DrJoanneBenford

PUBLICATIONS Dr Joanne Benford Non-fiction My areas of research concentrate mainly on popular culture and include articles on many films, television programmes and cultural theories, and have been published in a variety of magazines, including The Idler, Towards 2012, Cracked Mirror, Talking Stick and The Edge. Full details can be supplied. I have also appeared on a BBC programme discussing the X Files, and made a programme of my own research and interests to advertise the Open University and Learning Zone programmes. Definition contributor to the Icon Critical Dictionary of Feminism and Postfeminism 1999. I also regularly write features and articles for magazines such as Woman’s Own, People’s Friend and Best. Sing of the City Electric This book focuses on ideas of fragmentation, the death of the subject and the search for authenticity, with a discussion of the mechanisation of the body and ideas of the psyche as constituted by popular or image culture. Topics include postmodern architecture and the creation of the artificial, problems of defining boundaries and the city as a state of mind or a projection of subconscious desires. The film BladeRunner is used at length to illustrate the argument. I aim to show the postmodern city as an unreal world of simulation, a constituted dreamspace - a schizopolis created through hallucination or psychic projection which, as simulacrum creates its own characters. ‘A dazzling knowledge of architecture, literature, film and critical theory, leaving you feeling educated, but not exhausted.’ amazon.co.uk ISBN 1 900701 03 0 Priced £5 Fiction I recently won a prize in the Stamford Writers short story competition, and was also shortlisted in the Raymond Williams Community writing competition. Stories accepted by several magazines including Cracked Mirror, Diva, The Edge and The People's Friend. The Music of the Spheres That star upon the serpent’s head Is called the soul of man…’ A collection of poetry with original illustrations inspired by the planets and the mythology and magic connected with them. Published 1996 by Moog Enterprises ISBN 1 900701 01 4 Priced £5 Café Ultima A few scenes from the place that’s open all night, including when the clubs close and everyone comes out from coming out to play. ‘A romp through the lives of various members of cafe society... violent moments, but strangely poetic in tone.’ amazon.co.uk Published 2000 Moog Enterprises ISBN 1 900701 04 9 Priced £5 Loving One Loving longs for His delightful oblivion… One big passionate angel is like his celebration. It takes to dreams. A miniature art book containing a single extended poem, and featuring the prize winning ‘Heart’ poem as its cover design. ‘Truly beautiful and inspiring ‘amazon.co.uk ‘A beautiful item - almost an 'art book' - an artefact in itself. ‘amazon.co.uk Published 1996 by Moog Enterprises ISBN 1 900701 02 2 Priced £3.50 Down By The Water ‘The bridge hums broken tunes under its breath… Whispered in my submerged ear and I, breathing and floating, am now with the ocean’s force.’ ‘Lanterns go bobbing along the shore, wild music skirls across the moonlit waters… music to scorch the blood to passionheat.’ This is the first in a series of four books, together comprising the ‘Ring of Elements’ set, and is composed of lyrical stories, poems and artwork, linked by the sea, the river and those that inhabit them. ‘A fantastic read, crammed full of beautiful language, similar to Dylan Thomas, perhaps, or GM Hopkins. Also beautiful illustrations by the author herself.’ amazon.co.uk ISBN 1 900701 05 7 Priced £7.99 Coming Up For Air ‘There are things we should say, things we should not. And there are things we want to say but have never learned how.’ ‘I heard the cry of the driven clouds, and the awful shout of the pursuers mingled with the clamouring and thudding of the endless companies that hurried across the width of heaven.’ This is the second in the ‘Ring of Elements’ set, and is composed of lyrical stories, poems and artwork. All are linked by the ring, the spirit of air and those that inhabit it, with the true meaning of balloons, prophecies fulfilled and myths developed. ISBN 1 900701 06 5 Priced £7.99 Fanning the Flames ‘Memory keeps delivering the past in brown paper parcels done up with tangled string…’ ‘I saw a burning house once, coming home. It moved and it was still.’ ‘Out of the fiery furnace crept our newborn son, half golden with freckles of rust and a scent of something newly opened upon the world.’ This is the third in the ‘Ring of Elements’ set, and is composed of lyrical stories, poems and artwork. All are linked by the ring, the spirit of fire and those that inhabit it, including an ancient fable, a burning pier and a baby of cinders and ore. ISBN 1 900701 07 3 Priced £7.99 Scorched Earth ‘I want to hear this soft damp night breathing.’ ‘We only know the sudden shadow-cold… black with coal, and the long tunnels of the afternoons pelting into the future like stones lobbed by bullies at our faces.’ The story of the ring, in archaeological terms, together with the final conclusions. This is the fourth in the ‘Ring of Elements’ set, and is composed of lyrical stories, poems and artwork. All are linked by the ring, the spirit of earth and those that inhabit it. ISBN 1 900701 08 1 Priced £7.99