Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: On Stranger Shores
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Blair, Susan E.
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.amazon.com/S-E-Blair/e/B01GEICDHE/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in OH.
EDUCATION:Holds a B.F.A., M.A., and Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and potter.
MEMBER:Society for Creative Anachronism.
WRITINGS
Contributor of articles to publications, including Tournaments Illuminated.
SIDELIGHTS
S.E. Blair is a writer and potter originally from Ohio. She is also known as Susan E. Blair. As a young girl, she enjoyed reading, daydreaming, and camping. Blair closely considered her religious faith with an open mind, which led her to her own beliefs. She studied craft art in college, earning a bachelor of fine arts degree. Blair went on to obtain a master’s degree in environmental pollution control and a Ph.D. in environmental science. She also completed some coursework for a Ph.D. in environmental engineering. Blair hoped to combine her interests in art and science, and she was eventually drawn to clay art. The hydrodynamic and chemical knowledge required for working with clay appealed to her, and she has had a lifelong love of the feel of clay. For over twenty-five years, Blair has worked as a studio potter. In addition to her work as a potter, she has also written science fiction novels. Blair has been involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism for nearly three decades. The group organizes historical reenactments and Renaissance Fairs. Blair has written articles that have appeared in publications, including Tournaments Illuminated.
In 2016, Blair released her first book, On Stranger Shores: An Alien Odyssey. The volume is the first book in a proposed series called the “Suns of Humanity.” It begins in an alternative version of the year 2012. Political posturing has caused a government shutdown, which has resulted in the subsequent shutdown of America’s military bases. At this time, the Kryllans, a race of bellicose aliens, descend upon Earth and take over the planet with little resistance. The Kryllans enslave humans, including Eleanor Hardy. Eleanor had once been a petty burglar and had also served in the military. She is a slave to the vicious General Cuellen. Eleanor determines to save her planet from the aliens who are controlling it and takes desperate measures to do so. She sneaks onto a spaceship and travels with its crew to a faraway location. There, she approaches the Great Interspecies High Council of the Galactic Council of Species. One of the leaders of the committee, Lord Llazaleo Ben Jonimon of Araka, is sympathetic to her pleas and enlists Dr. Arganao Baschier to help Eleanor. Baschier and Jonimon investigate the Kryllans and discover that they are responsible for terrible offenses.
A critic in Publishers Weekly offered a favorable review of On Stranger Shores. The critic asserted: “Blair balances planet-saving with enough sexual hijinks and romantic complications to entertain adventurous romance fans.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 25, 2016, review of On Stranger Shores: An Alien Odyssey, p. 74.
S.E.Blair came to light in the wilderness of proper suburban Ohio. After a lifetime of study and escaping into her imagination, she has finally taken the leap to write down and share her fantastical mind trips. A childhood spent camping, greedily devouring books, and finding her own path to faith taught Susan to see the world with open eyes and open mind. Her favorite question always has been, 'what if?'
A BFA in Craft Art, Masters in Environmental Pollution Control, most of a PhD in Environmental Engineering and another one in Environmental Science has left her with an overwhelming desire to do something else. Visions of sugarplums danced in her mind, mixing strangely with chemical and hydrodynamics equations and clay art.
She has clay in her blood; it speaks to her in silence, sings to her in the darkness, and guides her hand in the studio. Words are unimportant; it is all sensation, all emotion, all feeling. Susan was drawn to the wonderful soft and sensual nature of clay since she was young. It is a medium always ready and willing at the fingertips, a quiet expression of that orgasmic inspiration that drives the human condition.
She has been a studio potter practicing her craft for better than 25 years. Functional wares are the main focus, although she has begun to explore the possibilities offered by using clay as both canvas and paint. She believes art must be experienced completely to be fully appreciated. It is one thing to look at a beautiful sculpture. Quite another to hold it and feel it's weight, it's smooth surface, bring it to the lips for a sip of wine or coffee.
And now Susan is finding that voice on paper, as well. People live out their lives in her head, universes are born and die within the imagination. Storytelling has always been a quiet passion, stories that become an extension of the burning creativity demanding release.
Susan has been an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (www.SCA.org) for over 27 years, building her back story into a full, alternative life. The organization was started as a simple backyard medieval joust and party in 1966. The party has since given birth to many spin-off living history reenactment organizations and Renaissance Faires. Someday Susan may even disinter the seedy tale of her persona's origins. Susan has been an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (www.SCA.org) for over 27 years, building her back story into a full, alternative life. Someday she may even disinter the seedy tale of her persona's origins.
Susan has published a research article: The History and Use of Cotton in the Middle Ages, in Tournaments Illuminated, issue 129, 1999.
Learn more and stay up to date with when the next book will be out by visiting http://AuthorSueBlair.com
QUOTED: "Blair balances planet-saving with enough sexual hijinks and romantic complications to entertain adventurous romance fans."
On Stranger Shores
263.17 (Apr. 25, 2016): p74.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
On Stranger Shores
S.E. Blair. Mother Spider, $14.97 (384p) ISBN 978-1-943322-07-7
Debut author Blair's first chapter in the Suns of Humanity series contains plenty of sex, violence, and unconvincing world-building. After a 2012 government shutdown forced the closure of military bases in the U.S., the alien Kryllans easily conquered the planet. Eleanor Hardy, an ex-soldier and former cat burglar, undertakes a desperate mission to save Earth from the Kryllans, especially her abusive master, General Cuellen. Stowing away on a spaceship, she travels light years to beg for help from the Great Interspecies High Council of the Galactic Council of Species, where she finds a sympathetic ear in the senior vice chancellor, Lord Llazaleo Ben Jonimon of Araka. Quite taken with the brave, sexy human woman, Llazaleo and his friend Dr. Arganao Baschier vow to help, undertaking an investigation that finds the Kryllans involved in manufacturing drugs, mass rape, and selling human babies. Blair balances planet-saving with enough sexual hijinks and romantic complications to entertain adventurous romance fans. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"On Stranger Shores." Publishers Weekly, 25 Apr. 2016, p. 74. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA450904566&it=r&asid=de6683463820bde429e970435ef074d1. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A450904566