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Childhood and early works (1949-1968)
Henry Blake was born on February 1, 1949 in Brooklyn, NY. From primary school, Blake had taken up an interest in reading both fiction and nonfiction, especially with historical themes. Blake was fascinated by history, especially ancient civilizations as well as Medieval Europe, interests which would become major influences for his novels. In addition to reading, Blake enjoyed movies and television shows, and has cited Walt Disney's films as an influence as well.

Blake's first incursions into writing began as early as 1960, when he began writing sports fiction, though later switched to literary fiction. In high school, Blake published short stories in his school's newspaper. In 1967, during his freshman year at Hartwick College, Blake published a few of his poems and short stories in a portfolio under the name of "H.B. Henderson", the first known use of his pen name.

The Adventuress Series (1968-1974)
Blake had been working on a fantasy epic as early as 1963, but left it largely abandoned when he made the shift to literary fiction. He would sporadically revisit fantasy throughout high school, but he kept his main focus on his short stories. In college, however, after submitting his portfolio, H.B. Henderson began serious work on his Adventuress stories. Set in the land of Cervidae, the stories revolved around the adventures of huntress Lucinda Mossbow as she embarked on a quest to avenge the death of her father, who had been killed by the dark prince Samwell. Henderson began publishing the first set of Adventuress stories in 1968, which soon became a favorite among Hartwick students.

By 1970, Henderson had completed the story for Adventuress and was ready to pitch his story to a publishing company. After both Scholastic and Doubleday had passed on the story, Henderson finally had Simon & Schuster agree to publish Adventuress. Because of the length of the original story, Simon & Schuster insist that Henderson divide it into three separate novels, starting with the Valley Huntress, which was published in 1971. The novel covered the events from the start of Lucinda's journeys to the death of Samwell. Upon its release, the Valley Huntress was a literary success, and quickly became a favorite among fantasy fans. The New Yorker crowned Henderson as "The successor to Tolkien". J.R.R. Tolkien, who was still alive at the time the Valley Huntress was published, died in 1973, the same year that the second installment in Henderson's saga, the Great War of Tylos, was published. The book covered Lucinda's involvement in the war in which the kingdoms of Tylos and Clydatia clashed. One year later, the High Prince of Sin was published, marking the end of the Adventuress epic, where Lucinda defeats the beast known as the Goat, effectively abolishing chaos from the Land of Cervidae.

Shift to portal and dark fantasy (1974-1982)
With the release of the High Prince of Sin and the conclusion of the Adventuress series, Henderson initially had no intentions to return to Lucinda or the Land of Cervidae. By 1974 he had already began work on his next novel, A Storm of Worlds, a portal fantasy story in which the main protagonist, Bradley O'Neill, is whisked from his home in New York City to the mystical land of Ovaria. Despite its dark title, A Storm of Worlds was largely a wholesome novel, lacking the action and violence of the Adventuress series. Though the book was another success upon its release in 1977, the shift in tone was not welcomed by critics and fans.

A Storm of Worlds was released the same year that Star Wars premiered, which sparked public interest in speculative fiction. Henderson was quickly inspired by this trend to jump straight into his next book, Wizard of the Black Mountain, a dark fantasy book involving the adventures of three orphaned siblings and their dog as they discovered their magic powers to face the evil wizard Dreja. The book was much darker in tone and was intended to formally establish Ovaria as the new common setting for H.B. Henderson's works. Though despite its return to more serious and violent themes, Wizard of the Black Mountain was not a success upon its release in 1980. Henderson had originally intended to make the book the first in a series, but gave up on the idea when a number of factors came into play.

Television and later Adventuress Installments (1982-1991)
CBS had approached Henderson in 1979 to produce a television series based off of the Adventuress books.