Pryor was born in Swan Hill, Victoria and currently lives in Melbourne with his wife and two daughters. His first work to be published was the short story "Talent" in 1990, which was published in Aurealis #1. He received his first nomination for his work in 1993 when the short story "It's All in the Way You Look At It" was nominated for the Ditmar Award for best short fiction, however it lost to Greg Egan's "Closer". In 1996 Pryor released his first novel, The Mask of Caliban, which was a finalist for the 1997 Aurealis Award for best young-adult novel. In 2003 he started writing novels in The Quentaris Chronicles, a shared universe with several other authors. Pryor has been nominated for an Aurealis Award on five other occasions with the most recent being in 2007 with his novel Heart of Gold.

Novels

Doorways Trilogy

• The House of Many Rooms (1998)
• The Book of Plans (1998)
• The Unmaker (1999)

The Quentaris Chronicles

• Beneath Quentaris (2003)
• Quentaris in Flames (2003)
• Stones of Quentaris (2004)
• Nightmare in Quentaris (2005)
• Stars of Quentaris (2006)
• Battle for Quentaris (2008)

The Laws of Magic

• Blaze of Glory (2006)
• Heart of Gold (2007)
• Word of Honour (2008)
• Time of Trial (2009)
• Moment of Truth (2010)

The Chronicles of Krangor

• The Lost Castle (2007)
• The Missing Kin (2008)
• The King in Reserve (2010)

Other novels

• The Mask of Caliban (1996)
• Talent (1997)
• Cosmic Cook (2002)
• Blackout (2000)
• Bruno Trask & The Dark Lady's Jewel (2002)

Short fiction

• "Talent" (1990) in Aurealis #1 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "Softly They Go Feral in the Night" (1991) in Aurealis #4 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "Long Live the King" (1991) in Aurealis #6 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "It's All in the Way You Look at It" (1992) in Aurealis #10 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "Shadows on the Heart" (1993) in Aurealis #12 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "Home Free" (1994) in The Patternmaker : Nine Science Fiction Stories (ed. Lucy Sussex)
• "Hunter of Darkness, Hunter of Light" (1994) in Aurealis #15 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "Time to Burn" (1996) in Aurealis #18 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "Australian Visions" (1998) in Aurealis #20/21 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "Room for Improvement" (1999) in Gadgets and Gizmos (ed. Meredith Costain, Paul Collins)
• "Sewercide" (2000) in Aurealis #25/26 (ed. Dirk Strasser, Stephen Higgins)
• "EvilCo" (2001) in Aurealis #27/28 (ed. Dirk Strasser, Stephen Higgins)
• "Waste" (2003) in Forever Shores (ed. Margaret Winch, Peter McNamara)

Essays

• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Otto Greenbach (1990) in Aurealis #1 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: E. Freeport Rickenbacker (1990) in Aurealis #2 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Wanda Stambridge (1991) in Aurealis #4 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Bamber Fortescue (1991) in Aurealis #5 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Cosmo Tucker (1991) in Aurealis #6 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: G. K. "Doc" Tolliday, D.D. (1992) in Aurealis #7 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Anna Michailovna Tikhonova (1992) in Aurealis #8 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Gaston La Rue (1992) in Aurealis #9 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Malcolm Corkindale (1992) in Aurealis #10 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• Classic SF (2001) in Aurealis #27/28 (ed. Dirk Strasser, Stephen Higgins)
• The Art of Successful Collaboration (2004 with Paul Collins) in Aurealis #33-35, (ed. Keith Stevenson)

Source: ISFDB.com, michaelpryor.com.au

Aurealis Awards

• Best fantasy novel
• 2006: Nomination: Blaze of Glory
• 2007: Nomination: Heart of Gold
• Best horror short story
• 2000: Nomination: "Sewercide"
• Best science fiction short story
• 1998: Nomination: "Australian Visions"
• Best young-adult novel
• 1996: Nomination: The Mask of Caliban
• 2007: Nomination: Heart of Gold

Ditmar Awards

• Best short fiction
• 1993: Nomination: "It's All in the Way You Look At It"