Jenny Blackford's Web Site

I am a writer of speculative fiction, born in Sydney, and living in Melbourne, Australia.

I am delighted to have an urban fantasy about trolls published in Jack Dann's new HarperCollins Voyager anthology Dreaming Again, the follow-up volume to the World Fantasy Award-winning Dreaming Down Under, which he edited with Janeen Webb. It's a magnificent collection, and I'm proud to be included.

I have a twisted version of the Andromeda myth in Paul Collins' new blockbuster YA anthology Trust Me! (Ford Street Publishing), about princess Andromeda being "rescued" from a sea-monster by gorgon-slaying brute Perseus. My sf story "Python", set in second century AD Greece, appeared in 2007 in Eric Reynolds' speculative fiction/archaeology anthology Ruins Terra (Hadley Rille Books); in it, ancient Greek travel writer Pausanias meets the real Python of Delphi. In his review of the book for Locus, Gardner Dozois singled out my story, and Lyn McConchie's, for comment.

I have had science fiction, fantasy and ghost stories for children published in markets including the NSW School Magazine, Random House's 30 Australian Ghost Stories for Children, Pearson Education's Spinouts Sapphire volume They're Here, and the Longman school magazines.

My current project is a mainstream novel set in ancient Greece for archaeology buff Eric Reynolds, to be published by his press, Hadley Rille Books. Right now I'm writing about Perialla, the Pythia at Delphi who was bribed by the Spartan king Kleomenes around 491BC. When the bribery came to light, Perialla was stripped of her position and go-between Kobon was exiled, but Kleomenes came to a particularly horrible end.

As well as writing fiction, I write and review for the Australian science magazine Cosmos, the ecological magazine G, and for the New York Review of Science Fiction. I regularly assess manuscripts of various genres for the delightful Kirsty Brooks at Driftwood Manuscripts.

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.

Even during my 20 years as a computer professional, I still managed to take part in some literary activities. 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. In 1985, I co-edited Contrary Modes: Proceedings of the World Science Fiction Convention, Melbourne, Australia, published by Ebony Books and the University of Newcastle. Other Ebony Books publications include Transmitters: An Imaginary Documentary, by Damien Broderick, and Urban Fantasies, edited by David King and Russell Blackford. (These Ebony Books products are available from the great Australian Speculative Fiction online book store.) I was one of the judges for the Fantasy division of the Aurealis Awards in both 1998 and 1999, and fantasy reviewer for The Age in the early 1990s. In 2001, I co-edited (with Russell Blackford) Foundation 78 (Spring 2000), the special Australian issue.

Like many speculative fiction authors, I have a weakness for felines, especially Felix the wonderful Ragdoll cat. Despite the well-known overabundance of cat pictures on the net, I couldn't leave him out.

I can be contacted on email address j_blackford [at] hotmail.com.

Jenny Blackford with Felix Blackford