About

Origins of the Pile

There has always been a Pile by the Bed. Books being read, books waiting to be read, and books that might never make it to the top.

Always a voracious reader, I ended up becoming a judge of the fiction category of the Ned Kelly Awards, Australia’s premier crime fiction awards, in 2008. The annual Ned Kelly Awards short lists for fiction and debut fiction are always a great place to find the absolute best in Australian crime fiction.

And Australian crime fiction is flourishing. There were over fifty-five entries in the best fiction category of the Ned Kellys in 2015. At that time the Pile grew to epic, some might say unmanageable, proportions. Now retired from the judging, I have joined the Australian Crime Writers Association committee to help with organising the Awards.

I now co-host a book review podcast with Jacqui Horwood. Crime Fiction Down Under is dedicated to reviews and news about Australian crime fiction. The podcase can be found on all of the major platforms just search for “Crime Fiction Down Under”.

But the Pile does not just focus on crime. There is plenty of other genre fiction – science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, historical – plus the odd non-genre ‘literary’ novel and a smattering of young adult titles.

I started reviewing books in 2011 and over the past fifteen years, Pile by the Bed reviews have appeared in a range of publications including: