John Fenwick Blackburn was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 novelist who wrote thrillers, horror

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 novels, and The Flame and the Wind (1967), an unusual historical novel

Historical fiction

Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...

 set in Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 times, in which a nephew of Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilatus , known in the English-speaking world as Pontius Pilate , was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26–36. He is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus...

 tries to discover the facts about the crucifixion of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

.

His horror novels are often structured as thrillers, with detective story

Detective Story

Detective Story is a film noir which tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. It features Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell, Lee Grant, among others. The movie was adapted by Robert Wyler and Philip Yordan...

 plots involving international espionage

Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...

, but leading to a supernatural

Supernatural

The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...

 resolution. This means that, as with some of the books of James Herbert

James Herbert

James Herbert, OBE is a best-selling English horror writer who originally worked as the art director of an advertising agency. He is a full-time writer who also designs his own book covers and publicity.-Family:...

, many of Blackburn's horror novels are notable for pace and plotting rather than for atmospheric effects. Blackburn specialised in mixing modern concerns such as germ warfare and international conspiracies with ancient traditions and curses, often to ingenious effect.

Many of his books feature stock characters, including General Charles Kirk of British Intelligence and his friends, the scientist

Scientist

A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

 Sir Marcus Levin and his Russian wife Tania.

Blackburn's novels Nothing But the Night and The Gaunt Woman were the basis for screenplays. The Gaunt Woman appeared as a made for TV movie in 1969 as Destiny of a Spy and Nothing But the Night was released to theaters in 1972.

Life

Blackburn was born in Corbridge

Corbridge

 Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, situated west of Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages in the vicinity include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe.-Roman fort and town:...

, Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

 and educated at Haileybury and Durham University

Durham University

The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...

. He was the brother of the poet Thomas Blackburn. During the Second World War (1942–45) he served in the British merchant navy

Merchant Navy

The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...

, becoming a radio officer. He attended Durham University after returning to civilian life, earning his bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in 1949. In 1950 he married Joan Mary Clift. He was a schoolmaster in London for two years, and he taught in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 for a year, following which he returned to London and became a director of Red Lion Books.

Horror novels

• A Scent of New-Mown Hay (1958)
• A Sour Apple Tree (1958)
• Broken Boy (1959)
• A Ring of Roses (1965)
• Children of the Night (1966)
• Nothing But the Night (1968)
• Bury Him Darkly (1969)
• Blow the House Down (1970), a non-supernatural story in which a racist architect
  Architect
  An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
  
   deliberately designs a building to be a death-trap
• Devil Daddy (1972)
• For Fear of Little Men (1972)
• Our Lady of Pain (1974), based on Elizabeth Bathory
  Elizabeth Báthory
  Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although in modern times she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, the number of murders has been debated...
  
  , suggested by and dedicated to Christopher Lee
  Christopher Lee
  Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
  
  

Thrillers

• Bound to Kill (1963)
• The Winds of Midnight (1964)
• Murder at Midnight (1964)
• Packed for Murder (1964)
• Dead Man Running (1964)
• The Reluctant Spy (1966)
• The Gaunt Woman (1967)
• Blue Octavo (1967)
• Colonel Bogus (1969)
• The Young Man from Lima (1970)
• The Household Traitors (1971)
• Deep Among the Dead Men (1973)
• Mister Brown's Bodies (1975)
• The Face of the Lion (1976)
• The Cyclops Goblet (1977)
• Dead Man's Handle (1978)
• The Sins of the Father (1979)
• A Beastly Business (1982)
• The Bad Penny (1985)

External links