John Blackburn | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 June 1923 Northumberland, England |
| Died | 1993 (aged 69–70) Richmond, London, England |
| Occupation | Bookseller |
| Nationality | British |
| Genre | Thrillers,horror,historical fiction |
John Fenwick Anderson Blackburn (26 June 1923 – 1993) was a Britishnovelist who wrotethrillers, andhorror novels. Blackburn was described as "today's Master of Horror" byThe Times Literary Supplement.[1]
Many of his books featurestock characters, including General Charles Kirk of British Intelligence and his friends, thescientist Sir Marcus Levin and his Russian wife Tania.[2]
Blackburn was born in the village ofCorbridge,Northumberland and schooled atHaileybury College.[2] He was the brother of the poetThomas Blackburn.[1] During theSecond World War (1942–45) he served in theMerchant Navy as a radio officer.[3] He attendedDurham University after returning to civilian life – the alma mater of both his father Eliel and brother Thomas – and graduated in 1949.[3] Blackburn taught for several years after that, first in London, and then in Berlin.[3] He married Joan Mary Clift in 1950. Returning to London in 1952, he took over the management of Red Lion Books and began writing in his off-hours, eventually becoming a full-time writer after the success of his first book,A Scent of New-Mown Hay, in 1958.[3]
His horror novels are often structured as thrillers, withdetective story plots involving internationalespionage, but often leading to either asupernatural orscience fictional resolution.[4][2][5][6] This means that, as with some of the books ofJames Herbert, many of Blackburn's horror novels are notable for pace and plotting rather than for atmospheric effects. Blackburn specialised in mixing modern concerns such asgerm warfare and international conspiracies with ancient traditions and curses, often to ingenious effect.[4]The Flame and the Wind (1967), by contrast, is an unusualhistorical novel set inRoman times, in which a nephew ofPontius Pilate tries to discover the facts about the crucifixion ofJesus.[5]
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has noted that in many of Blackburn's novels 'a powerful ambience of Horror derives from a calculated use of material from several genres, including science fiction, often simultaneously; he was a sophisticated, commercial exploiter ofEquipoise in fantastic fiction'.[7] His use of science fiction is generally borderline, though not inChildren of the Night, which features – in classic sci-fi fashion – an undergroundlost race, this time withtelepathic powers.[7]
A persistent theme in Blackburn's writing was the controversial topic ofrace relations. This is perhaps most prevalent in his 1970 novelBlow The House Down, which featured a racist organisation called 'God's True Sailormen' fighting against what they saw as the dangers ofmiscegenation, and contains, as publisherValancourt Books notes, 'passages in which both white and black characters use epithets that would likely not be considered acceptable in a book published today'.[8] Adrian Schober has argued Blackburn was likely interested in racial intolerance because of his own family history in colonialMauritius, which had seen intermarriage between whites and native women over previous generations.[9]
Blackburn's novelsNothing But the Night andThe Gaunt Woman were the basis for screenplays.The Gaunt Woman appeared as a made-for-TV movie in 1969 asDestiny of a Spy andNothing But the Night was released to theaters in 1972.[10]A Scent of New-Mown Hay was also adapted as radio serial forBBC Radio 2 in 1969.[11]
John Welcome in theIrish Times praised Blackburn'sBlow The House Down as a "brilliant evocation of present-day stresses...more than a thriller, a contemporary novel and good one".[12] Blackburn's novelBury Him Darkly was included by horror historian Robert S. Hadji in his list of "unjustly neglected" horror novels forRod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine.[13] Frank Denton described Blackburn as "undoubtedly England's best practicing novelist in the tradition of thethriller/fantasy novel."[2] Hugh Lamb laudedOur Lady of Pain as "atour de force version of the legend of theevil eye". Lamb added that he regarded Blackburn as "certainly the finest British novelist in his field and deserves the widest recognition."[6] Don D'Ammassa describedBury Him Darkly as a "nicely crafted, often surprising, and definitely gripping thriller."[4]Howard Waldrop wrote an appreciation of Blackburn's novelA Scent of New-Mown Hay for the bookHorror: Another 100 Best Books.[14]
Valancourt Books began reprinting John Blackburn's works in 2013. In 2017,Centipede Press launched their program to reissue Blackburn's most significant novels of weird fictionand by 2020 they had published eight novels includingA Scent of New-Mown Hay,Bury Him Darkly,Children of the Night andDevil Daddy.
