Press Kit

Do you love fantasy without the spice?

Cathryn deVries is a multi-award-winning fantasy and sci-fi author who explores themes of restorative justice, empowerment, connection with earth and spirit, and finding the true self—all wrapped up in an epic package of immersive world-building and clean romance. She is the author of Son of Osivirius, a standalone science fantasy novella, and The Weaversong Trilogy, a romantic fantasy co-authored with her neurodiverse daughter to be published in 2027.

Bathed in literature from her earliest days, Cathryn memorised Cinderella at age three and began writing and illustrating her own stories as soon as she could hold a pencil. She continued writing all through high-school, though she pursued a maths-science stream in senior and won the 1995 Australian Student’s Prize for Excellence. She then graduated from a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering with first class honours and writing was shelved for a decade. 

Preferring to work on only one project at a time, she retired from the Air Force upon becoming a mother, and has spent the last decade and more homeschooling her four children, two of whom are on the autism spectrum. This forced her to recover from perfectionism, but also ultimately led to her picking up the pen once more. She and her family live in the Gold Coast Hinterland of Australia, where she enjoys living in the rainforest and pretending she’s an elf.

Cathryn’s accolades include the 2023 Stuart and Hadow short story prize, the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, the Firebird Book Award, the Reader’s Choice Book Award, the Pencraft Award, the American Writing Award, and the Chanticleer International Book Award. Her short stories appear in the My Story, My Voice anthology and the Ritardando anthology. Primarily self-taught, she credits mentorship with a Story Grid certified editor for her success.

My Stance on Generative AI

I do not and will not use generative AI to write books, or to create character art, book covers, or any other art. The reasons are manifold:

• I like using my brain and want to protect its ability to think and create.
• Mastery of skills is more important to me than quick output.
• Quality matters to me far more than quantity. I want to be creating masterworks that are still resonating with audiences fifty or one hundred years from now.
• The process IS the art. It’s the fumbling around, and the plotting headaches, and the dead ends, and the endless repetition of skill building. The end product is what everyone sees, but the artistry is in the creation of it.
• I gain so much through struggling through the process. It is a gift and part of what I LOVE about writing. I'm not about to hand over what gives me the greatest satisfaction.
• I don't want to become dependent on AI. I don't want to lose the ability to make art myself.
• The way most (if not all) LLMs were developed is unethical, and involved stealing creatives' work without permission or compensation. The companies argue that they couldn’t have afforded to do the work any other way, but hmmm... that sounds a lot like what plantation owners said about using slave labour.
• Generative AI data centres use excessive resources (especially water) and are environmentally irresponsible.
• Creating is both joy and struggle, but it’s the struggle that makes the joy real and lasting.

The Mission of Eclecta Perennial

Do you love fantasy and sci-fi books that take you on an emotional journey, with characters you resonate with, and that don't surprise you with steamy bedroom scenes? Is reading a journey of self-discovery for you, as well as an adventure? If so, you've come to the right place. I create stories together with my neurodiverse daughter, and our mission is to integrate timeless, universal themes with the perennial wisdom we've learnt through our own (sometimes heartbreaking) lives to bring you beautiful, thought-provoking stories. In short, we write fantasy that meets you in your messy reality and gives you all the feels without the spice, so you can face life again. 

We want to support readers who love immersing themselves in big topics and challenging ideas without the ugly stuff that could easily have been left out; readers who love savouring books and finding deeper meaning in them; readers who want books to be more than a tick on their TBR list. That's why I created the Slow Readers Society. Our fast consumer culture doesn't value savouring and inner transformation, so the market is flooded with books designed to deliver a quick dopamine hit. We're different. As part of the Slow Readers Society, you'll get to explore old favourites and find new ones, confident that they'll be free of foul-mouthed and explicit content. This is the kind of fantasy we write, it's the kind we want to read, and we want to connect with other readers who feel the same.

Join the Slow Readers Society now and get Lightning Hunter, a short story set in our WIP world, and my award-winning story When A Slave Falls, for FREE.

Influences

All of these things have shaped us and influence our writing in one way or another.

Click here to see some of our favourite books

Click here to see some of our favourite movies and TV series

Click here for some interesting facts that didn't make the bio

Click here for what you will and won't see in our books

Click here to find out what we've got in the pipeline

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