Russell Blackford—biographical details

I was born in Sydney and grew up one hundred miles to the north, in the Lake Macquarie area at the southern end of Newcastle, New South Wales, where my father worked in the ship repair industry. My initial undergraduate and postgraduate study was at the University of Newcastle. I then moved to Melbourne to take up an academic appointment.

I have worked as an academic, in labour relations, in professional legal practice in the Melbourne offices of Phillips Fox Lawyers, one of Australia's leading commercial law firms, and as a full-time writer. From 2004 until 2008 I have been a graduate student and sessional teacher in the School of Philosophy and Bioethics, Monash University.

I have also travelled extensively throughout Australasia, Europe, Southeast Asia and North America.

With my parents and my sister, Beverley Allen, late 1980s
In Australia, I am probably best known for my frequent articles in the high-profile journal of ideas, Quadrant magazine. These cover such subjects as the prospect of computer superintelligence; post-modernist theory and its problems; the role of the universities; cyberspace; bioethical issues, including cloning, stem cell research, and genetic engineering; radical life extension; religion and science; contemporary issues in philosophical ethics; and debates about a wide range of social and political issues, including free speech, racism, and refugee policy.

However, I have also published articles, reviews and stories in many other journals, magazines, anthologies and reference works in Australia, North America and Europe. These include The Age Monthly Review; AUMLA; Aurealis; The Australian (newspaper); Australian Book Review; Australian Journal of Labour Law; Australian Law Journal; Australian Rationalist; Australian Universities' Review; Eidolon; Fantasy Annual; Foundation; Journal of Law and Medicine; Journal of Popular Culture; Meanjin; Metascience; New York Review of Science Fiction; Nova Express; Review of Contemporary Fiction; Science Fiction; Science Fiction Studies; SFRA Review; Westerly; The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction; Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers; Black Heart, Ivory Bones; Dreaming Down-Under; Dream Weavers; Spinouts; and Centaurus.
My writing—fiction and non-fiction—frequently explores issues of technology, power, freedom, and the human desire for immortality.

I am internationally prominent as a science fiction critic and advocate of the sf genre, and contribute frequently to The New York Review of Science Fiction.

My wife, Jenny Blackford, and I were members of the editorial collective of Australian Science Fiction Review: Second Series, Australia's most ambitious sf-related magazine of the 1980s, and we were the principals in the small press publisher Ebony Books.

Jenny Blackford

In Crete, 1987

 In 1999, Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction (co-written with Van Ikin and Sean McMullen) was published in the U.S. by Greenwood Press. In 2000, Jenny and I edited a special Australian issue of the British academic journal Foundation (based on our efforts in running the academic track of Aussiecon 3, the 1999 world sf convention, held in Melbourne).

In more recent years I have concluded a trilogy entitled Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles. The first volume, Dark Futures, appeared in August 2002 from ibooks. The second volume, An Evil Hour, appeared in May 2003, and the third volume, Times of Trouble, appeared in September 2003. My novel, Kong Reborn, an authorised sequel to the original 1933 King Kong movie, appeared in 2005. Kong Reborn is set in the present day and near-future. It involves a race to recreate the giant ape from damaged DNA samples left over from Kong's final battle atop the Empire State Building.

My short fiction has won the Aurealis Award and the Ditmar Award. It has frequently been reprinted in "best of" anthologies.

I have won the William Atheling, Jr Award for Criticism or Review on three occasions.
During my academic career, my interests have increasingly shifted to philosophy, and I enrolled in 2004 in a second PhD program, this time in philosophy, at Monash University. My thesis relates to the philosophy of human enhancement. My interests in philosophy include ethical theory (including bioethics), legal and political philosophy, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of religion.

In 2004,  I accepted an invitation to join the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) as a Fellow. Most recently (January 2008) I was appointed as editor of The Journal of Evolution and Technology, IEET's online refereed journal.

With my Ditmar Award for "The Sword of God", 1997
My qualifications

I have first class honours degrees in both Arts (University of Newcastle) and Law (University of Melbourne), a Ph.D on the supposed return to myth in modern fiction (University of Newcastle) and a Master of Bioethics degree (Monash University), completed in 2002.

During my academic career, my interests have increasingly shifted to philosophy, including philosophical bioethics, and I enrolled in 2004 in a second PhD program, this time in philosophy, at Monash University. My thesis was submitted on 26 August 2008 and was formally approved on 18 November 2008 after both external examiners recommended approval with no revisions required. At the time of writing (late November 2008) I have the second Ph.D in every respect save for the formal graduation (to take place early in 2009).

Memberships

Fellow: Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

Active Member: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)

Member: Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA)

Russell and Jenny Blackford, January 2003 (photo by Charles N. Brown)

 

Andrew Enstice, Janeen Webb, Domna Pastourmatzi, Russell Blackford, Jenny Blackford, in Thessaloniki, Greece, October 2001

 

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