https://www.neanmckenzie.com/news daily 0.75 2025-11-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/1551497562564-7YOTKYLMBNR03HNAETQV/IMG_1099.JPG News https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/633300fb-bf77-4fcb-b7e5-934c696cc819/temple.jpg News - Make it stand out In October 2025 Nean was selected for a Children's Writers and Illustrator's Residency at the Nan Tien Temple in Wollongong. Along with eight other illustrators and writers, Nean spent a week in peaceful surroundings working on her work in progress. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/55ce265c-a996-4e00-8722-2abb743d2e21/MUM2.png News - Make it stand out Nean McKenzie works with Ardoch and the students of Ardeer Primary to create an anthology of dragon stories. https://brimbanknorthwest.starweekly.com.au/news/students-become-published-authors/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/331bca3a-4023-4af0-93eb-dc3200429c68/Timefire.DRAFT.4+Jan+2023.jpg News - TIMEFIRE Available now in all good bookshops Including: Book and Paper Readings The Sun Bookshop Published by MidnightSun Publishing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/03b0ce84-54da-418b-b6a4-010c72adaa6e/03A59DE3-39A1-4B21-8EBB-4E4F36B9E47C.jpg News - Timefire launch Thanks to everyone who came to the launch of Timefire at Readings Kids! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/066e66a5-7d4d-49bc-a3da-f40b57607e0e/Xenoflight_cover.jpg News - Xenoflight Middle grade adventure story about Australian cryptozoology (creatures not proven to exist) Reviews for Xenoflight: Reading with a chance of tacos. Glam Adelaide. Goodreads. Available now at all good bookshops and online including The Younger Sun. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/50bbee28-1b6a-4ad9-af83-d554589c3453/mum.jpg News - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/1591499997342-X5TFYJA0XVYO86PYFB8S/6994FACE-1D2D-4A10-BE83-472D3CCF1875.jpeg News - Books available at alll good bookshops https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/1569543243952-XUJ6CR61HUKPKH4TN8LE/launchcollage.jpg News - Cryptosight, available from October 1st 2019 Cryptosight was successfully launched in both Melbourne and Adelaide in September. Below is a review from Goodreads, written by the wonderful children’s author, and Adelaide launcher, Adam Cece: "If you are looking for a cracking adventure/mystery for 8-12 year olds then look no further. I had the pleasure of reading Cryptosight recently, and it transported me back to being a 10 year old again, when I was obsessed with movies like The Goonies and books like The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I would have LOVED reading Cryptosight back then, and I loved reading it now. Cryptosight is a story full of secret organizations, magic, bad guys with cool nicknames, special powers, mythical creatures, danger, mystery, adventure, and a story which is guaranteed to generate a sense of wonder in young readers." https://www.neanmckenzie.com/about daily 0.75 2025-11-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/1730182232077-1EYDYNNIEX6JN1K8XV1F/trees.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/d5b6bb35-0d2d-4f82-af44-72aa3ceef599/MumPhoto%60.jpg About Nean McKenzie is a children's writer and optometrist who lives in western Melbourne. Originally from Bendigo, Nean lived in New Zealand, Europe and North East Africa before returning to Victoria. Nean has a Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing from RMIT. In 2016 she was awarded a Maurice Saxby Mentorship for Cryptosight, which is her first published novel. Xenoflight, her second novel, was published in May 2022. Nean’s third middle-grade novel Timefire was launched in July of 2023. When not writing or testing people's eyes, Nean can be found running or travelling to interesting places around the world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/1730181021750-W36S4WVYCFQL1HOXQ2KW/xenoflightcoverendorsed%281%29.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/1730181023301-3QG3GPBD4EZL6RTXD60T/cryptosightcover%281%29.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/1730181027763-CLPPNC4MA3W5X6ZI732X/Timefire.DRAFT.4+Jan+2023.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/b87ab016-daa9-46d0-abc0-71650ff44edc/agencys.png About - For Author visits Please contact Lamont Authors or CKT Speakers Agency. https://www.neanmckenzie.com/books daily 1.0 2026-01-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/1648521671558-58QW1HOTSHFPAWRN5UZC/ookshelf.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/b2e0cb9f-2981-4fb5-be8d-8c19a9622d93/mum2.jpg Books - Cryptosight, Xenoflight and Timefire available at all good bookshops and online at MidnightSun Publishing Available at: The Little Bookroom Book and Paper The Younger Sun https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/79b4b197-cf8a-45c0-8827-edeb2edd96d1/timefirecover23.jpeg Books - Timefire In the scorching summer of 2033, Gilbert Black is accused of being a firebug, just like his mother was thirteen years before. That night a fire starts on his family’s farm. A fire with a tunnel in the centre of it. And that’s when things start to get really weird. Pulled repeatedly back and forth through time, Gil finds himself at big bushfires from the last two centuries. He searches across the years, determined to unlock the secret to his family’s legacy. Gil can’t change the past but can he learn from it in time to return home and save his family from the biggest inferno ever known? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/8620f164-544f-49fc-8067-b43081b53af6/Xenoflight_cover.jpg Books - Xenoflight Apart from the company of her flying pet ferret Fernando and her auntie Carla, 13-year-old Nessa Santiago is alone. Her mother died in a circus accident in Spain and she never knew her father. But then the day finally comes for Nessa to meet him and everything goes wrong. Her auntie unexpectedly leaves their home of Wye River in a helicopter. A menacing Cryptid Hunter, who captures unusual creatures like Fernando, shows up instead. So in order to keep Fernando safe, Nessa must run. With help from Kep, a boy from her school, Nessa embarks on a wild journey to her father’s home and then the Hawkesbury River. They are pursued by the anti-cryptid organisation HARNESS and a mysterious giant bird in the sky. Along the way, Nessa, Fernando and Kep meet weird and wonderful creatures, but with each new encounter, more questions arise. What are the visions Nessa gets every time she closes her eyes? And what are they trying to tell her about her parents? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c76418529f2cc5db44b8123/0cc82e7e-9ff1-439d-bc11-0848aff34fc5/cryptosight_cover.jpg Books - Cryptosight Rafferty Kaminski is a 13-year-old who believes in facts. Not like his cryptozoologist father, who searches for creatures not proven to exist. When their father disappears in the Flinders Ranges, strange things start happening to Raff and his younger sister Zara. They learn their father belongs to a secret organisation and they are being pursued by bunyip hunters. Raff is drawn into the weird world of Cryptozoology as he and Zara follow ‘sightings’ of creatures around country Victoria. Will they find their father? And what is the ancient voice that only Raff can hear, as they approach the Wombat State Forest? https://www.neanmckenzie.com/read-me daily 0.75 2025-05-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5310cef7e4b08602cbfa36bf/1412689652885-P9TPK298WCTZU748L0SG/Lifestyle03.jpg Read Me