Jenny Blackford's Web Site
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Jenny with the ruined Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, the Temple itself, and Jenny herself. All photos taken by Russell Blackford.
About Me
I am a writer and poet passionately interested in science fiction and fantasy, ancient history and religion, food, gardening, and the natural world. I write novels, stories and poems of all sorts of genres from serious to spooky for children, YAs and adults.
I studied Classics (Greek and Latin) at the University of Newcastle, NSW, but instead of finishing my Ph.D ("The Tripartite Godhead in Indo-European Religion") I fell into an unexpected career in Melbourne as a computer network specialist. In 2001, I started writing full-time. My historical novel The Priestess and the Slave was published in 2009. Later that year, Russell Blackford and I (and our Ragdoll cat Felix, pictured below) moved back home to Newcastle. Our resident kookaburras and magpies threaten every day to eat Felix's beautiful blue eyeballs, and noisy miners swoop him menacingly.
If you'd like to email me, try this.
I'm an experienced public speaker and workshop presenter, and I love to share my love of words, the ancient world, spooky stories and, of course, cats. I'm available for school visits and workshops, especially around Newcastle or Sydney, but sometimes in other places. To find out more, check out the Ford Street Publishing Creative Net website.
For more information about my background and my non-fiction work, try here.
Compulsory author's cat photo, showing maltreated and not-at-all spoiled animal attempting to escape the photo session
My Writing
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.
· Hadley Rille Books commissioned me to write The Priestess and the Slave, a historical novella set in fifth century BC Athens and Delphi. Pamela Sargent called it an "elegant short novel," and appreciated its subversive feminism. For more details, look here. · I've had seven short stories published for adults so far, in places including Jack Dann's Australian showcase anthology Dreaming Again, Cosmos magazine and Aurealis magazine. Three of them have been given Honorable Mentions in Gardner Dozois's legendary Year's Best Science Fiction, and horror doyenne Ellen Datlow recently gave a spooky story from Kaleidotrope #9 an Honorable Mention. · Apparently I'm still in touch with my inner 12 year old. I've had quite a few stories published in the wonderful NSW School Magazine, but I'm also happy to have stories included in Random House's 30 Australian Ghost Stories for Children, Ford Street's Trust Me!, Fablecroft's Worlds Next Door, and more. · My first professionally published poem was in Dolly in 1973. There was a gap of more than 30 years until my next one, "Mirror" in Midnight Echo 4, which was reprinted in the Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror.
All of my stories and poems are listed here. The count stands at 20 short stories, one novella and four poems professionally published, with more forthcoming.
My current project is a novel based on the improbably dramatic life of Bronze Age princess Medea, grand-daughter of the Sun, and another based on my story "The Dragon in the Tent", published in the May 2012 Orbit (the NSW School Magazine).
The Priestess and the Slave
Cover art (c) Rachael Mayo
Archaeology buff Eric Reynolds commissioned me to write The Priestess and the Slave, a historical novella set in fifth century BC Athens and Delphi, as the first in an innovative Hadley Rille Books series of archaeologically-accurate short novels about the daily lives of ancient people living and coping with real historical crises. It was published on 15 April 2009. It's available from amazon, fishpond and many other places.
The amazing 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," and the astonishing Alison Goodman said, "A compelling blend of vivid storytelling and meticulous research. Fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable."
Legendary sf feminist Pamela Sargent wrote on Goodreads, "This elegant short novel…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."
Macquarie University's scholarly journal Ancient History: Resources for Teachers: "historically accurate to the finest detail… It is extraordinarily moving… This is a rewarding book on both levels. A true ancient historical novel."
Short Stories for Adults:
1. "Python" (adult sf) 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. 2. "Trolls' Night Out" (adult fantasy) 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. 3. "Ariadne" (adult fantasy set in ancient Greece) published in Aurealis 41 (April 2009), edited by Stuart Mayne. 4. "A Terrible Beauty" (a nasty fable featuring Athena, Hera and the Morrigan) published in the February 2010 issue of Three Crow Press, the Morrigan Books Ezine (issue 6 volume 2), edited by Reece Notley. The webpage has disappeared, but you can read it online here (for free!). 5. "Adam" (adult fantasy) published in Kaleidotrope 9, July 2010, edited by Fred Coppersmith. This story received an Honorable Mention from horror doyenne Ellen Datlow. 6. "Velvet Revolution" (adult sf) published in Cosmos magazine Aug/Sept 2010 issue (#34). It's online here, and you can read it for free! This story received an Honorable Mention from Gardner Dozois in his Year's Best Science Fiction 28. 7. "The Head in the Goatskin Bag" (adult fantasy) published in Kaleidotrope 13, Fall 2011, edited by Fred Coppersmith. 8. "The Sacrifice" (adult fantasy set in ancient Colchis, at the far end of the Black Sea) published in Aurealis 47 e-zine (on Smashwords) in February 2012.
9. "Geshtinanna" (adult fantasy based on Assyrian mythology) forthcoming in Gilgamesh Press's anthology In the Footsteps of Gilgamesh. 10. "Under the Roses" (adult fantasy) forthcoming in A Quiet Shelter There, edited by Gerri Leen.
Short Stories for Children and Young Adults:
1. "Dave's Diary" (children's sf) published in Pearson Education's Spinouts Sapphire volume They're Here, 2002. 2. "Emily's Big Chook" (children's sf) published in Explore, Longman magazines, 2002. 3. "Alistair" (children's ghost story) published in 30 Australian Ghost Stories for Children, Random House, 2004. The NSW School Magazine reprinted "Alistair" in the September Touchdown edition, 2005, as the title story. 4. "Bertie" (children's ghost story) published by the NSW School Magazine in the August Touchdown edition, 2005. It was the title story, with an especially gorgeous wrap-around cover by Kim Gamble. The School Magazine reprinted "Bertie" in a ghost story issue of Touchdown in 2009. 5. "Barry" (children's fantasy) published by the in the July 2006 Touchdown edition of the NSW School Magazine. 6. "Losing Weight" (children's sf) published in the August 2007 Touchdown edition of the NSW School Magazine. 7. "Andromeda" (YA fantasy set in ancient Greece), published in the Ford Street Publishing anthology Trust Me!, edited by Paul Collins, June 2007. 8. "Fee" (children's sf) published in Explore, Longman magazines, January 2009. 9. "Glukera" (children's historical fiction) published in the February 2010 Touchdown edition of the NSW School Magazine. 10. "Slugs and Snails" (children's fantasy) published in Tehani Wessely's anthology Worlds Next Door, August 2010. An audio version of the story, read by me, and a copy of the text are available for download on the Teaching Resources page for the book. 11. "Nits!" (children's sf) published in the November 2010 Orbit edition of NSW School Magazine. 12. "The Dragon in the Tent" (children's fantasy) published in the May 2012 edition of the NSW School Magazine as the title story.
13. "Furry Little Demon" (children's fantasy) forthcoming in the NSW School Magazine.
Poems:
1. "Ti-trees Rising" (poem) published in Dolly magazine, 1973. (It had previously won the Hunter Valley Research Association's Poetry Prize.) 2. "Mirror" (a nasty poem) published in Midnight Echo 4 in 2010, guest edited by Lee Battersby. I'm delighted that it was reprinted in Ticonderoga's inaugural Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror, edited by Talie Helene and Liz Grzyb. It will also be reprinted in I Know What I Saw, edited by Barry Napier, forthcoming from Belfire Press's Needfire imprint. 3. "Silver-Clean" (a nasty sf poem) published in Midnight Echo 6, November 2011, the special sf horror edition guest edited by Jason Fischer, David Kernot and David Conyers. 4. "Their Quantum Toy" (a cat poem) published in Star*Line 35.1. It is one of outgoing editor Marge Simon's Editor's Choices for the issue, so it is available online – just scroll to the end of the page here and click on the name of the poem.
5. "Soft silk sack" (a cat poem) forthcoming in the NSW School Magazine.
Books:
You can read the first two chapters of The Priestess and the Slave at the publisher's website. Chapter One – Thrasulla, the Pythia Chapter Two – Harmonia, the Athenian slave
Stories for adults:
"A Terrible Beauty" (a nasty fable featuring Athena, Hera and the Morrigan) was published in the February 2010 issue of Three Crow Press. The story webpage has disappeared, but you can read it online here.
"Velvet Revolution" (sf with otters) was published in Cosmos magazine Aug/Sept 2010 issue (#34). It's online here, and you can read it for free!
Stories for kids:
"Slugs and Snails" (children's fantasy) was published in Tehani Wessely's anthology Worlds Next Door, August 2010. An audio version of the story, read by me, and a copy of the text are available for download on the Teaching Resources page for the book.
Poems:
"Their Quantum Toy", a cat poem published in Star*Line 35.1 is available online – just scroll to the end of the page here and click on the name of the poem.
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