Jessica Rydill is a British

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), 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 ...

author from the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...

. She was born in 1959. She studied at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

and the College of Law, working as a solicitor for 13 years. Her travels in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

and

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

have provided some of the inspiration for her writing. She was a founder member of the Write Fantastic writers' group together with Fantasy authors

Sarah Ash Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious ...

Chaz Brenchley Chaz Brenchley (born 4 January 1959 in Oxford) is a British writer of novels and short stories, associated with the genres of horror, crime and fantasy. Some of his work has been published under the pseudonyms of Ben Macallan and Daniel Fox. Cha ...

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. Born in the English Midlands from a long line of coal miners. he g ...

Juliet E. McKenna Juliet E. McKenna (born 1965) is a British fantasy author with over fifteen epic fantasy novels. Biography McKenna was born in Lincolnshire in 1965, and studied Greek and Roman history and literature at St Hilda's College, Oxford. After colleg ...

, the late Deborah J. Miller,

Stan Nicholls Stan Nicholls (born 1949) is a British author and journalist, working full-time since 1981. He is the author of many novels and short stories but is best known for the internationally acclaimed '' Orcs: First Blood'' series. Career His journalis ...

, Kari Sperring,

Freda Warrington Freda Warrington is a British author, known for her epic fantasy, vampire and supernatural novels. Four of her novels (''Dark Cathedral'', ''Pagan Moon'', ''Dracula the Undead (novel), Dracula the Undead'', and ''The Amber Citadel'') have been n ...

and

Ian Whates Ian Whates is a British speculative fiction author and editor. In 2006 he launched the independent publishing house NewCon Press. He lives with his partner Helen in Cambridgeshire. As of 2009 Whates is currently a director of both the Science Fict ...

. Her interests include collecting Asian

ball-jointed doll A ball-jointed doll is any doll that is articulated with ball and socket joints. In contemporary usage when referring to modern dolls, and particularly when using the acronyms BJD or ABJD, it usually refers to modern Asian ball-jointed dolls. The ...

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

Sasha dolls Sasha Morgenthaler (1893–1975) was a Switzerland, Swiss artist and dollmaker, best known for the "Sasha doll" produced in Germany and the United Kingdom beginning in the late 1960s. Popular with collectors, Sasha dolls are characterized by thei ...

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

, and East European music. Her short story ''My Brother Jonathan'' was short-listed for the Ian St James award in 1999 and she appears in ''The New Writer'' magazine Roll of Honour. Her first novel, ''Children of the Shaman'', was published by Orbit in 2001, and was short-listed for the Locus magazine best first novel in 2002. A sequel, ''The Glass Mountain'', appeared in October 2002. A short story, ''The Anniversary'', was published in an anthology printed by NewCon Press in 2010 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of The Write Fantastic. Both books have been reissued by small press Kristell Ink Publishing, together with sequels ''Malarat'' and ''Winterbloom''. They have cover art by award-winning artist Daniele Serra and ''Children of the Shaman'' also has internal illustrations by Evelinn Enoksen, who designed the maps. After publication of ''Children of the Shaman'', the three remaining books were released through Amazon in February 2019 and are available from many booksellers. Rydill's first three books are set in the alternate world of Mir, with elements of

Slavic Fantasy Slavic fantasy (russian: link=no, Славянское фэнтези, pl, link=no, Fantasy słowiańska) is a sub-genre of contemporary art (fantasy literature, cinema, video games, visual arts) that developed in the late 90s and early 2000s. Sl ...

, but ''Winterbloom'' is the first in which part of the action takes place in the real world, in her home-town, the city of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, and features a number of historical figures from Dr

John Dee John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, teacher, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divinatio ...

to Aleister Crowley. Her sister

, author of the Tears of Artamon trilogy, the ''Tide Dragons'' series and many other works, is also a fantasy novelist.

References

External links

Interview
a
SFFWorld.com
*
Jessica Rydill's web-siteKristell InkSarah Ash's web-site

Jessica Rydill author page
at Goodreads {{DEFAULTSORT:Rydill, Jessica 1959 births Living people British fantasy writers Alumni of King's College, Cambridge British Jews English fantasy writers British Jewish writers