to university. I was studying Humanities at La Trobe University, Bendigo, as it is now known. I graduated in 1992 with first class honours. During my degree, I also managed a dress boutique, waitressed at a friend's mother's pub, and taught drama to 5-18 year olds on Saturday mornings, as well as running a Theatre-Restaurant group, Service Not Included, with the dynamic Andrew Balnaves. And, in 1988-9, I ran a radio show at 3CCC (when it was first starting up) called "Teen Talk".

I met my current husband, Stephen, in 1990 when I was cast as the female lead in Ranko, a feature film spoofing the Rambo movies. It was sold to the USA last year. I hope I am NEVER recognised! Making the film was great fun and there were some really talented people involved in it, particularly the director, Aaron Stevenson, who is also behind Fatal Impact Productions. An ingenious and amazing man!

Stephen and I married in 1993, in a medieval-fairy type ceremony we called a Midsummer's Night Marriage. That same year I was awarded a Ph.D. scholarship to Wollongong University in NSW. So, three weeks after we married, we left behind some family and a lot of still very much missed friends and moved to Wollongong. We lived on a pittance - my scholarship and what part-time work Stephen, my partner, could arrange. It was tough for a while, but I wouldn't change a thing - including the most fantastic neighbours you could wish for in all three of the houses we lived in.

In 1996, I got a job at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland as a lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. I remember arriving at this brand new uni, seeing two relatively small buildings and a mob of kangaroos and asking the bus driver where the uni was (hey, Wollongong University was really big). He just looked at me and shook his head and muttered, "this IS the university".

Needless to say, it has grown considerably since then but the kangaroos are still here! The Sunshine Coast is an amazing place to live. To call it beautiful is an understatement. Though, one thing I have noticed, is that every holiday period it rains - I always feel so sorry for the tourists! Since I have been on the Sunshine Coast, I have received a lot of national and international attention for the subjects I teach. I designed the first ever "grunge" course, which deals with youth sub cultures and popular culture/ the media. It examines body-piercing, tattooing, literature, films and music - you can access information about it on my website - though if you are under 15, please ask mum and dad if it's okay first - I don't want to get you (or myself!) into trouble!

The ABC's 7.30 Report did a story on this subject as did Channel Ten - the story went national. I had lots of inquiries about it, which was nice and some very interesting students enrolled as a result. I learned as much from them as I hope they learned from me. An international magazine, Revelations (based in Perth) also ran a story.

In the auspicious year 2000 (according to some), I received national attention again for a unit I teach called Wonderworlds. It analyses witchcraft, monsters and aliens and an area known as Frankenscience - you can read about that one too if you want and other subjects I teach and the uni in general through the link.

So, has all this attention been good? Well, yes and no. I also research youth and popular culture and the combination of commentary I provide through interviews and academic articles as well as the media focus I've had has resulted in me being called, at various times, the "grunge queen" by Wayne Goss, a witch by a local pastor, and my personal favourite, "a six foot two transvestite" by Sam Newman from The Footy Show (don't ask!). I was even asked by one journalist, "What is it between you and Sam Newman!" But (and this is one of the good things), all this culminated in me being given a regular weekly spot on SEA FM radio (91.9) here on the Coast. For almost two years, I was heard every Thursday morning in talkback format, with the Morning Crew, and was known as the cultural commentator Dr K. Since then, I have become a columnist for the Courier Mail in Brisbane on topics ranging from IVF and the Beauty Myth to Reality TV and wizardry.

I have had a few short stories published and have a few more up my sleeve too. It's Time, Cassandra Klein is my first novel, and is the first in a series of four. The second in the series, Gaze of the Gorgon, was released in August 2002, the third The Book of Night in 2003 and the final installment, The Kurs of Atlantis, has just appeared. Follow the links to any of the novels and read a blurb and an extract. In February 2005, Rifts Through Quentaris will be released, part of the Shared World series, created by Paul Collins and Michael Pryor. Naturally, I am always working on new ideas, so watch this space for further news! My agent, the lovely Selwa Antony, will also be happy to field any enquiries about my writing.

I love writing and do it whenever I can between other work commitments (which seem to be growing!). I am often asked where does my love of writing and the ideas for my stories come from (If you want to see some of my favourite books and authors, click here!!). Well, I had an amazingly rich fantasy life as a child - for a number of reasons that I won't go into here. But, I have to say that the person who always encouraged me to feed my imagination and told me about fairies and witches and dragons and introduced me to the delights of Hans Christian Anderson, Grimm fairytales and Aesop's fables as well as the Greek and Roman mythology, was my wonderful grandmother. She used to take me fairy-spotting in the woods near her house in Lane Cove in Sydney. And, believe it or not, we even saw a few! She also tolerated me (and my poor unwillingly-dragged-into-the-whole- process-sister) producing plays and musicals to the soundtrack of nursery rhymes, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. When everyone else was ready to strangle me, she would cry encore, encore! Yeah, I love my grandmother!

I also have a marvellous and supportive family - Adam and Caragh, never mind the long-suffering Stephen, have had to put up with my endless periods in the study bent over the keyboard (I can't touch type), my vacant gazes over the dinner table when I am teasing out an idea, and my absences in their lives. They are patient and wonderful and I hope in the end that the sacrifices they've made seem worth it to them.

We all live in a lovely house - though it's getting a bit small now (my study is really quite pokey!), in an area some call paradise (though I hate the heat) with three cats, two dogs, 40-odd birds (they're not really odd!), seven goldfish and a pet snake. It is a tight squeeze, but, at present, all things considered, we are very content.

If you want to ask me any questions, or talk to me about the books or uni, please email me. I'd love to hear from you. If I don't get back to you straight away, please understand that my time is really full, but I will respond!

Take care . . . and dare to dream, because they really can come true!