Mythic historical fantasy
The Borderlands of Britannia
Mythic historical fantasy of second-century Roman Britain, where belief has teeth and Rome does not own the gods.
Enter the BorderlandsBehind the story-forge
Dana Birkmour
The person behind the old gods, difficult monsters, and historical rabbit holes.
Dana writes fantasy forged from mythology, folklore and the forgotten moments of history—stories about belief, transformation, power and the shapes we inherit from old tales.
Meet Dana
Old stories are never finished
Dana Birkmour is an Australian author whose fiction brings myth into contact with history, culture and the difficult choices of ordinary people.
Her Borderlands of Britannia series explores Roman Britain through Romans, Britons and the gods who belong to their world. Her Claimed by Fate books move into mythic romantasy, asking what really makes a monster—and who has the power to decide.
The view from behind the books
Myth, power and the stories we are given
Dana is drawn to thresholds: between history and mythology, empire and frontier, mortal and divine, the person someone is and the role their story demands they play.
Again and again, her work returns to transformation, belief and the power involved in naming someone hero, maiden, witch or monster. Familiar myths remain recognisable—but they are never left unquestioned.
The result is fantasy interested not only in what the old stories say, but in who was allowed to tell them, whose version endured, and what might happen if the people inside them refused to remain small.
Beyond the manuscript
Science, landscape and a mind prone to wandering
Dana’s path to writing has been somewhat less than linear. She originally trained in herbal medicine before moving into environmental science, completing a master’s degree and going on to work in environmental and sustainability research in Australia and overseas. Along the way, she has taught at universities and high schools in three countries, worked as a scuba-diving instructor, and accumulated a lasting fascination with the different ways people make sense of the natural world.
She now lives in tropical North Queensland, where rainforest, rivers and the changing seasons regularly find their way into her attention—even when a deadline would prefer otherwise.
When she isn’t writing, she is likely to be following a historical rabbit hole, reading about an obscure piece of folklore, running with bookish thoughts, gardening, disappearing into the rainforest with her family, or occasionally playing her flute there for an audience of trees.
The Story-Forge Dispatch is where these threads meet: works in progress, mythology and power, creative experiments, real life and the imperfect business of making books.
Join the Story-Forge DispatchTwo doors into the fiction
Choose the story that calls to you
Mythic romantasy
Claimed by Fate
Interconnected standalone romantasy novels about monsters, maidens, gods, witches and the stories that tried to define them.
Follow fate’s threadShort author biography
For booksellers, events and interviews
Dana Birkmour is an Australian author of mythic historical fantasy and romantasy. Her fiction blends mythology, folklore and history in stories of old gods, transformed legends and people who refuse the roles fate gives them. Dana is also an environmental scientist, history geek and lifelong mythology nerd based in tropical North Queensland.