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]
Hyperdreams: Damien Broderick's Space/Time Fiction (
OCLC44838585), Originally published in 1998 as chapbook 8 in the Babel Handbooks series on Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers. Review of the writings of SF author
Damien Broderick.
Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction (with Van Ikin and
Sean McMullen), Greenwood Press, Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy, May 1999, 264p,
ISBN0-313-25112-6
Reviewed in: *
"Science Fiction in Australia", by Michael Levy (Science Fiction Studies 27:1 (March,2000) "Russell Blackford ... among Australia's most widely respected critics"
Freedom of Religion and the Secular State, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
ISBN978-0-470-67403-1
50 Great Myths About Atheism (with Udo Schuklenk), Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
ISBN978-0470674055.
Humanity Enhanced: Genetic Choice and the Challenge for Liberal Democracies, MIT Press, 2014.
ISBN978-0262026611.
Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination: Visions, Minds, Ethics, Springer, 2017.
ISBN978-3319616834.
The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism, Bloomsbury, 2018
ISBN978-1350056008.
Editor
Urban Fantasies, anthology of 13 stories, edited with David King, Ebony, 1985.
ISBN978-0-9590655-1-0
Contrary Modes, proceedings of the academic track of
Aussiecon 2, edited with Jenny Blackford, Lucy Sussex and Norman Talbot, 1985.
ISBN978-0-9590655-2-7
50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists, co-editor with Udo Schuklenk, 2009.
ISBN978-1-4051-9045-9
"Judicial Power, Political Liberty and the Post-Industrial State." Australian Law Journal 71 (1997): 267–93.
"Thinking about Cloning: A Reply to Judith Thomson." Journal of Law and Medicine 9 (2001): 238–50.
"Stranger Than You Think: Arthur C. Clarke's Profiles of the Future." Prefiguring Cyberculture: An Intellectual History. Ed. Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson, and Alessio Cavellaro. Sydney: Power Publications, 2002; co-published Boston: MIT Press, 2003: 252–63.
"Try the Blue Pill: What's Wrong with Life in a Simulation?" Jacking In to the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation. Ed.
Matthew Kapell and William Doty. New York: Continuum, 2004: 169–82.
"Should We Fear Death? Epicurean and Modern Arguments." Immortality Institute, ed. The Scientific Conquest of Death: Essays on Infinite Lifespans. Buenos Aires: LibrosEnRed, 2004: 257–69.