Having failed at becoming a ballerina with pierced ears (her childhood dream), Allison Rushby instead began a writing career as a journalism student at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Within a few months she had slunk sideways into studying Russian. By the end of her degree she had learnt two very important things: that she wasn't going to be a journalist; and that there are hundreds of types of vodka and they're all pretty good.

A number of years spent freelancing for numerous wedding magazines ('Getting on with your draconian mother-in-law made simple!', 'A 400 guest reception for $2.95 per head!') almost sent her crazy. After much whingeing about how hard it would be, she began her first novel. That is, her husband (then boyfriend) told her to shut up, sit down and get typing (there may, or may not, have been threats of severing digits with rusty scalpels if she didn't, but it's OK, he's a doctor and knows what he's doing anatomy-wise). These threats (thankfully never fulfilled) led to allmenarebastards.com being published in Australia in September 2000 with Transworld. The book quickly rose to best-seller status and was short-listed for the Romance Book of the Year Award 2002. It has since been translated into Czech with Triton and sold well in the Czech Republic (though this could have been due to the free g-string that came with the book!).

By this time, the publishing bug had bitten hard and Allison has since had another eight books published, including three for young adults. Her publishers include Harlequin Mills & Boon, Random House Australia, Kensington Books and Mondadori.

These days Allison writes full-time, mostly with her Devon Rex cats, Vi and Flo, purring contentedly on her lap and her two children playing quietly with educational toys on the floor (she wishes!). Oh, and she keeps up her education by sampling new kinds of vodka on a regular basis.