Tony Shillitoe

Who is Tony Shillitoe?

Tony Shillitoe is an Australian fantasy writer.

His first novel Guardians was published in 1992 by Pan Macmillan. It was the first part of the Andrakis trilogy, soon followed by Kingmaker and Dragonlords in 1993. The trilogy was partially rewritten for the 2006 edition.

In 1995 Shillitoe published a teenage fantasy, The Last Wizard, which was shortlisted in the inaugural Aurealis Awards for Best Fantasy Novel. Several short stories and a play monologue were published in various anthologies between 1996–1998.

In 1999, Shillitoe published his first young adult novel, Joy Ride with Wakefield Press. Set in Adelaide in the mid-1990s, and inspired by a real news story in which two boys stole a bus and drove it up the Adelaide to Melbourne freeway. The novel was popularly received by teenagers and young adults, but despised by most older readers, and did not receive positive publicity. It has been used in schools, and also in correctional institutions as a text for rehabilitating young males.

Shillitoe returned to the fantasy genre in 2002 when HarperCollins released Blood, the first book in the Ashuak Chronicles. Blood was also short-listed for Best Fantasy Novel in the Aurealis Awards in 2002. Passion and Freedom completed the Ashuak Chronicle trilogy in 2003.