{{short description|British fantasy writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Jane Gaskell''' (born July 7, 1941 in Lancaster, England<ref name="sy">Sharon Yntema, ''More Than 100: Women Science Fiction Writers''. Crossing Press, 1988. {{ISBN|0895943018}} (pp. 51-52).</ref>) is a British fantasy writer.
==Career== 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'' and David Lindsay's ''A Voyage to Arcturus''.<ref name="jg">John Grant, "Gaskell, Jane" in ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', ed. David Pringle, London, St. James Press, 1996, {{ISBN|1-55862-205-5}}, (p. 224-6).</ref> China Miéville lists ''Strange Evil'' as one of the top 10 examples of weird fiction<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/may/16/fiction.bestbooks China Mieville's weird fiction | Top 10s | guardian.co.uk Books]</ref> whilst John Clute called it "an astonishingly imaginative piece of fantasy by any standards."<ref name=Clute>"Gaskell, Jane", ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', John Clute & John Grant, ed., p.190</ref>
Gaskell's horror novel ''The Shiny Narrow Grin'' (1964) featured a sympathetic, tormented vampire and was described by Brian Stableford as one of the first "revisionist vampire novels", whose most successful exemplar was ''Interview with the Vampire'' by Anne Rice.<ref>Brian Stableford, "The Gothic Lifestyle from Byron to Buffy", in ''Gothic Grotesques: Essays on Fantastic Literature'' Wildside Press,, 2009. {{ISBN|1434403394}} (p.105).</ref> ''The Shiny Narrow Grin'' was also listed by horror historian Robert S. Hadji in his list of "unjustly neglected" horror novels.<ref>R.S. Hadji, "13 Neglected Masterpieces of the Macabre", in ''Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine'', July–August 1983. TZ Publications, Inc. (p. 62)[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.books.ghost-fiction/rFkOJUP_xs0/77X1jcgXOrEJ]</ref>
Her ''Atlan'' saga is set in prehistoric South America and in the mythical world of Atlantis. 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.<ref name="sfe">John Clute, "Jane Gaskell", in Clute and Peter Nicholls, '' The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction''. London : Orbit, 1993. {{ISBN|1857231244}} (p.477).</ref> In 1970 she received the Somerset Maugham Award for her novel ''A Sweet Sweet Summer'' (jointly with Piers Paul Read for his ''Monk Dawson''). ''A Sweet, Sweet Summer'' features aliens visiting a violent future Earth;<ref name="sfe" /> Baird Searles stated the book makes "''A Clockwork Orange'' look like ''Winnie the Pooh''".<ref name="sy" />
Gaskell wrote several social realism novels, ''Attic Summer'' (1963), ''The Fabulous Heroine'' (1966), ''All Neat in Black Stockings'' (1966) (filmed in 1969) with Gaskell co-writing the screenplay, and ''Summer Coming'' (1972).
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Gaskell worked as a journalist on the ''Daily Mail''.<ref name="jg" /> She later became a professional astrologer.<ref name=Clute />
==Books==
===Standalone novels=== *''Strange Evil'' (1957) *''King's Daughter'' (1958) *''Attic Summer'' (1963) *''The Shiny Narrow Grin'' (1964) * ''The Fabulous Heroine'' (1966) *''All Neat in Black Stockings'' (1966) *''A Sweet, Sweet Summer'' (1969) *''Summer Coming'' (1972) *''Sun Bubble'' (1990)
===The Atlan Saga=== *Book 1: ''The Serpent'' (1963). The first and second halves were reprinted separately as ''The Serpent'' and ''The Dragon'' in 1975–1985 editions. *Book 2: ''Atlan'' (1965). Renumbered as Book 3 in 1976–1985 editions. *Book 3: ''The City'' (1966). Renumbered as Book 4 in 1976–1985 editions. *Book 5: ''Some Summer Lands'' (1977). Previous books were renumbered prior to this volume and it was therefore described as the fifth in the series.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{isfdb name|id=Jane_Gaskell|name=Jane Gaskell}} * {{LCAuth|n50018226|Jane Gaskell|15|ue}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaskell, Jane}} Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:English fantasy writers Category:English science fiction writers Category:British weird fiction writers Category:English astrologers Category:20th-century British astrologers Category:21st-century astrologers Category:Writers from Lancaster, Lancashire Category:20th-century English women novelists Category:20th-century English novelists Category:21st-century English women novelists