Richard Blackburn was born in England during the Second World
War. He grew up in a house built on the site of a 12th Century
castle and later lived a few kilometres from Dover Castle. This
gave him a stong interest in Medieval History.
Richard emigrated to Australia at the age of 20 and worked at
first as a bookkeeper on a cattle station to the north of the
Simspn Desert. He then moved to Darwin and worked as an internal
auditor in the Health Department, travelling extensively around the
Northern Territory. Finding the 'Top End' lacking in challenge, he
moved on to Papua New Guinea where he worked for thirteen years
among the people, as a District Officer.
Since returning to Australia he gained his degree in Information
Technology and has worked for a number of Government Departments.
His interests outside work are now restricted to his family and
scuba diving. He had to give up parachuting and long distance
running due to a back injury and now has to be content to leave the
real excitement to the characters in his stories. For the
Gatekeeper trilogy, Richard has drawn on his interest in Medieval
History as well as his experiences living in New Guinea villages,
in conditions not unlike those of the peasants in England during
the fourteenth century.