John Blackburn (author)
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John Blackburn (born 1923) is a British novelist who has written thrillers, horror novels, and The Flame and the Wind (1967), an unusual historical novel set in Roman times, in which a nephew of Pontius Pilate tries to discover the facts about the crucifixion of Jesus.
His horror novels are often structured as thrillers, with detective story plots involving international espionage, but leading to a supernatural resolution. This means that, as with some of the books of James 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 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 Sir Marcus Levin and his Russian wife Tania.
Blackburn was born in Northumberland and educated at Haileybury and Durham University. During the Second World War he served in the British merchant navy, and before becoming a professional writer he worked as an antiquarian bookseller.
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[edit] Bibliography
[edit] 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 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, suggested by and dedicated to Christopher Lee
[edit] 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)
[edit] Historical novels
- The Flame and the Wind (1967)
