Russell Blackford
Russell Blackford speaking at 2010 Global Atheist Convention
Russell Blackford speaking at 2010 Global Atheist Convention
Born1954
Sydney
OccupationWriter, philosopher and critic
NationalityAustralian
GenreScience fiction, fantasy & horror
Website
russellblackford.com

Russell Blackford (born 1954)[1] is an Australian writer, philosopher, and literary critic.

Early life and education

Blackford was born in Sydney, and grew up in the city of Lake Macquarie, near Newcastle, New South Wales.[citation needed] After graduating with first-class honours degrees in both arts and law from the University of Newcastle and University of Melbourne respectively, Blackford was awarded a PhD in English literature, also from Newcastle, on the return to myth in modern fictional narrative (as postulated by Northrop Frye). He completed a Master of Bioethics at Monash University[2] and was awarded a second PhD, in philosophy (also from Monash), for a thesis entitled "The philosophy of human enhancement". His supervisor was Justin Oakley.[3]

Career

As a fiction writer, Blackford specialises in science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. His work includes four novels published by iBooks, three of them forming an original trilogy (The New John Connor Chronicles) set in the world of the Terminator movies. His non-fiction work frequently deals with issues involving science and society, particularly philosophical bioethics, cyberculture, transhumanism, and the history and current state of the science fiction genre. His work has appeared in many magazines, journals, and reference books, and has been featured most prominently in Quadrant, a monthly journal of literature and policy. It draws on his academic qualifications in a number of fields.[citation needed]

Since 2008, he has also been a Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He was a speaker at the 2010 Global Atheist Convention[4] and a contributor to The Australian Book of Atheism.[5]

Bibliography

Novels

Non-fiction books

Editor

Blackford in 2005

Academic articles

Short stories

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Blackford, Russell 1954-". Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Russell Blackford – curriculum vitae". randjblackford.customer.netspace.net.au.
  3. ^ Postgraduate completions in Philosophy and Bioethics Archived 10 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Monash University.
  4. ^ Blackford, Russell (10 January 2010). "Implausibility, Transcendence, and Atheism". IEET. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  5. ^ Atheists for Freedom of Speech. pp 299–312 in Bonett, Warren (Editor). 2010. The Australian Book of Atheism. Melbourne, Vic: Scribe "The Australian Book of Atheism » Scribe Publications". Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.