Jane Gaskell (born July 7, 1941 in

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

, EnglandSharon Yntema, ''More Than 100: Women Science Fiction Writers''. Crossing Press, 1988. (pp. 51-52).) is a British

fantasy writer Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

. She wrote her first novel, ''Strange Evil'', at age 14. It was published two years later and was described by John Grant as "a major work of the fantastic imagination", comparing it to George MacDonald's ''

Lilith Lilith ( ; he, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Ed ...

'' and David Lindsay's '' A Voyage to Arcturus''.John Grant, "Gaskell, Jane" in ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', ed.

David Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of '' Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective wh ...

, London, St. James Press, 1996, , (p. 224-6).

China Miéville China Tom Miéville ( ; born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and Literary criticism, literary critic. He often describes his work as ''weird fiction'' and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called ...

lists ''Strange Evil'' as one of the top 10 examples of weird fiction whilst

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part ...

called it "an astonishingly imaginative piece of fantasy by any standards.""Gaskell, Jane", ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, John Clute & John Grant, ed., p.190 Gaskell's horror novel ''The Shiny Narrow Grin'' (1964) featured a sympathetic, tormented vampire and was described by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

as one of the first "revisionist vampire novels", whose most successful exemplar was '' Interview with the Vampire'' by

Anne Rice Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature. She was best known for her series of novels ''The Vampire Chronicles''. B ...

. ''The Shiny Narrow Grin'' was also listed by horror historian Robert S. Hadji in his list of "unjustly neglected" horror novels.R.S. Hadji, "13 Neglected Masterpieces of the Macabre", in '' Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine'', July–August 1983. TZ Publications, Inc. (p. 6

/ref> Her ''Atlan'' saga is set in prehistoric South America and in the mythical world of

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus'' and ''Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that bes ...

. The series is written from the point of view of its clumsy heroine Cija, except for the last book, which is narrated by her daughter Seka.John Clute, "Jane Gaskell", in Clute and Peter Nicholls, ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo, Locus and British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared in 1979 and 1993. A third, contin ...

''. London : Orbit, 1993. (p.477). In 1970 she received the

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awa ...

for her novel ''A Sweet Sweet Summer'' (jointly with Piers Paul Read for his ''

Monk Dawson ''Monk Dawson'' is a film that was released in 1998, directed and produced by Tom Waller and starring John Michie, Benedict Taylor, Martin Kemp, Rhona Mitra, and Paula Hamilton. It was based on the 1969 novel of the same name written by ...

''). ''A Sweet, Sweet Summer'' features aliens visiting a violent future Earth;

Baird Searles William Baird Searles (1934–1993) was a science fiction author and critic. He was best known for his long running review columns for the magazines ''Asimov's'' (reviewing books), ''Amazing'', and ''Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (reviewing films, t ...

stated the book makes "'' A Clockwork Orange'' look like ''

Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character was the book '' Wi ...

''". From the 1960s to the 1980s, Gaskell worked as a journalist on the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

''. She later became a professional astrologer.

Books

Standalone novels

*''

Strange Evil Strange may refer to: Fiction * Strange (comic book), a comic book limited series by Marvel Comics * Strange (Marvel Comics), one of a pair of Marvel Comics characters known as The Strangers * Adam Strange, a DC Comics superhero * The title ch ...

'' (1957) *''

King's Daughter Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

'' (1958) *''

The Shiny Narrow Grin ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' (1964) *''All Neat in Black Stockings'' (1968) *''

Attic Summer An attic (sometimes referred to as a ''loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

'' (1969) *''

A Sweet, Sweet Summer A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''ae ...

'' (1969) *''

Summer Coming Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wi ...

'' (1972) *''

Sun Bubble The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

'' (1990)

The Atlan Saga

*'' The Serpent'' (1963) *'' The Dragon'' (the second half of 'The Serpent' in later editions - 1975) *'' Atlan'' (1965) *'' The City'' (1966) *'' Some Summer Lands'' (1977)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaskell, Jane 1941 births Living people English fantasy writers English science fiction writers Weird fiction writers English astrologers 20th-century astrologers 21st-century astrologers English women novelists 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 21st-century English women 21st-century English people