Juliet E. McKenna (born 1965) is a British

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

author. Her novels mostly form part of series, five series as of 2022.

Biography

McKenna was born in Lincolnshire in 1965, and studied Greek and Roman history and literature at

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College (full name = Principal and Council of St. Hilda's College, Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon saint Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a ...

. After college McKenna had a career in personnel management before changing to work in book-selling. She also fitted in becoming a mother around her writing. McKenna is one of the British boom of fantasy writers. McKenna also writes historical murder mysteries as 'J. M. Alvey'. As well as her various novel series, McKenna writes articles and reviews for magazines. She has worked as a judge for various awards such as the

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award ...

in 2013, the 2011 James White Award and the

World Fantasy Awards The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

in 2018. McKenna is also a contributing editor for the Irish anthology magazine

Albedo One ''Albedo One'' was an Irish horror, fantasy and science fiction magazine founded in 1993 and published by Albedo One Productions. Overview ''Albedo One'' was widely regarded as the successor to the Irish science fiction magazine ''FTL'', which ...

. In 2013 McKenna was the chair of the British National Science Fiction Convention, EightSquaredCon. She was also one of the authors, along with others such as Sarah Ash and

Mark Chadbourn Mark Chadbourn is an English fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and horror author with more than a dozen novels (and one non-fiction book) published around the world. He also writes historical novels under the pseudonym "James Wilde". ...

, behind The Write Fantastic, which was an initiative by a group of fantasy authors to promote the fantasy genre, and to display the scope of current fantasy writing. McKenna joined forces with a group of micro business owners to form EU VAT ACTION to resolve the VAT issue caused by the EU VAT regulations which came into force on 1 January 2015. She spent considerable time working with businesses and experts in the UK and EU to create a way that small businesses online could work with the VAT regulations. She regularly attends fantasy conventions and hosted FantasyCon 2015's awards night, gives talks, and teaches creative writing courses.

Critical reception

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' reviewer

James Lovegrove James M. H. Lovegrove (born 1965) is a British writer of speculative fiction. Early life Lovegrove was educated at Radley College, Oxfordshire, and was one of the subjects of a 1979 BBC television series, ''Public School''. A follow-up progr ...

described McKenna's 2012 ''She-who-thinks-for-herself,'' as "a cunning, funny... feminist rewrite" of

H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

's '' She: A History of Adventure''.

Personal life

McKenna is married, with two sons. She lives with her husband in Oxfordshire.

Awards

* Karl Edward Wagner Award for special achievement (2015) *

BSFA Award The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, m ...

shortlist for best non-fiction (2017) for ''The Myth of Meritocracy and the Reality of the Leaky Pipe and Other Obstacles in Science Fiction & Fantasy'' *

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of ...

shortlist for best fantasy novel (2019) for ''The Green Man's Heir'' *

shortlist for best novel (2021) for ''The'' ''Green Man's Challenge'' *

winner for best novel (2023) for ''The Green Man's Quarry''

Bibliography

Novels

The Tales of Einarinn

# ''The Thief's Gamble'' (1999) # ''The Swordsman's Oath'' (1999) # ''The Gambler's Fortune'' (2000) # ''The Warrior's Bond'' (2001) # ''The Assassin's Edge'' (2002)

The Aldabreshin Compass

# ''Southern Fire'' (2003) # ''Northern Storm'' (2004) # ''Western Shore'' (2005) # ''Eastern Tide'' (2006)

The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution

# ''Irons in the Fire'' (2009) # ''Blood in the Water'' (2010) # ''Banners in the Wind'' (2010)

The Hadrumal Crisis

# ''Dangerous Waters'' (2011) # ''Darkening Skies'' (2012) # ''Defiant Peaks'' (2012)

The Green Man

# ''The Green Man's Heir'' (2018) # ''The Green Man's Foe'' (2019) # ''The Green Man's Silence'' (2020) # ''The Green Man's Challenge'' (2021) # ''The Green Man's Gift'' (2022) # ''The Green Man's Quarry'' (2023) # ''The Green Man's War'' (2024)

Standalone novels

* ''Shadow Histories of the River Kingdom'' (2016) * ''The Cleaving'' (2023)

As J. M. Alvey

* ''Shadows of Athens'' (2020) * ''Scorpions in Corinth'' (2020) * ''Justice for Athena'' (2020)

Other fiction

Short stories

# ''Losing Track of Time'' (2003) (a ''

Big Finish Short Trips The Big Finish ''Short Trips'' are a collection of short story anthologies published by Big Finish Productions based on the BBC Television series ''Doctor Who'', beginning with the collection ''Short Trips: Zodiac'' in December 2002 and endin ...

'' story) # ''Urban Renewal'' (2006) # ''Identify Theft'' (2006) # ''Now You See Him, Now You Don't'' (2006) # ''The Wizard's Coming'' (2007) (in ''The Solaris Book of New Fantasy'') # ''Walking Shadows'' (2008) # ''Noble Deceit'' (2008) # ''Is This My Last Testament?'' (2008) # ''Patience: A Womanly Virtue'' (2009) # ''Reflections'' (2010) # ''Fear Itself'' (2010) # ''The Grand Tour'' (2010) # ''An Unforeseen Legacy'' (2010) # ''The Wisdom of the Ages'' (2011) (i
Voices from the Past
# ''She-who-thinks-for-herself'' (2012) (in ''Resurrection Engines: Sixteen Extraordinary Tales of Scientific Romance'') # ''Remembrance '' (2010) # ''An Unforeseen Legacy '' (2011) # ''Game, Set and Match'' (2013) # ''The Legend of the Eagle'' (2013) # ''The Ties That Bind'' (2013) # ''Do You Want to Believe in Magic?'' (2014) # ''Coins, Fights and Stories Always'' (2015) # ''Notes and Queries'' (2015) # ''Truth, Lies and Consequences'' (2015) # ''A Warning Shiver'' (2016) # ''Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick'' (2016) # ''The Sphere'' (2016) # ''Through the Veils/Trace Elements'' (2016) # ''A Constant Companion'' (2017) # ''The Road to Hadrumal'' (2017) # ''The Unforeseen Path'' (2018) # ''Wanderlust'' (2018) # ''The Echoes of a Shot'' (2019) # ''The Hand that Rocks the Cradle'' (2019) # ''Taking Note'' (2020) # ''Old Gods, New Tricks'' (2021) # ''The Golden Rule'' (2022) # ''The End of the Road'' (2023)

Short fiction featuring characters from ''The Tales of Einarinn''

# ''The Tormalin Necklace'' (2001) # ''The Wedding Gift'' (2003) (illustrated) # ''Turns and Chances'' (2004) (novella) # ''Win Some, Lose Some'' (2005) # ''A Spark in the Darkness'' (2006) # ''A Few Further Tales of Einnarin'' (2012) (electronic publication collecting "The Wedding Gift", "Win Some, Lose Some", "A Spark in the Darkness", "Absent Friends", "Why the Pied Crow Always Sounds Disappointed" hich had originally been published as The Tormalin Necklaceand the illustrations from "The Wedding Gift")

References

External links

*
''Destiny: destiny is a choice'', Utrecht University Thesis
*
The Write FantasticREVIEW : Juliet E McKenna - Defiant Peaks (The Hadrumal Crisis Book 3)
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Juliet E. 1965 births English fantasy writers Living people Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford English women novelists British women short story writers English short story writers Writers from Lincolnshire 20th-century English novelists 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English novelists 21st-century British short story writers 21st-century English women writers British women science fiction and fantasy writers