Freda Warrington is a British author, known for her epic

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, ...

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

and

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

novels.

Career

Born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, Warrington grew up in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. Early influences included

Hammer horror Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classi ...

films and classic vampire novels like

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...

's ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

'' and J.S. Le Fanu's ''Camilla''. She was also inspired by local history and the art of the Pre-Raphaelites. After completing high school, Warrington trained at the Loughborough College of Art and Design, and afterward held a job at the Medical Illustration Department of

Leicester Royal Infirmary The Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) is a National Health Service (England), National Health Service teaching hospital in Leicester, England. It is located to the south-west of the Leicester City Centre, city centre. It has an Emergency departm ...

. She eventually moved to full-time writing, pursuing a love she had had since childhood. In addition to her writing, Warrington works part-time in the

Charnwood Forest Charnwood Forest is a hilly tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland, ...

. Four of her novels (''Dark Cathedral'', ''Pagan Moon'', '' Dracula the Undead'', and ''The Amber Citadel'') have been nominated for the

British Fantasy Society The British Fantasy Society (BFS) was founded in 1971 as the British Weird Fantasy Society, an offshoot of the British Science Fiction Association. The society is dedicated to promoting the best in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. ...

's Best Novel award. ''Dracula the Undead'' won the Dracula Society's 1997 ''Children of the Night Award''. Her novel, ''Elfland'', won the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award in the Fantasy Novel category for 2009. Warrington has also seen numerous

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

published in anthologies and magazines. Some of her books are set in Leicestershire, such as the ''Aetherial Tales'' series, depicting the lives, loves and adventures of magical people living hidden in this region, passing for - and sharing many cultural traits with - ordinary English people.

Novels

* ''The Rainbow Gate'' (1989) * ''Sorrow's Light'' (1993) * '' Dracula the Undead'' (1997) (published in French as ''Le retour de Dracula'', in German as ''Dracula, Der Untote kehrt zurück'', and in Korean as ''드라큘라의 부활'') * ''The Court of the Midnight King'' (2003) * Blackbird series ** '' A Blackbird in Silver'' (1986) ** ''A Blackbird in Darkness'' (1986) ** ''A Blackbird in Amber'' (1987) ** ''A Blackbird in Twilight'' (1988) ** ''Darker than the Storm'' (1990) * Blood Wine series ** ''A Taste of Blood Wine'' (1992) ** ''A Dance in Blood Velvet'' (1994) ** ''The Dark Blood of Poppies'' (1995) ** ''The Dark Arts of Blood'' (2015) * Dark Cathedral series ** ''Dark Cathedral'' (1996) ** ''Pagan Moon'' (1997) * The Jewelfire Trilogy ** ''The Amber Citadel'' (1999) ** ''The Sapphire Throne'' (2000) ** ''The Obsidian Tower'' (2001) * Aetherial Tales series ** ''Elfland'' (2009) ** ''Midsummer Night'' (2010) ** ''Grail of the Summer Stars'' (2013)

References

External links

Freda Warrington Official Site
*
Story behind Aetherial Tales and Grail of the Summer Stars - Online Essay

Story behind A Taste of Blood Wine - Online Essay

Grail of the Summer Stars review
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Warrington, Freda Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British fantasy writers Alumni of Loughborough University British women science fiction and fantasy writers