l***@yahoo.com
2015-11-21 18:20:58 UTC
His birthday was on the 19th.
A former reporter, subeditor and columnist, he lives in Norwich, England.
Not to be confused with the late American composer/lyricist of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"! (His real name was Clark Gesner.) Or with the much younger motivational speaker/author Jon Gordon.
One of his more popular novels is "The Giant Under the Snow" (1968).
About that one:
"Three children find an ornate Celtic buckle. To them it is treasure, a fantastic find. They have no idea that it has awakened a giant who has lain at rest for centuries. Little do they know that an evil warlord and his Leathermen have also awaited this moment, this chance to wield their deadly power. In a chilling tale full of menace and suspense the final battle between good and evil must be fought..."
The 1989 sequel is "Ride the Wind."
His last book was "Fen Runners" (2009).
From "Contemporary Authors":
"John Gordon's novels and short stories for children and young adults seek to shorten the gap between fantasy and reality. The 'other' worlds his characters stumble into exist simultaneously with the real world they live in on a daily basis. Drawing from the history of the Fen Country in England, where he grew up, Gordon populates his tales with ghosts and creatures from the past, leading readers through several suspenseful twists and turns before revealing all..."
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?5835
(bibliography)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gordon_%28author%29
(includes photo)
Excerpt:
John Gordon is an English writer of adolescent supernatural fiction. He is the author of fifteen fantasy novels (including The Giant Under The Snow), four short story collections, over fifty short stories and a teenage memoir.
Most of John Gordon's novels are in the supernatural fantasy and horror genres and feature teenagers in the central roles. The adventures are often set in The Fens, an environment John found mysterious and inspirational in his own adolescence, and contain elements of East Anglian folklore (such as the doom dog - Black Shuck). His work has been compared to that of the acclaimed ghost novelist M.R. James. Indeed The House on the Brink (1970) is regarded by admirers as one of the greatest novels in the Jamesian Tradition.
His short stories have appeared in more than 50 anthologies and other publications and he is included in The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English. His work has been translated into many languages, including Japanese, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Czech, Spanish, Polish and Lithuanian.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardos/ArchiveGordon.html
(long interview from 1996)
First exchange:
Q: "When and how did you first encounter the ghost stories of M.R. James?"
A: "I seem to have known them all my life; they seem as familiar as nursery rhymes or, more appropriately, the tales of the Grimm brothers. Fairy stories certainly feed an inborn fascination with horror and the supernatural, You only have to think of little Hansel being fattened for the table, or Bluebeard with his cold store where he hangs up the corpses of his wives. They are, for me, alongside M.R. James, part of the pattern in the carpet - the nursery carpet, if I'd ever had a nursery.
"Not that anyone would ever confuse a James story with a fairy tale. For one thing, you know the teller; the stone-faced Authority of fairy tales gives way to a voice that is human and insidious, a particular voice addressing you in particular. It's in the details. Hansel pokes his finger through the bars of his cage so that the witch can test his plumpness, and that brings on qualms enough in any listener, but not with quite the same knowing incisiveness, the sickening nudge given by the details of the bathroom in "Lost Hearts". The bathroom door has a drably curtained window, but the boy who peers in through a chink sees that the bath is lead-lined, surgical rather than hygienic. James is inviting us to watch, and gloat over, what happens there. He doesn't actually say what that may be; there is no need for him to do so - because we already know. James has forced us into colluding in unspeakable possibilities."
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33593.John_Gordon
(reader reviews)
From 2007:
"Have You Read Any John Gordon?" (discussion)
https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/41224/
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22john+gordon%22+ghosts+author&biw=1280&bih=913&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIuvO_5OqcyQIVylc-Ch0crwBn#tbm=isch&q=%22john+gordon%22+ghosts
(book covers)
Lenona.
A former reporter, subeditor and columnist, he lives in Norwich, England.
Not to be confused with the late American composer/lyricist of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"! (His real name was Clark Gesner.) Or with the much younger motivational speaker/author Jon Gordon.
One of his more popular novels is "The Giant Under the Snow" (1968).
About that one:
"Three children find an ornate Celtic buckle. To them it is treasure, a fantastic find. They have no idea that it has awakened a giant who has lain at rest for centuries. Little do they know that an evil warlord and his Leathermen have also awaited this moment, this chance to wield their deadly power. In a chilling tale full of menace and suspense the final battle between good and evil must be fought..."
The 1989 sequel is "Ride the Wind."
His last book was "Fen Runners" (2009).
From "Contemporary Authors":
"John Gordon's novels and short stories for children and young adults seek to shorten the gap between fantasy and reality. The 'other' worlds his characters stumble into exist simultaneously with the real world they live in on a daily basis. Drawing from the history of the Fen Country in England, where he grew up, Gordon populates his tales with ghosts and creatures from the past, leading readers through several suspenseful twists and turns before revealing all..."
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?5835
(bibliography)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gordon_%28author%29
(includes photo)
Excerpt:
John Gordon is an English writer of adolescent supernatural fiction. He is the author of fifteen fantasy novels (including The Giant Under The Snow), four short story collections, over fifty short stories and a teenage memoir.
Most of John Gordon's novels are in the supernatural fantasy and horror genres and feature teenagers in the central roles. The adventures are often set in The Fens, an environment John found mysterious and inspirational in his own adolescence, and contain elements of East Anglian folklore (such as the doom dog - Black Shuck). His work has been compared to that of the acclaimed ghost novelist M.R. James. Indeed The House on the Brink (1970) is regarded by admirers as one of the greatest novels in the Jamesian Tradition.
His short stories have appeared in more than 50 anthologies and other publications and he is included in The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English. His work has been translated into many languages, including Japanese, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Czech, Spanish, Polish and Lithuanian.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardos/ArchiveGordon.html
(long interview from 1996)
First exchange:
Q: "When and how did you first encounter the ghost stories of M.R. James?"
A: "I seem to have known them all my life; they seem as familiar as nursery rhymes or, more appropriately, the tales of the Grimm brothers. Fairy stories certainly feed an inborn fascination with horror and the supernatural, You only have to think of little Hansel being fattened for the table, or Bluebeard with his cold store where he hangs up the corpses of his wives. They are, for me, alongside M.R. James, part of the pattern in the carpet - the nursery carpet, if I'd ever had a nursery.
"Not that anyone would ever confuse a James story with a fairy tale. For one thing, you know the teller; the stone-faced Authority of fairy tales gives way to a voice that is human and insidious, a particular voice addressing you in particular. It's in the details. Hansel pokes his finger through the bars of his cage so that the witch can test his plumpness, and that brings on qualms enough in any listener, but not with quite the same knowing incisiveness, the sickening nudge given by the details of the bathroom in "Lost Hearts". The bathroom door has a drably curtained window, but the boy who peers in through a chink sees that the bath is lead-lined, surgical rather than hygienic. James is inviting us to watch, and gloat over, what happens there. He doesn't actually say what that may be; there is no need for him to do so - because we already know. James has forced us into colluding in unspeakable possibilities."
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33593.John_Gordon
(reader reviews)
From 2007:
"Have You Read Any John Gordon?" (discussion)
https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/41224/
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22john+gordon%22+ghosts+author&biw=1280&bih=913&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIuvO_5OqcyQIVylc-Ch0crwBn#tbm=isch&q=%22john+gordon%22+ghosts
(book covers)
Lenona.