Jenny Blackford's Web Site

Jenny Blackford's Web Site The Priestess and the Slave Blog Bibliography Reviews

The basics:

I am a writer and reviewer with interests ranging from science fiction and fantasy through to life and religion in the ancient world.

I was born in Sydney, went to High School and University in Newcastle, and lived for 30 years in inner Melbourne with writer and philosopher Russell Blackford. In late 2009, we and our Ragdoll cat Felix (pictured on the right) moved back home to Newcastle, where we are woken by kookaburras and magpies.

I can be contacted on j_blackford [at] hotmail.com (just replace the [at] with a normal @), and I blog at jennyblackford.livejournal.com/.

My fiction:

Since I gave up my day job in 2001, my historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy and ghost stories for people of various ages have appeared in some great places, including Jack Dann's Australian showcase anthology Dreaming Again, Random House's 30 Australian Ghost Stories for Children, and the NSW School Magazine.

All of my stories are listed below, with their dates and places of publication.

My current project is a novel based on the improbably dramatic life of Bronze Age princess Medea, grand-daughter of the Sun.

The Priestess and the Slave:

I was commissioned to write The Priestess and the Slave, a historical novella set in fifth century BC Athens and Delphi, by archaeology buff Eric Reynolds, as the first in a Hadley Rille Books series of archaeologically-accurate short novels about the daily lives of ancient people living and coping with real historical crises.

Legendary sf feminist Pamela Sargent wrote on Goodreads,

"This elegant short novel, set in classical Greece of the 5th century B.C., tells the interwoven stories of Thrasulla, a Pythia who is one of the oracles of Apollo, and Harmonia, a slave in an Athenian household. The author, with degrees in Classics, brings authority and detail to this story of those so often neglected by history, those without power. Women in classical Greece led especially limited lives, but Jenny Blackford brings both suspense and compassion to Harmonia's tale, which is restricted entirely to her master's house, and to Thrasulla's, when she must confront the madness in a Spartan king and the greed of a sister priestess."

Dr Fiona Hobden, Lecturer in Greek Culture in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, wrote in a review in HerStoria,

The Priestess and the Slave is a rich and enjoyable read. As is to be expected from a writer of science fiction and fantasy, Blackford’s world is detailed and convincing. Her women are intriguing and sharply defined, and they have the merit of humanity. In the modern (masculine) imagination, the Pythian priestess is often a mystical, exotic figure. ... Blackford’s Thrasulla, by contrast, is a fully-rounded woman of over fifty with a personal history, a clarity of perspective and an ethical code. By bringing women of fifth-century Greece to life, our author rescues them from the obscurity imposed by contemporary historians (who largely ignored them) and from sexualised male fantasies that continue to inform their representation... [Blackford's] attempt to reveal the historical reality of women’s lives takes us much closer to seeing ancient women as real people. For this reason, as well as for being an intelligently-executed novel, The Priestess and the Slave is thoroughly recommended.

Jack Dann wrote, “It’s such a joy to read a historical novel written by an author who has such authority over her material.” Alison Goodman said, "A compelling blend of vivid storytelling and meticulous research. Fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable." Greg Benford called it "wonderful", and said, "It has the arc of a novel, brevity of a short story - quite a job of compaction." And Kate Forsyth, wrote, "Completely fascinating - a vivid and evocative glimpse into the life of the past, with its terrors and joys so strange and yet so familiar."

More reviews are listed below. The first two chapters are available as a sample on the publisher's website.

The book is available from selected bookstores in the US and Australia, including Fantastic Planet in Perth and the Campus Bookshop in Newcastle. It is also available from amazon, boomerang and other online bookstores.

Interviews:

The delightful Sonia Helbig interviews me, mostly about The Priestess and the Slave, in the March-April 2009 Specusphere. Take a look at the interview!

And my multi-talented fellow Hadley Rille Books author, Amy Herring, interviewed me for the Dragon*Con Daily Dragon. Here's a link to the excellent interview:
http://dailydragon.dragoncon.org/2009/jenny-blackford.

Tehani Wessely interviewed me as part of the massive 2010 Snapshot of Australian Speculative Fiction. The interview is here. Tehani is clearly a woman of exquisite taste; she's taken a nasty slimy story of mine called "Slugs and Snails" for the Worlds Next Door anthology that she's editing for lucky kids.

My non-fiction work:

I was one of the five judges of the World Fantasy Awards 2009. The other four judges were Ellen Klages, Delia Sherman, Chris Roberson and Peter Heck. The judging is over for the 2009 awards (for 2008 work), and the awards were given out at WFC 2009 in San Jose over the Halloween weekend, but if you want to enter a work published in 2009 in the field of fantasy, the instructions on how to enter are on this page of the World Fantasy Awards website, with the names of the new judges (and the winners!) as announced at the Awards Ceremony.

I have reviewed regularly for the Age (the Melbourne quality broadsheet newspaper), the Australian science magazine Cosmos, the ecological magazine G, and for the New York Review of Science Fiction. I also assess manuscripts of diverse genres for the amazing Kirsty Brooks at Driftwood Manuscripts.

During the 1980s, I was a principal in the small press publisher Ebony Books and a member of the Editorial Collective of Australian Science Fiction Review: Second Series, an award-winning fanzine. Ebony Books publications include Transmitters: An Imaginary Documentary, by Damien Broderick, and Urban Fantasies, edited by David King and Russell Blackford.

Together with my husband Russell Blackford, I ran the Academic Tracks for Aussiecon Two and Aussiecon Three. We produced proceedings volumes for each of them: Contrary Modes: Proceedings of the World Science Fiction Convention, Melbourne, Australia, published by Ebony Books and the University of Newcastle in 1985, and a guest-edited issue of the UK critical journal Foundation (issue 78, Spring 2000.

My Background:

I studied Classics (Greek and Latin) at the University of Newcastle, NSW, and sneaked in a year of German and Sanskrit as well as four years of Greek and Latin. At the end, I was awarded First Class Honours and a University Medal. I have always been fascinated by prehistory and ancient history, archaeology, ancient languages and mythology. My postgraduate study in ancient religion was rendered discouraging by the shrinkage of Classics departments worldwide. I saw an ad in the paper seeking graduates of all disciplines, which was the start of an unexpected career in computer networking, beginning with seven years with IBM as a Systems Engineer in the field of Data Communications. Since then, I have forgotten more Sanskrit than I ever learned, but my favourite poet is still Catullus, and my favourite playwright is Euripides.

My stories:

"Dave's Diary" (children's sf) was published in Pearson Education's Spinouts Sapphire volume They're Here, 2002.

"Emily's Big Chook" (children's sf) was published in Explore, Longman magazines, 2002.

"Alistair" (children's ghost story) was published in 30 Australian Ghost Stories for Children, Random House, 2004, and reprinted in the NSW School Magazine in the September Touchdown edition, 2005.

"Bertie" (children's ghost story) was published by the NSW School Magazine in the August Touchdown edition, 2005. The School Magazine reprinted "Bertie" in a ghost story issue in 2009.

"Barry" (children's fantasy) was published by the NSW School Magazine in the July Touchdown edition, 2006.

"Python" (adult sf) was published by Hadley Rille Books in the anthology Ruins Terra, 2007. This story received an Honorable Mention from Gardner Dozois in his Year's Best Science Fiction 25.

"Losing Weight" (children's sf) was published by the NSW School Magazine in the August Touchdown edition, 2007.

"Andromeda" (YA fantasy set in ancient Greece), was published by Paul Collins in the Ford Street Publishing anthology Trust Me!, June 2007.

"Trolls' Night Out" (adult fantasy) was published in Jack Dann's anthology Dreaming Again (HarperCollins Voyager), July 2008. Dreaming Again is the ten-year-on follow-up volume to the World Fantasy Award-winning Dreaming Down Under (which Jack edited with Janeen Webb). This story received an Honorable Mention from Gardner Dozois in his Year's Best Science Fiction 26.

"Fee" (children's sf) was published in Explore, Longman magazines, January 2009.

"Ariadne" (adult fantasy set in ancient Greece) waa published in Aurealis 41.

The Priestess and The Slave (adult historical fiction set in ancient Greece) was published on 15 April 2009 by Hadley Rille Books.

"Glukera" (children's historical fiction) was published in the February 2010 Touchdown edition of the NSW School Magazine.

"A Terrible Beauty" (a nasty fable featuring Athena, Hera and the Morrigan) is in the February issue of Three Crow Press, the Morrigan Books Ezine. Go take a look!

"High Maintenance (adult sf) is forthcoming in the August/September issue of Cosmos magazine.

"Nits!" (children's sf) is forthcoming in the NSW School Magazine.

"Adam" (adult fantasy) is forthcoming in Kaleidotrope.

"Geshtinanna" (adult fantasy based on the story of Dumuzi's older sister) is forthcoming in Gilgamesh Press's anthology In the Footsteps of Gilgamesh.

"Slugs and Snails" (children's fantasy) is forthcoming in Tehani Wessely's anthology Worlds Next Door.

"Medea" (adult fantasy set in ancient Colchis, at the far end of the Black Sea) is forthcoming in Aurealis issue 45.

"Mirror" (a nasty poem) will appear in Midnight Echo 4.

A few more reviews:

On the ReadPlus site, Alison Woodward recommends The Priestess and the Slave for readers 14+, and says, "These two emotionally moving tales give a glimpse at what life was like during ancient times, from the perspective of two quietly courageous women. It is written with such detail and accuracy that it is easy to see history through the eyes of those who lived it. Whilst being a short book, the themes are mature in nature and discerning readers will ponder the themes of survival, corruption and human nature. This is a highly recommended book for those who are interested in or studying Ancient Greece and gives a touching view of life in ancient times."

The June 2009 issue of inCite magazine - the news magazine of the Australian Library and Information Association - has a lovely review by Jill Enks of The Priestess and the Slave.
Ms Enks writes, among other nice things, "If you have even a little interest in or knowledge of Ancient Greece, Jenny Blackford’s first book The priestess and the slave is well worth reading... Jenny has an extraordinary knowledge of Ancient Greece, both of the politics and the ordinary lives of the citizens. She writes with authority, providing fascinating details of life at that time. She also develops two characters with whom we can truly empathise. Both stories are suspenseful and fast moving. I hope that Jenny will continue writing historical books of such high quality."

Rosaleen Love writes on AS if!: "If other books in the Archaeology series live up to the high standard of The Priestess and the Slave, they will also make great enrichment texts for school and university history archaeology courses." – Rosaleen Love."

Lisa J. Hayward writes on LibraryThing: "Highly, highly recommended for anyone after a quick but great read, even if you’re not interested in Ancient Greece. And if you are, then welcome to a refreshing view of a world most often shown from the lofty heights of the aristocracy."

Satima Flavell writes on Specusphere, "In The Priestess and the Slave, Blackford displays such world-building skills as can only be acquired through a deep and intimate familiarity with the world in question. I have said before that true historical fantasy is an under-populated sub-genre, and the reason is not hard to deduce – the writer must be a true expert in the period concerned or risk the wrath of experts both professional and amateur. In this, Jenny Blackford meets every criterion. She gives us Greece in the fifth century BC with brushstrokes deft and sure, and paints in enduring colours a realistic picture of the lives of her two subjects. The novella intertwines the stories of Harmonia and Thrasulla in a manner that makes them not only believable, but likeable as well. We care about them and their world and at the end of the book, we want to know more."

Alison Spicer-Wensley, in a review in the WA Department of Education and Training's magazine Fiction Focus: New Titles for Teenagers, writes, "Each of the two stories reveals a great deal of thoroughly researched historical detail woven seamlessly into the narrative of these two very different women." She recommends The Priestess and the Slave for 15+ readers with an interest in ancient Greece, and ends, "It would be valuable enrichment material for upper secondary students studying Ancient History".

Rich Horton reviews The Priestess and the Slave in the August Locus. He calls it "a worthwhile read", and says, "This isn't really fantasy, but the characters act as if the Greek gods are real, which gives the story a fantastical feel."

The 2009 edition 2 of the Newcastle University Alumni Magazine has a lovely picture of me with the charming Dr Bernie Curran, and a small article about The Priestess and the Slave. Bernie was my supervisor for my (unfinished) PhD about comparative ancient religion, and The Priestess and the Slave indeed incorporates much of what Bernie taught me

ReadPlus called my troll story "Trolls' Night Out" in Dreaming Again "an unexpected gem", and several reviewers, including Aurealis editor Stuart Mayne (in aurealisXpress) and Niki Bruce (in The Cairns Post), listed it as one of the standouts of the collection. Stuart Mayne also wrote, "Jenny Blackford's playful "Trolls' Night Out" was supernatural fun."

Paul di Filippo's review of Dreaming Again on the Barnes & Noble website includes my story, and Russell Blackford's "Manannan's Children", in his list of "exemplary instances of all the major subgenres" (mine of urban fantasy, Russell's of retold fairy tale). And Gardner Dozois gave both stories Honorable Mentions in his Year's Best Science Fiction 26!

"Python" was one of the two stories from Ruins Terra selected for mention by Gardner Dozois in his review of the anthology in Locus February 2008. The story also received an Honorable Mention from Gardner Dozois in his Year's Best Science Fiction 25.

Swancon Launch of The Priestess and the Slave:

The lovely and talented Trudi Canavan launched The Priestess and the Slave (see below for more details) at Swancon in Perth over Easter 2009. We had anachronistic ouzo and baklava, and Dave Luckett was hilarious as Master of Ceremonies. Many thanks to Trudi, Dave, Paul and all who came along!

Trudi said this about the book:

"The Priestess and the Slave not only evokes the time beautifully; the characters within are real and utterly believable, fully fleshed and compelling. The time is fifth century BC Greece, and Jenny shows us a glimpse of it through the contrasting lives of a female slave, the humblest of the society, and a priestess of Apollo, known as a Pythia, through whom the god answers the questions of visitors to the temple of Delphi. The former is young and powerless, the latter old and powerful. But both are bound by a sense of right and wrong, and both are strengthened by compassion.

"Their past is shown in snatches of reflection, enough to inform and enchant, but not distract. Their present is beset by terrible plagues and political manipulations. War and death surround them. Their future is uncertain. There is a sense of impending doom that gathers you up and draws you through, for both the characters and the world. It is a time of change. Mere mortals are being swept up in important events, and are in danger of being swept away by them.

"Why is it so good? In short, Jenny knows what she's writing about, and she writes it beautifully. She packs a lot of detail into this little book, but with such skill that it's never slow or heavy to read."