Merrilee Faber

About me

I officially hate writing bios.  You would think, after writing six(?) now, I would have it down pat.  Nope.  Third person, first person, it doesn’t matter.  I hate them.

Still, having something about be here hopefully looks a little more human than just having a list of sales.  But what can I say that sets me apart from thousands of other writers?

I work full time as an environmental officer. I have a gorgeous son and a lovely partner.  Digging into the soil is one of my greatest pleasures in life.  Exercise bores me, but I’ll spend all day walking in the bush if I have the time.  I think lawns should be banned in favour of the home veggie garden.  I love beetles.  I cry at movies, and when people cut down trees. I will forgo the washing up so I can read another chapter.

I daydream.  All the time.  About people, about places and events, about grand ideas and what it means to be human.  I try to make them come alive on the page.  Sometimes I am successful.

Maybe that’s not so remarkable, but it’s who I am.  Welcome to my blog.

Find my fiction

A Life in Trade, Aoife’s Kiss, upcoming December 2012

We Make Tea, Shimmer #14, December 2011 (as M Ferguson)

…another brilliant story in the magazine, following a futuristic group of robots on a plantation, who, after being abandoned for many years, are finally visited by a lost and distraught human. This story is fantastically imaginative and clearly well thought through, the dialogue is spot-on and the characterisation of the different robots very enjoyable. I feel that the ending is especially good in this story. Shiny Short Stories

Nandie in the Wall, A cappella Zoo, October 2011 (as M Ferguson)

And in Meryl Ferguson’s short-short horror-ish “Nandie In the Wall,” young Jeffrey’s sister Nandie has died.  Jeffrey leaves food for Nandie, who lives in the wall now, skeletal, dried-out, and in parts, until the police come and take Nandie, and their father, away.  The story packs a lot of strange power into a short space. The Review Review

Siren Song, Space and Time Magazine #114, Summer 2011

“Siren Song” by Merrilee Faber is something of a fairy story. Mana Nama is a huge sea beast caught by the minions of the emperor of the land. A young girl named Birami forms a relationship with the beast but is ordered to make the beast (now in reduced form) kiss the emperor and restore his health. Things do not go as planned in this brilliantly imaginative piece of writing. SFRevu

The Last Brother, Tales for Canterbury, May 2011

Day Job, Shock Totem #3, Jan 2011

Love is Forever, Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer, November 2010

Necessity, online at Liquid Imagination Issue 7, October 2010