About Me

Hey—I’m Raif Blackburn, a writer and lifelong fantasy lover who grew up bouncing between a farm in Rubidoux and the chaos of LA’s inner city. My stories dive deep into identity, power, and survival in worlds where the lines between hero and monster blur. I’ve helped Fortune 500 companies build strong teams, which gave me a sharp eye for how people rise (or break) under pressure—and that shows up a lot in my fiction. 

When I’m not writing, I’m kickboxing, cooking for friends, or traveling as far and wide as this world will allow. UNBURNED is my debut, and the first in a trilogy I am excited to share with you. 

Raif Blackburn is a biracial author whose stories explore identity, resilience, and power in morally complex worlds. Raised on a farm in Rubidoux, California, and later shaped by life in Los Angeles’s inner city, Blackburn developed a deep understanding of contrast—between silence and noise, scarcity and ambition, isolation and connection. These experiences fuel his fiction, where characters must navigate impossible choices, fractured loyalty, and the long shadow of personal history.

Professionally, Blackburn has spent years helping Fortune 500 companies build high-performance teams, honing his insight into human dynamics, leadership, and the unspoken politics of survival—all of which shape his character-driven narratives. As a person of color, he’s committed to crafting authentic protagonists and societies that reflect the tensions and triumphs he’s lived firsthand.

Unburned is more than his debut—it’s the story he wrote to survive grief, channeling loss and endurance into myth. Inspired by his mother’s battle with cancer, the novel transforms personal pain into fantasy, with gods and monsters standing in for the emotional truths he could not otherwise name. It is a tribute to the fire we carry, and what we must sacrifice to keep it from consuming us.

Blackburn is an avid martial artist who thrives on clarity in conflict, and a home chef who believes stories and meals are best shared with others.

My style can best be characterized as “meticulously immersive literary craftsmanship," combining emotional depth, cinematic imagery, intricate characterization, purposeful pacing, sophisticated world-building, layered plot complexity, thematic depth, refined prose, precise narrative control, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.

My goal is to always strive for storytelling that is vivid, emotionally profound, intellectually stimulating, and stylistically exquisite—aligning with the highest standards of contemporary literary fantasy.