View source for Jane Johnson (writer)

{{Short description|English writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
[[File:JaneJohnson.jpg|thumb|right| Johnson in 2006]]
'''Jane Johnson''' (born 1960) is an English writer of books for adults and children and fiction book editor. As a writer she has used the pseudonyms '''Gabriel King''', jointly with [[M. John Harrison]], and '''Jude Fisher''', as well as her real name.<ref name=isfdb/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www5.scholastic.co.uk/zone/authors_home.htm |title= Jane Johnson: Author of the Month|accessdate=20 March 2010 |publisher= Scholastic|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041205085509/http://www.scholastic.co.uk/zone/authors_home.htm|archivedate=2004-12-05|url-status=dead }} {{page needed|date=February 2015}}</ref>
==Biography==
Jane Johnson was educated at [[Liskeard Grammar School]]. She has a first class honours English degree, a teaching degree and a master's degree in [[Old Icelandic]] language and [[Icelandic literature|literature]].<ref name=ROWDJ>{{cite book |last=Fisher|first=Jude |title=The Rose of the World |year=2005 |publisher=DAW|location=New York |isbn=0-7564-0187-9|edition=1|page=dust jacket}}</ref>
From 1984 to 1992, she was the editor responsible for the [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] list at [[Allen & Unwin|George Allen & Unwin Publishers]] and commissioned both [[John Howe (illustrator)|John Howe]] and [[Alan Lee (illustrator)|Alan Lee]] to illustrate Tolkien's work, including Lee's acclaimed illustrated Tolkien-centenary edition of ''The Lord of the Rings''. The publishing house was later bought by [[HarperCollins]], where she remains a Publishing Director working remotely across the Voyager fantasy and science fiction list and crime/thrillers.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.janejohnsonbooks.com |title=The Author: Jane Johnson |accessdate=2015-06-02 |publisher=Janejohnsonbooks.com }}</ref> Her authors there have included [[George R.R. Martin]], [[Raymond E. Feist]], [[Robin Hobb]], [[Dean Koontz]], [[Stuart MacBride]], [[Jonathan Freedland]], [[Tom Knox (author)|Tom Knox]] as S.K. Tremayne, and [[Mark Lawrence (author)|Mark Lawrence]].
With [[M. John Harrison]] she wrote the four-volume "Gabriel King" series<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/features/wildroad/bio.html |title=Penguin Random House |publisher=Randomhouse.com |accessdate=2015-06-02}}</ref> – the "Tag, the Cat" animal stories as catalogued by [[ISFDB]] (1997 to 2002).<ref name=isfdb/> The series is available in e-book in the UK and are still in print in the US.
As "Jude Fisher", she worked with cast and crew to create six Visual Companion books (2001 to 2014) for the film trilogies ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''[[The Hobbit (film series)|The Hobbit]]'', [[Peter Jackson]]'s adaptations of Tolkien.
Johnson travelled to North Africa in 2005 to investigate a family legend about the abduction of a family in 1625 from a Cornish church by [[Barbary pirates]], and there met Abdellatif, who was later that year to become her husband, a [[Berber people|Berber]] tribesman. She now splits her time between the UK and a small town in the [[Anti-Atlas Mountains]]. Her first adult mainstream novel was ''The Tenth Gift'', based on the Barbary pirate story. This was followed by a desert epic, set in the Sahara among the [[Tuareg]] nomads, ''The Salt Road''. ''The Sultan's Wife'' (2012) is set in the 17th-century court of Sultan [[Moulay Ismail]] and tells the story of two slaves, an African chieftain's son Nus-Nus and an Anglo-Dutch woman Alys. It also includes an account of the embassy sent from the Moroccan sultan to the court of [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]] which is documented in ''[[John Evelyn's Diary]]''. Her novels are translated and sold in more than 20 countries.{{clarify|date=February 2015|reason=translated in 20 languages?}}. Living part of the year in Morocco, Johnson has made good use of her acquired knowledge of Moroccan culture and history as a background for the novels. In 2016 her 12th century epic, ''Pillars of Light'', set largely inside the walls of Acre during the infamous siege during the Third Crusade was published by the University of Central Lancashire to considerable critical acclaim, and was published in paperback in 2022 by Head of Zeus. It was described by Anne Fortier as 'A masterpiece of historical fiction', and by historian Dan Jones as 'Epic and tender, as thrilling as it is moving... deftly spins a story of the crusader world that is rich, deep, complex and quite unlike anything I've read before.' The following year her account of the Fall of Granada – ''Court of Lions'' was published by Head of Zeus in the UK, Penguin Random House in Canada and by Pegasus in the US. ''The Sea Gate'' – a WWII story set in her native Cornwall – was published by Head of Zeus in summer 2020 in the UK, and in winter 2020/21 by Simon & Schuster in Canada and the US. ''The White Hare'', an eerie tale set in Cornwall in 1954, was praised by Jackie Morris (''The Lost Words, Spell Songs'') as a novel that <nowiki>''sings of an earth alive with power'</nowiki> and by [[Liz Fenwick]] as 'A brilliant novel of love, loss, forgiveness, and healing...'  It is released in the US and Canada in October 2022. Her latest novel is ''The Black Crescent'', set in Morocco in 1955 as the struggle for independence from the French Protectorate comes to a head. The Sunday Times selected it as one of the historical novels of the year and called it 'a compelling narrative'.
Her magical fantasy novels for children include The Eidolon Chronicles (''Legends of the Shadow World'' in a US omnibus edition): ''The Secret Country'', ''The Shadow World'' and ''Dragon's Fire''.Two single volume stories followed: ''Maskmaker'' in 2010 and ''Goldseekers'' in 2011.
==Bibliography==
===As Jane Johnson===
For children:
* The Eidolon Chronicles (Simon & Schuster); US omnibus edition, ''Legends of the Shadow World'' (2010)
# ''The Secret Country'' (2005)
# ''Shadow World'' (2006)
# ''Dragon's Fire'' (2008)
* ''Maskmaker''  (2010)
* ''Goldseekers'' (2011)
For adults,
four novels set in [[Morocco]]:
* ''Crossed Bones'' (Viking Penguin UK, April 2008); US and paperback title ''The Tenth Gift''
* ''The Salt Road'' (Viking, 2010)
* ''The Sultan's Wife'' (Viking, 2012) – based on the life of [[Ismail Ibn Sharif]]
* ''The Black Crescent'' (Apollo/Head of Zeus, 2023) - about the Moroccan fight for independence
one novel set in [[Syria]]"
* "Pillars of Light" (Random House Canada January 2016; UCLan October 2017) – the [[Third Crusade]]
one novel set in Spain
* Court of Lions (Random House Canada January 2017, Head of Zeus UK June 2017) – the [[Fall of Granada]], the [[Alhambra]]
Two novels set in Johnson's native Cornwall
* The Sea Gate (Head of Zeus June/September 2020, Simon & Schuster Canada November 2020, Simon & Schuster US January 2021) – [[WWII]]
* The White Hare (Head of Zeus July 2022, Simon & Schuster US/Canada October 1922) [[folklore]]
===As Jude Fisher===
* Fools' Gold
# ''Sorcery Rising'' (Earthlight, 2002)
# ''Wild Magic'' (2004)
# ''Rose of the World'' (2005)
;Visual Companion books
* ''The Fellowship of the Ring: Visual Companion'' ("The Lord of the Rings" S., 2001)
* ''The Two Towers: Visual Companion'' (2002), with introduction by [[Viggo Mortensen]]
* ''The Return of the King: Visual Companion'' (2003)
* ''The Lord of the Rings: Complete Visual Companion'' (2004)
* ''The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Visual Companion'' (2012)
* ''The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Visual Companion'' (2013)
* ''The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies: Visual Companion'' (2014)
===As Gabriel King===
;Tag, the Cat
This series of animal stories by Johnson and [[M. John Harrison]] as Gabriel King was published by Century (British hardcover editions) and other Random House divisions.<ref name=isfdb/>
# ''The Wild Road'' (1997)
# ''The Golden Cat'' (1998)
# ''The Knot Garden'' (2000)
# ''Nonesuch'' (2002)
all were reissued by Head of Zeus in 2017.
==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=isfdb>
[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?3665 "Jane Johnson – Summary Bibliography"]. ISFDB. Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref>
}}
==External links==
{{Portal |Children's literature|Cornwall}}
* {{official website|janejohnsonbooks.com}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120211173346/http://www.writersnewsweekly.com/interview_johnson.html Interview by WritersNewsWeekly.com (archived)]
* {{isfdb name|3665}}
* [http://lccn.loc.gov/n2001041289 Jude Fisher] at LC Authorities
* [http://lccn.loc.gov/n97106123 Gabriel King] at LC Authorities, with 3 records (joint pseudonym with M. John Harrison)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Jane}}
[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:English fantasy writers]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:People educated at Liskeard Grammar School]]
[[Category:Date of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:English women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:21st-century pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:Pseudonymous women writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Cornwall]]