Simon Brown wrote his first science fiction story in 1966, read his first science fiction novel in 1968, and by 1970 had decided he wanted to be a science fiction writer more than anything else in the world.
His first professional sale was to Omega in 1981. Since then he has had several short stories appear in Omega, Aurealis and Eidolon.
His first novel, Privateer, was published by Harper Collins in April of 1996. His second novel, Winter, was published by Harper Collins in 1997. A collection of short stories, Cannibals of the Fine Light, was published by Ticonderoga Publications in 1998. A new novel, Inheritor, will be published by HarperCollins in late 2000.
Simon worked as a journalist with the University of Western Sydney, and is now a full-time writer.
I bought this, I think, at one of my first Swancons - I know I bought it direct from Russell, and Ticonderoga. I don't know if Simon Brown was there, but for some reason I think Sean Williams was? I did discover that I have a a page with signatures from all of the contributors - also including Garth Nix, who wrote the delightfully whimsical introduction - so that's pretty cool.
All but one of these stories have direct or indirect connections to the Trojan cycle; the exception is an interesting enough story, but one that I do rather wish wasn't included, because it feels quite jarring to come across (and it's about troubling Catholic priests, which is not exactly an enjoyable topic). Some of the stories use the issues of war and trauma; others confront the sheer length of time involved with the cycle.
My favourite story is "The Masque of Agamemnon," for a lot of reasons. First, the title is clearly brilliant. Second, it combines SF elements - AI and space ships - with the Trojan story in delightfully clever ways. Third, it manages to get into some of the key issues and relationships of both the original stories and the ways in which it's been dealt with since. Also the final line is hilarious.
I have no idea whether this can still be bought anywhere, but I hope so.