Mildred Downey Broxon (born June 7, 1944 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

) is an American science fiction and fantasy author.

Life

Broxon was born in Atlanta and grew up in Brazil. She studied psychology and worked as an assistant teacher for the mentally handicapped and as a nurse in the psychiatric department of a hospital. In 1972 she was a participant in the

Clarion Workshop The Clarion Workshop is an American six-week workshop for aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers. Originally an outgrowth of Damon Knight's and Kate Wilhelm's Milford Writer's Workshop, Milford Writer's Conference, held at their home in Milfo ...

for budding SF and fantasy authors and in 1973 she published her first short story "Asclepius Has Paws" in the Clarion III anthology (edited by Robin Scott Wilson). Her first novel, ''Eric Brighteyes #2: A Witch's Welcome'', published in 1979 under the pseudonym Sigfriour Skaldaspillir, is usually described as a sequel to

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 novel ''Eric Brighteyes'', based on Old Icelandic tales; in fact, it is a narrative of the same plot as Haggard's novel, but written from the point of view of the sorceress Swanhild, the opponent of Haggard's hero Eric, who no longer appears as a wicked witch, but as a woman with understandable motives and goals. Her second novel, ''The Demon of Scattery'' (1979), was written in collaboration with the well-known SF author

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson ( ; November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until his death in 2001. Anderson also wrote historical novels. He won the Hugo Award seven times an ...

. In it, a dragon is called to help to protect Ireland from an incursion of the Vikings. In her third novel, '' Too Long a Sacrifice'' (1981), the bard Tadgh MacNiall and his wife, the healer Maire ni Donnall, a 6th-century Irish couple, have passed the centuries in the Sidhe world and are now living in Ireland in the 1970s, in a world characterized by conflict between Catholics and Protestants. The two protagonists are at the same time incarnations of Celtic deities who, like the Irish of the present, are engaged in a never-ending quarrel with each other. The novel was received very positively by authors like

Anne McCaffrey Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 1968) an ...

and Joan D. Vinge. In the years 1973-1989, Broxon wrote three additional novels and about 20 short stories. Many were translated into German and other languages.

Works

;Novels * as Sigfriour Skaldaspillir: ''Eric Brighteyes #2: A Witch's Welcome'' (1979) * with Poul Anderson: ''The Demon of Scattery'' (1979) * '' Too Long a Sacrifice'' (1981) ;Short stories * ''Asclepius Has Paws'' (1973) * ''The Stones Have Names'' (1974) * ''Grow in Wisdom'' (1974) * ''The Night Is Cold, the Stars Are Far Away'' (1974) * ''Source Material'' (1974) * ''Dear Universal Gourmet'' (1975) * ''Glass Beads'' (1975) * ''To the Waters and the Wild'' (1975) * ''The Antrim Hills'' (1976) * ''The Book of Padraig'' (1977) * ''Singularity'' (1978) * ''Where Is Next Door?'' (1978) * ''In Time, Everything'' (1978) * with Poul Anderson: ''Strength'' (in the collection ''The Magic May Return'', 1981) * ''Walk the Ice'' (1981) * ''Sea Changeling'' (1981) * ''Night of the Fifth Sun'' (1982) * ''Flux of Fortune'' (1985) * ''Storyknife'' (1986) * ''First Do No Harm'' (1987) * ''The Danaan Children Laugh'' (unpublished)

References

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 ...

:
Broxon, Mildred Downey
'' In: John Clute, John Grant (eds.): ''

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is a 1997 reference work covering fantasy fiction, edited by John Clute and John Grant (author), John Grant. As of November 2012, the full text of ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is available online, as a compani ...

.'' Orbit, London 1997, .

External links

*
Mildred Downey Broxon
in the ''Science Fiction Awards+ Database'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Broxon, Mildred 1944 births American emigrants to Brazil American science fiction writers Living people American women short story writers American women science fiction and fantasy writers 21st-century American women Writers from Atlanta