Christina Engela is a fervent advocate of human rights and equality for all people, and also the proud owner of a warped sense of humour, and it shows. She lives in Port Elizabeth (where she enjoys watching birds fly backwards) – a tourist haven with an unhealthy preoccupation with apples and whose mascot symbol is a Jackass Penguin – which should give you some idea.
At school she was known for her quirky poetry and weird sense of humour, which came in handy while directing a school play (which involved, incidentally, 3 toilet rolls, a walkie-talkie and a hammer marked ‘exhibit A’).
After completing high school in 1991 at the tender age of 18, she enlisted in the Army (ordinary work being scarce at the time). In 1999 she qualified as a computer technician (A+) and moved into the network support environment, where she gathered a lot of experience in Conflict Resolution and Self Control – and using Solitaire to teach people How To Use The Mouse without inflicting self-injury. At almost the exact same time, she began her gender transition, and started living as a woman full-time in 2000. In 2006, at long last, she was promoted to Female.
She writes across several genres, including sci-fi, fantasy and horror, writing most frequently about aliens, space ships, big explosions – and crypts, ghosts and vampires – often in the same books and in a way that makes all of these topics fit with each other without causing a melt-down or an inter-dimensional rift. She also enjoys sushi.
Her story settings include starship situations and planetary locations. Her favourite setting for her stories is on a planet called Deanna – which orbits a star called Ramalama, and which is orbited by two small mad little moons called Ding and Dong – where she expresses her own brand of fantasy combined with sci-fi.
For some reason, this location lends itself to what she calls “quantum-ness” and for creating the unique characters around which her stories flow. She loves to create characters and situations and to blend them with her past real life experiences and sometimes endearing (or not so endearing) parts of her real life acquaintances.
The Galaxii universe is set between 30 and 80 years in the future, possibly in a parallel dimension, where everything can be set right by a few characters with guts, heart and conscience – and an author with a warped sense of humour, a sharp pencil, even sharper wit, and a good sense of irony.
Two of her novels have recently been released by J. Ellington Ashton Press (JEA), with the first ‘Blachart’ appearing under JEA’s ‘Hardwired’ imprint in October 2014 and the second title in the series ‘Demonspawn’ in April 2015. The third title ‘Dead Beckoning’ is due out soon, with a string of others to follow.
Aside from the Galaxii Series, a growing number of Christina’s short stories also appear in various JEA anthologies (‘Autumn Burning’, ‘Inanna Rising’, ‘For Love of Leelah’). A children’s book by Christina, ‘Every Kid Is A Kid Almost Just Like You’, is also due for launch during 2015.
Keep in touch with Christina on: Facebook, Google+, Twitter ,Tsu , YouTube, Goodreads, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Academia.edu, Lulu, Hei! Books, Books Online Directory, StumbleUpon, Nothing Binding, Glipho, Dilmot, Pintrest
Nohlee (pronounced: No-lee) Cloete was born on the 15 February 1993 in Eesterivier, Cape Town. She graduated high school at the age of 17 at Forest Heights High Schoo,l as one of the school’s top ten matriculants in 2010. She is enrolled at the University of The Western Cape for a bachelor’s degree in Education with the intention of spreading her love for literature as an English teacher.
