Leigh Blackmore

Leigh Blackmore

Leigh Blackmore in 2007
Born Leigh David Blackmore
1959
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Residence Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Alma mater University of Wollongong
Occupation editor/proofreader, writer, manuscript assessor, critic, occultist, musician
Religion Thelema
Parent(s) Rod Blackmore; Elizabeth Anne James
Website http://members.optusnet.com.au/lvxnox/

Leigh (David) Blackmore (born 1959) is an Australian horror writer, critic, editor, occultist and musician. He served as the second President of the Australian Horror Writers Association (2010–2011).[1] His work has been nominated four times for the Ditmar Award, once for fiction and three times for the William Atheling Jr. Award for criticism.[2] . He has contributed entries to such encylopedias as S.T. Joshi and Stefan J. Dziemianowicz (eds) Supernatural Literature of the World (Greenwood Press, 2005, 3 vols) and June Pulliam and Tony Fonseca (eds), Encyclopedia of Ghosts in Popular Culture and Legend (ABC-Clio, 2015).

According to The Melbourne University Press Encyclopedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, "His name is now synonymous with Australian horror,"[3] and a Hodder & Stoughton press release stated that, "Leigh Blackmore is to horror what Glenn A. Baker is to rock and roll." . He has also been recognised as "one of the leading weird poets of our time,"[4] and has been nominated for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Rhysling Award.

Youth

Leigh Blackmore was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Rod and Beth Blackmore. His early hobbies included philately and phillumeny. He read extensively from an early age, particularly Look and Learn with its Trigan Empire science fiction comicstrip, and later the works of Geoffrey Willans, J.P. Martin, Norman Hunter and W.E. Johns.[5] While attending Lane Cove West Primary School, at around age nine he was deeply affected by a reading of Rudyard Kipling's horror story "The Strange Ride of Morowbie Jukes", by Lucy Boston's fantasy novel The Castle of Yew and by the TV broadcast of Richard Matheson's "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" episode of The Twilight Zone. He also encountered horror fiction via Stephen P. Sutton's anthologies Tales to Tremble By and More Tales to Tremble By.

He was later educated at North Sydney Boys High School (1971–72) and Newcastle Boys' High School (1972–76). In high school, after reading the science fiction anthology series "Out of This World" (edited by Mably Owen and Amabel Williams-Ellis), he graduated to devouring the works of Ray Bradbury , Peter Saxon, H. Rider Haggard, Isaac Asimov, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Leslie Charteris, and became a keen enthusiast of sword and sorcery fiction as represented by Lin Carter's Flashing Swords anthologies and Thongor series novels , Edgar Rice Burroughs's Martian tales, Michael Moorcock's Elric sequence and others, and horror fiction (especially the Weird Tales school, including Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, Donald Wandrei and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos), discovering their work via anthologies edited by August Derleth, Peter Haining, Karl Edward Wagner (the Year's Best Horror Stories series, and via publications of Arkham House which he special-ordered via Space Age Books (Melbourne), then Australia's only specialist supplier of science fiction and fantasy books.[6][7]

He was also greatly influenced by the Skywald 'horror mood' comics (Nightmare, Psycho and Scream) and Warren Publishing's stable of horror comics such as Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella, and the film magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland.

While at high school Blackmore co-founded the Arcane Sciences Society[8] and the Horror-Fantasy Society; the journal of the societies, Cathuria[9] (named after a place in Lovecraft's story The White Ship), was banned after three issues by Blackmore's high school principal for quoting in a review four-letter words used by the unleashed monster in Flesh Gordon.[10] Having corresponded with enthusiasts in the field such as Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Glenn Lord, W.H. Pugmire and Gregory Nicoll (Wikipedia:Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#Nicoll, Gregory), he began (aged 13) to write fiction and speculative poetry in the vein of Lovecraft and C.A. Smith.[11] His earliest in-print appearances included Lovecraftian sonnets in R. Alain Everts' magazines The Arkham Sampler (new series) and Etchings and Odysseys. Blackmore was also a devotee of horror movies principally from the Hammer horror and Amicus Productions era. Samuel Beckett and William S. Burroughs became lasting literary influences at this time.[8]

Early interest in the world of science fiction fandom was evidenced by Blackmore's attendance of Aussiecon 1 (the 33rd World Science Fiction Convention and the first such held in Australia) in 1975 at the age of 15. He there met such figures as Forrest J. Ackerman (who showed him the ring which had been worn by Bela Lugosi when playing Dracula) and Jack L. Chalker (publisher of Mirage Press); he was enthralled by Ursula K. le Guin's guest of honour speech in which she spoke of science fiction breaking out of the 'literary ghetto' and declaring that 'Philip K. Dick deserves to be placed on the shelf alongside Dickens'. [12]

He also played judo, Kendo and jiu-jitsu during high school in Sydney (at North Sydney Boys' High) and judo at Newcastle (at Newcastle Police Citizens Boys' Club, Broadmeadow); however he was only formally graded in judo.

Blackmore also became interested in Aleister Crowley through reading Moonchild (novel), Crowley's Confessions: An Autohagiography and the John Symonds biography The Great Beast. His other occult studies began with books by such authors as Paul Huson (on Tarot and witchcraft) and Idries Shah's The Secret Lore of Magic (on Goetia) as well as June John's biography King of the Witches, on Alex Sanders.

Early career

Following stints at Macquarie University (where he belonged to the university's science fiction club and contributed to their zine Telmar ) and Sydney University (where he majored in Semitic Studies), Blackmore came in contact with Don Boyd, editor of (Australian) Futuristic Tales. Beginning a 25-year career as a bookseller in 1978, he then worked in his spare time as an editorial assistant on The Australian Horror and Fantasy Magazine[11] in the early 1980s; Blackmore went on to publish and co-edit its successor, Terror Australis magazine from 1987-1992.[11][13] In 1983 Blackmore met writer and poet (Danny) Charles Lovecraft through the letter column of Crypt of Cthulhu; Lovecraft would later found P'rea Press which published Blackmore's first poetry collection. Blackmore learned the art of first edition book collecting through his association with fan, DUFF-winner and collector Keith Curtis

In the 1980s, Blackmore published bibliographies on Brian Lumley and H.P. Lovecraft[3] (the latter in collaboration with S.T. Joshi). He came to be a well-regarded Lovecraft scholar,[11] and carried on correspondence with other Lovecraft fans in many countries including US, the UK, New Zealand, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Russia. He was briefly a member of the early Esoteric Order of Dagon and Necronomicon Lovecraftian amateur press associations, with his zines Red Viscous Madness, and Forbidden Dimensions, Nameless Dreams. (He would rejoin the EOD around 2000).

His first published story was "The Infestation", adapted for graphic form by Gavin O'Keefe and published in Phantastique, a comic which attracted notoriety (questions were asked in Australian Federal Parliament) for being government-funded via an Arts Council grant while containing visceral images and story content.[14]

He worked as a bookseller in Sydney for 25 years (1979–2004), primarily managing specialist science fiction & fantasy departments within larger bookstores such as Dymocks.[3] Authors hosted by Blackmore for events and signings at Dymocks George St include Storm Constantine, Harlan Ellison, Richard Harland, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Bill Congreve, Simon Brown, Kyla Ward, Robert Hood, Cat Sparks, and Bryce J. Stevens.

Worm Technology (1977–1985)

Blackmore had classical piano training, but his formative musical influences were The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Roxy Music, The Stooges, Genesis, Queen, Rick Wakeman, King Crimson, Television, XTC and such experimental bands as Henry Cow, Can and The Residents, as well as Australian bands such as The Church, The Reels, The Models, Midnight Oil, MEO 245, Allniters, Outline and Voight 465. He had jammed with garage bands in his high school years in Newcastle, New South Wales.

On moving back to Sydney in 1977, he played synthesisers and drums (and occasionally sang) with Sydney New Wave band Worm Technology and other bands. From a mixture of influences including prog and experimental rock, pop and punk, Worm Technology evolved their unique sound while living together in an old schoolhouse in Rozelle in Sydney. Blackmore had known Ian Walker (vox, gtr) in primary school; meanwhile Walker had befriended guitarist and synth player Greg Smith in high school. Smith was an early user of synthesisers, including the Steiner-Parker Synthacon.

One of their earliest recordings includes a reggae version of "Kookaburra", played strictly for laughs. A cassette-only album of punkish acoustic and vocal originals, "If You Don't Care for Your Scalp You Get Rabies" (1977) (its title taken from a line uttered by Terry Jones in the Monty Python episode "Mr Neutron"), performed by Blackmore, Walker and Smith, was released under the band name Tiploid Grundy and the Rabid Slime Moulds; while with Smith, Blackmore initially concentrated on composing electronic music using sequencers, including the Robert Fripp and Brian Eno-influenced "Music for Bookshops" (1979), and a concept-cycle, recorded on to reel-to-reel tape, called "The Guardian", based on a collaborative fantasy story written by the two.

The band stabilised as a four-piece rock band with live drums as Worm Technology, though synth-based instrumentals such as "Africa" often featured in their sets. Blackmore initially played electric organ, string machine (a non-proprietary version of the Mellotron) and synthesiser, with Smith as drummer and synth programmer, but Blackmore often drummed when Smith was playing guitar or bass. His drumming style was largely influenced by the Buzzcocks' John Mayer and The Jam`s Rick Buckler. For a time, Smith's girlfriend Myfanwy (Miffy) Ryan played violin with the band, but dropped out after a year. (Ryan has gone on in recent years to play with such renowned Australian folk bands as Madd Marianne , Wongawilli Band , Quartet d'Gong and Denizen).

Worm Technology initially played covers by 1960s and 1970s acts including Kevin Ayers, Lou Reed, The Troggs, Them, The Human Beinz, Modern Lovers, Ramones, Elvis Costello, The Jam and The Buzzcocks, and punkified medleys of old TV cartoon theme tunes such as Astroboy, Marine Boy and Gigantor (WT were playing their version of the latter before Californian punk band The Dickies recorded it in 1980.). Their deconstructed version of "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, featuring Walker's famed one-note guitar solo on an amplified tin toy guitar bought from an op shop, preceded Devo's take on the same number.

Worm Technology went on to perform mainly quirky originals, from "Here Come the Lonely Vegetables" to "Three Years on the Road", a country and western parody penned by Blackmore. Both Blackmore and Walker had both been particularly influenced by The Residents, The Velvet Underground, The B-52s and by Lenny Kaye's Nuggets series of sixties garage-rock reissues - influences which skewed their pop sensibility. John Gardner was consistently the bass player throughout Worm Technology's existence; he never contributed lyrics or music. Rhythm guitarist Malcolm Elliott and second vocalist Peter Rodgers entered, left and re-entered the band lineup at different periods. The band played one early gig where Blackmore had briefly left, under the moniker "Leigh Blackmore's Rainbow". Elliott and Rodgers also contributed song lyrics, as did mixer Garry Ryan, all of which were put to music by Greg Smith. Elliott's "Slept-On Hair" and "Simulus Stimulus", Ryan's "Cry Laughing Clown",[15] "Technical Suicide" and "Pilot", and Rodger's "Who Do We Think We Are?" were all popular elements of Worm Technology's set. Many of Worm Technology's early gigs were at church halls, as several of the band members were Christians.(Rodgers went on to become an Anglican minister and missionary in Indonesia from 1991 to 2002; later Rector of St Stephen's, Newtown and Federal Secretary of the (Australian)Church Missionary Society).

Blackmore wrote many of their song lyrics, some in collaboration with vocalist Ian Walker (though Walker often wrote alone), and guitarist Greg Smith wrote much of the music,[8] though Blackmore wrote both lyrics and music for some songs. The band put unique twists on some of their covers, such as playing Glen Campbell's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" in a Joy Division style, and doing a rock version of the Brian Eno/Cluster (band) piece "Broken Head".

Worm Technology played gigs at various inner-city venues such as the Vulcan Hotel, Taverners Hill Hotel, The Rehearsal Room and the Sussex Hotel. They participated in a number of annual Strawberry Hills Hotel band competitions, along with such contemporary bands as The Hard-Ons. Worm Technology also undertook tours including the 'We Are Not the New Dylan Tour' (1980) in which they played obscure NSW country towns such as Fish River (Oberon) and The Lagoon; and the "Moo Cow Tour", in which they played in several Sydney milk-bars. The band also issued several issues of their official fanzine, Prince the Wonder Dog which were given away at gigs.

The band often parodied musical trends, as in "Dull Rappsville", a parody of early rap. Continuing their disdain of most rock posturing, the band played one tour with all members dressed as crooner Val Doonican, wearing cardigans and thick black spectacles. Lead vocalist Ian Walker's renowned stage act included using a toy rabbit owned in Blackmore's childhood as a prop for the song "Furry Animals", and standing on a chair throughout the song "The Tree (That was Not a Tree)". In the original song (Revenge of the) Phantom Agents (based on the 1960s Japanese TV series), the band threw cardboard shuriken into the audience. In 1980, Greg Smith wrote a rock opera, The Lift, in the vein of works such as Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and rehearsed Worm Technology intensively in its performance; a more serious work, it bemused many Worm Technology fans and received one live performance only; it was issued as both a studio and live cassette-only album. One song from the work, "Stereotypists", was re-vamped as "The Aliens" and became a set staple.

Worm Technology released several cassette-only albums including In Your Loungeroom (1985), containing two tracks imported from Ian Walker's side-project The Togs (which included Worm Technology band manager Rik Ford), and other songs including "Crimefighter" (sung as if by Batman)and the popular "Wombats" (lyrics Blackmore) in which Blackmore put together his synth solo by segueing keyboard lines from songs by Iggy Pop, Fischer Z, and The Angels (Australian band), and Smith took his guitar line from "Magazine Madonna" by Sherbet. The band's later original repertoire tended to include a mix of catchy synth-driven pop songs such as "So Alone" and "Can't Stand the Pace", straightahead rock numbers such as "Can't You See","The Light" "Love Grows Cold", and "The Height of Love", reflective songs such as "The King is Dead", "No Fear", and "Set your Mind Right" and danceable numbers like the ska number "(Put it in a) Nutshell", most of which were penned entirely by Smith.

Worm Technology had several offshoot bands including Koga Ninja (named after characters from the 1960s TV show The Samurai), in which the band members (Blackmore, Smith and Elliott) dressed up as ninjas. The band used synths and drum machines extensively. Koga Ninja released several cassette only live albums.[16]

Blackmore largely gave up music when Worm Technology broke up, to concentrate on his writing, although Astropop, a short-lived synth duo featuring Blackmore and Smith (which extended Worm Technology's late emphasis on extended synthesiser-based numbers such as "Samurai") had some success playing electronica including Kraftwerk covers but never recorded. Blackmore played drums in Post-Mortem (1987), a band which featured Ian Walker from Worm Technology and Brian Pember from Sydney new wave band Crossroad/Surprise, and a guitarist only remembered as Colin. Blackmore later performed with the short-lived experimental group White Stains (1990) (named after Aleister Crowley's poetry volume), with illustrator and viola-player Gavin O'Keefe. White Stains released a cassette single "Acid Bath" (Blackmore/O'Keefe") backed with "The Finger", a musical interpretation of William Burrough's story about a man who cuts off his own finger.

Blackmore resumed playing music semi-professionally only in 2009 with the formation of the Illawarra-based 'popstalgia' trio The Third Road in which he plays bass and sings.

The 1990s

In 1990 Blackmore travelled via New York (where he met Peter H. Cannon, and interviewed Frank Belknap Long) to Providence for the H.P. Lovecraft Centennial Conference. As one of the Friends of Lovecraft group organised by S.T. Joshi, Jon Cooke and Will Murray, Blackmore contributed financially to erecting the memorial plaque in honour of Lovecraft which was erected outside the John Hay Library.[17] In Providence, Blackmore met such figures as author Les Daniels,cartoonist and author Gahan Wilson, Marc A. Michaud (publisher of Necronomicon Press), critic Will Murray, editor David E. Schultz, Philip J. Rahman (copublisher of Fedogan and Bremer), Italian scholar Giuseppe Lippi, critic Steven J. Mariconda, French scholar Jean-Luc Buard, illustrator Jason C. Eckhardt, editor Robert M. Price, critic Paul Buhle, German scholar Kalju Kirde and illustrator Robert H. Knox, and attended the world premier of Re-Animator. Blackmore also spent time with writers Dennis Etchison and William F. Nolan while in Los Angeles.

Terror Australis, the Gargoyle Club and the Sydney Futurian Society

With Christopher Sequeira and Bryce J. Stevens, Blackmore co-edited Terror Australis: The Australian Horror and Fantasy Magazine (1987–1992) and co-founded the Gargoyle Club: The Sydney Horror Writers and Artists Society, which included Sydney horror writers and artists including Gavin O'Keefe, underground graphic novelists Steve 'Carnage' Carter and Antoinette Rydyr ; Rod Marsden , Don Boyd and others. The Gargoyle Club operated in Leichhardt, New South Wales and Petersham until 1992, after which it moved to venues in inner city Sydney and was subsequently joined by writers such as David Carroll and Kyla Ward. The club published two issues of their horror fiction magazine Cold Cuts co-edited by Antoinette Rydyr, Ron Clarke and Don Boyd, Art Director was Steve Carter.

Terror Australis the magazine was followed by the anthology Terror Australis: Best Australian Horror (1993), the first mass-market Australian horror anthology[3] (edited by Blackmore alone).[18] Leanne Frahm's story "Catalyst" from the anthology won the Ditmar Award for best Australian Short Fiction.[19] Blackmore was an invited judge on the Aurealis Award in 1995[20] and on the George Turner (writer) Award in 1999

Blackmore often hosted gatherings of the Futurian Society of Sydney (run by sf bibliographer/researcher and secondhand bookdealer Graham Stone) at his Leichardt home. Regular attendees included Kevin Dillon and David Ritchie. Blackmore also acquired the majority of his holdings of Weird Tales magazine via Stone over a period of around a decade.

Anarchism, TOPY, Thoughtcrimes and the O.T.O.

In the early 1990s Blackmore was involved with the anarchist scene around Jura Books and the squatters collective Jellyhedz in Sydney, though his primary political interests lay in the Situationist International, (especially the works of Guy Debord); and the ontological anarchism of Hakim Bey.[8] The works of Colin Wilson became increasingly important to him (he interviewed Wilson in 1993)[8] as did self-actualization and Timothy Leary's Eight Circuit Model of Consciousness as promulgated in Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson.[8] Blackmore has an ongoing participatory involvement with psychogeography and the dérive. Blackmore co-founded Thoughtcrimes, an independent distributor of radical books and tapes which also operated culture-jamming campaigns. In this period Blackmore issued fanzines such as Antics: a Journal ov Anti-Control and The Possibility of Finding Such a Dog. . Thoughtcrimes was succeeded by Blackmore's Sydney Zeroist Alliance project of the early 2000's.

Also in the early 1990s, following involvement with Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth whose Australian station, TOPY Chaos, he joined, Blackmore accepted The Book of the Law and took several degrees in Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis.[8] via their Sydney body, Oceania Oasis (later Oceania Lodge). He was ordained as a Deacon in the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica and performed in several contemporary series of the Rites of Eleusis and in Crowley's mystery play The Ship. He has taken the role of Priest in Liber XV, The Gnostic Mass in the Illawarra.

Marriage

Blackmore married fellow bookseller and Neopagan Glayne Louise Vowles, with whom he had been in a relationship since 1994, in 1999 in a Hermetic ceremony which included readings from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, Liber AL and The Black Book of Carmarthen. However, the couple divorced in 2001. Vowles died in June 2009.[21]

Current career: 21st Century

Writing, Editing, Convention appearances

Having left the booktrade in 2004, Blackmore moved to Wollongong, NSW where he took his Honours degree in Creative Arts (Writing) (University of Wollongong). He has been a guest lecturer on science fiction, fantasy and horror for the University of Wollongong's Faculty of Creative Arts. He has guested as an expert on horror literature and film on TV programs in Australia including Ray Martin's Midday (television show), cable TV program The Graveyard Shift and Jennifer Byrne Presents[22] and has been interviewed on Sydney's 2SER radio[23] in the same capacity. He became the second President of the Australian Horror Writers Association, serving between September 2010 until September 2011.[1]

Blackmore is Official Editor (with Scott A. Shaeffer) of the Sword and Sorcery and Weird Fiction Terminus (SSFWT) amateur press association (founded by Benjamin Szumskyj) which has members in Australia, the US, the UK, Sweden and Finland. SSWFT reached its 50th mailing in August 2013. (Blackmore's own contributions can be found archived on www.scribd.com). Blackmore also contributes a regular zine to S.T. Joshi's "Esoteric Order of Dagon" Amateur Press Association. (Some issues can be found housed in Cuyler W. 'Ned' Brooks' fanzine archive ) He is also a member of the Australian Sherlock Holmes society the Sydney Passengers, and of the C.G. Jung Society of Sydney.

He is a frequent panellist at science fiction conventions such as the Magic Casements Festival (Sydney, 2003) , the annual Conflux convention in Canberra (where with Margi Curtis he often runs workshops on magick), and has been a panellist at Constantinople Australian National Science Fiction Convention(Melbourne, 1994), Freecon (Sydney, 2003) and Aussiecon 4(Melbourne, 2010).

Blackmore is also a devotee of the Pre-Raphaelite painters. The creative component of his Honours thesis was a 35,000 word ficto-critical novella on the relationship between Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddall.

Blackmore operates his own business specialising in proofreading, copyediting and manuscript assessment. He is a member of the Society of Editors (NSW). He regularly workshops fiction with a writer's group including Margaret Curtis and Andrea Gawthorne .

Esoteric practice and teaching

An experienced ritualist, Blackmore has written columns on Magick and the occult (with poet, Reclaiming (Neopaganism) witch and activist Margaret (Margi) Curtis) - "Arts of the Craft" (2005) for Spellcraft magazine and "Black Cauldron" (2008–2009) for Black: Australia's Dark Culture magazine (Brimstone Press) He regularly lectures in the Illawarra NSW on Western esotericism, including (often with Curtis) running workshops and "Mystery Circle" discussion groups. He co-facilitated MoonsKin (2006-2011) and Black Swans (2014-present), both eclectic ritual working groups influenced principally by Reclaiming (Neopaganism)), and has been an active member of the organising collective for Witchcamps held by Australian Reclaiming.[24] He has taken an active role in pagan and ceremonial magick opening rituals at such events as EarthSong WitchCamp (Healesville, Vic, 2011) and the Thriving Illawarra Festival (Wollongong, 2012). Blackmore has co-facilitated and presented on Qabalah and ritual magick at such pagan gatherings such as the Leaderless Leaders/Bare Bones Reclaiming Gathering (Minto NSW) (Jan 2013) and the Mabon Equinox Gathering, Canberra (Mar 2014)(the latter was supported in part by the Pagan Initiative of P.A.N. Inc ). He has worked part-time as an I Ching reader.

Since 2012 he has co-facilitated a group working the Enochian magic system of Dr John Dee, with participants from Wollongong and Sydney. Blackmore's other occult interests include the Zos Kia Cultus, Western Hermeticism, and astroarchaeology. Some of Blackmore's magical essays are available as chapbooks under his own imprint, Hawk's Head Press.

Award nominations

Year Award Work Category Result
2004 Ditmar Award "Uncharted" Best Novella Nomination[25][26]
2010 Ditmar Award "Marvels and Horrors: Terry Dowling's Clowns at Midnight William Atheling Jr. Award for Criticism Nomination[27]
2013 Ditmar Award "Things Invisible: Human and Ab-Human in Two of Hodgson's Carnacki Tales". William Atheling Jr. Award for Criticism Nomination Ditmar Award results Entry 46
2013 Ditmar Award "A Puppet's Parody of Joy": Puppets, Dolls and Mannikins as Diabolical Other in the Work of Ramsey Campbell William Atheling Jr. Award for Criticism Nomination Ditmar Award results Entry 46
2014 Rhysling Award ""The Last Dream" (for Ambrose Bierce) Best Long Poem Nomination

Works

As editor

Selected critical writings and bibliographies

Fiction

Poetry

Blackmore's weird verse (primarily formalist in style) has appeared variously in Arkham Sampler, Avallaunius: The Journal of the Arthur Machen Society, Beastly, www.chaosmagic.com, Cyaegha, EOD, The Eldritch Dark,[33][34][35] EOD Etchings & Odysseys, Melaleuca, Midnight Echo[36] New Lovecraft Collector, Shoggoth,[37] The Small Tapestry, Spectral Realms , Strange Sorcery Telmar, and Weird Fiction Review.[38][39]

Much of the weird poetry is now collected in Spores from Sharnoth & Other Madnesses,[40] with a foreword by S.T. Joshi. The US journal Dead Reckonings declared that the collection "at once establishes Blackmore as one of the leading weird poets of our time."[41] A recording of Blackmore reading the poem "Dark Dedication" from the collection can be downloaded here.[42] A variant edition of this title, omitting the introduction and P'rea Press editors' foreword, and with some poems excluded and others added, under the title Sharnoth's Spores & Other Seeds, was published by Rainfall Books in 2010.[43]

General poetry has appeared in Melaleuca, Tertangala, and at Australian Reader and Pool online. Blackmore has read his poetry live at various venues in NSW including Live Poets at Don Bank (North Sydney) and Yours and Owls Café (Wollongong). Blackmore has also recorded readings of many of the poems of Clark Ashton Smith, e.g. "Chant to Sirius" .

Recent poetry has appeared in anthologies and magazines including:

Blackmore has collaborated on poems with US poets Richard L. Tierney and Fred Phillips, with French poet Adam Joffrain and with Australian poet Charles Lovecraft. His poem "The Last Dream" (dedicated to Ambrose Bierce) (Weird Fiction Review No 4, 2013) was a nominee for Best Long Poem in the annual Rhysling Award. Read online at:

Reviews, Radio and other works

Blackmore regularly reviews horror fiction for US critical journal Dead Reckonings.[44] His past review work of horror and fantasy fiction includes contributions to AsIF.com,[45] Galaxy Newsletter, OzHorrorscope (online blog reviews), Prohibited Matter (column - 'The State of the Nightmare'), Science Fiction - A Review of Speculative Fiction (column - 'Darkside'), Shoggoth, Skinned Alive and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Blackmore's story "The Infestation" was read live to air by Steven Paulsen on Rick Kennett's 3CR and 3MDR Community radio guest shows "Pilots of the Unknown".

His story "Cemetery Rose" was read by the author and dramatized with sound effects for the Writing Show's Six Days of Hallowe'en podcast (cohosted by Australian horror Writers Association) in 2006. An interview with Blackmore conducted by Writing Show host Paula Berenstein was broadcast concurrently.

His audio-walk sound piece Carbon Footprints was exhibited as an installation at the University of Wollongong (Faculty of Creative Arts), Oct 2007.

His radio play Calling Water was broadcast in late 2008 on ABC Radio National Airplay.[46][47]

His collage artwork, which is influenced by the Situationist technique of detournement, has been exhibited at the First Australasian Thelemic Conference (Sydney, 1994) and published in various issues of Tertangala magazine - example at:.

Blackmore has adapted several works for short screenplay treatments and stage, including H.P. Lovecraft's The Music of Erich Zann (screenplay), Clark Ashton Smith's "The Double Shadow" (screenplay) and his own stories "Dr Nadurnian's Golem" (stage, workshopped but unproduced) and "Fire on the Ghost Train" (screenplay, as "Inferno").

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Leigh Blackmore". Australian Horror Writers Association. 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  2. ↑ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index of Literary Nominees". Locus Online. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Collins, Paul (1998). The MUP Encyclopedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. pp. 11, 46–47.
  4. ↑ Review of Spores from Sharnoth and Other Madnesses, Dead Reckonings 4: 83 (Fall 2008)
  5. ↑ Leigh Blackmore Black to the Blind: My Life and Magick (autobiography, forthcoming).
  6. ↑ Johnson, Robin (7 September 2010). "A. Bertram Chandler Award Winners: Merv Binns". Australian Science Fiction Foundation. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Space Age Closes". Locus (Jan 1986).
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Benjamin J. Szumskyj The Terror from Australis: An Interview with Leigh Blackmore. Australian Studies in Weird Fiction 1 (Equilibrium Books, 2008)
  9. ↑ Leigh Blackmore, J. Michael Blaxland (see Young Einstein and Lindsay Walker, Cathuria: The Newsletter of the Arcane Sciences Society and the Horror-Fantasy Society, Nos 1-3 (Newcastle, NSW: Blackmore/Blaxland/Walker, 1975)
  10. ↑ Editors (2010) [2008]. "Introduction". In Blackmore, Leigh. Spores from Sharnoth and Other Madnesses. Sydney: P'rea Press. pp. xi–xiv. ISBN 978-0-9804625-2-4.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Masters, Chris J. (February 1994). "Leigh Blackmore: The Man Behind Terror Australis". Bloodsongs (1). pp. 48–52.
  12. ↑ Ursula K. le Guin, Guest of Honour Speech, Aussiecon 1, Vector 71 (Dec 1975); corrected reprint in SunCon Convention Journal 1 (Winter 1976)
  13. ↑ Paulsen, Steve (January 1994). "The State of the Horror Fiction Magazine". Bloodsongs (1). Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  14. ↑ "Australian Comic Gallery: Phantastique". Tabula Rasa. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  15. ↑ Blackmore, Leigh (10 August 2012). "Cry Laughing Clown performed by Worm Technology -1980". SoundCloud. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  16. ↑ Not the New Dylan: The Worm Technology Story R'lyeh Texts, 2010
  17. ↑ Friends of H.P. Lovecraft (1991). The H.P. Lovecraft Memorial Plaque. West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-99926-42-50-4.
  18. ↑ Ashley, Mike; Contento, William G. (1995). The Supernatural Index: A Listing of Fantasy, Supernatural, Occult, Weird and Horror Anthologies. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-313-24030-0.
  19. ↑ Blackford, Russell; Ikin, Van; McMullen, Sean (1999). Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-313-25112-2.
  20. ↑ "Skintomb Issue #8: Awards". Skintomb (8). October 1997. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  21. ↑
  22. ↑ "Video Podcasts - The Book Club". ABC TV. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  23. ↑ "Final Draft: Its Alive!". PodOmatic. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  24. ↑ "EarthSong WitchCamp". Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  25. ↑ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2004 Ditmar Awards". Locus Online. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  26. ↑ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2004 Ditmar Awards". Locus Online. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  27. ↑ "2011 Australian Ditmar Award Winners and Nominees, and other Awards". SFScope.com. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  28. ↑ Blackmore, Leigh (December 1991). "Under the Pyramids: On Lovecraft and Houdini: Part Two". EOD: The Esoteric Order of Dagon Magazine (5).
  29. ↑ Blackmore, Leigh (September 1991). "Under the Pyramids: On Lovecraft and Houdini: Part One". EOD: The Esoteric Order of Dagon Magazine (4).
  30. ↑ "Happenings". Terry Dowling. Retrieved 2013-09-17. Leigh Blackmore's Honours thesis on Terry's Tom Rynosseros Cycle
    Leigh Blackmore completed a 15,000 word Honours thesis for the Bachelor of Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong entitled: "'Individuation', 'Mytho-realism' and Surrealistic Traces in Terry Dowling's Tom Rynosseros Cycle". This is the first tertiary thesis devoted to Terry’s work and examines the Tom Tyson and his adventures in his future Australia in terms of Jung, Surrealist theory and Joseph Campbell's conception of the 'monomyth.' Leigh's thesis will appear in a forthcoming issue of Van Ikin's Science Fiction: A Review of Speculative Literature.
  31. ↑ Blackmore, Leigh. "Deep in the Reality Crisis: Individuation, 'Mytho-Realism' and Surrealistic Traces in Terry Dowling's Tom Rynosseros Cycle". Scribd. Retrieved 2013-09-17. This 15,000 word mini-thesis on Australia's acclaimed sf writer Terry Dowling was written as a component of my 2009 Honours degree at the University of Wollongong, NSW Australia. This is slated to be published in Van Ikin's prestigious critical journal Science Fiction, acorss [sic] two issues, but as this print appearance may take some time, I am making it available here as well.
  32. ↑ Nathan Simpson. "Tide of Student Work Hits the Streets Again". The Advertiser (12 Nov 2008) p. 24
  33. ↑ "Ubbo-Sathla". Eldritch Dark. 30 January 2006. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  34. ↑ "Vale Of The Voluptuous". Eldritch Dark. 30 October 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  35. ↑ "Memoria: A Fragment From The Book Of Wyvern". Eldritch Dark. 29 November 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  36. ↑ "Twilight of the Mage" (with Richard L. Tierney, Midnight Echo 5 (2011))
  37. ↑ Blackmore, Leigh (June 1992). Masters, Chris A., ed. "On the Quest of the Unknown: A Visit With Frank & Lyda Belknap Long". Shoggoth (1): 80.
  38. ↑ "Weird Fiction Review #1". Centipede Press. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  39. ↑ "Stories, Listed by Author". Galactic Central. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  40. ↑ Blackmore, Leigh (2008). Spores from Sharnoth and Other Madnesses (paperback). P'rea Press. p. 76. ISBN 9780980462524.
  41. ↑ "Blackmore". Dead Reckonings (4): 93. Fall 2008.
  42. ↑ "Dark Dedication by Leigh Blackmore". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  43. ↑ Blackmore, Leigh (2010). Sharnoth's Spores & Other Seeds. UK: Rainfall Books. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  44. ↑ "Dead Reckonings No. 07" (Press release). Hippocampus Press. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  45. ↑ [http://www.asif.dreamhosters.com/doku.php?id=basic_black&s[]=leigh&s[]=blackmore]
  46. ↑ "Illawarra Water Project: Part 1". Airplay. ABC Radio National. 12 October 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  47. ↑ Limelight (Oct 2008), p. 79

References

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