M. John Harrison
Michael John Harrison (born
July 26,
1945) is a UK writer, mainly of
science fiction and
fantasy; he has also written one
mainstream novel,
Climbers (
1989). He is himself a keen
rock climber. He may be best known for his
Viriconium series, most recently published in an omnibus edition as volume 7 in Orion/Millennium's
Fantasy Masterworks series:
- "Viriconium Knights" (novelette, 1981, in Elsewhere v1, ed. Terri Winding & Mark Alan Arnold)
- The Pastel City (novel, 1971)
- "The Lords of Misrule" (1984, in Savoy Dreams, ed. David Britton & Michael Butterworth)
- "Strange Great Sins" (1983 Interzone)
- A Storm of Wings (novel, 1980)
- "The Dancer from the Dance" (novelette, 1985, in Virconium Nights [UK])
- "The Luck in the Head" (novelette, 1984, in Virconium Nights [US]) (¿1983 Interzone?)
- "The Lamia and Lord Cromis" (novelette, 1971, New Worlds Quarterly, ed. Michael Moorcock)
- In Viriconium (novel, 1982; published in the U.S. in 1983 as The Floating Gods)
- "A Young Man?s Journey to Viriconium" (novelette, 1985 Interzone)
All the short stories and novelettes were previously collected in
Viriconium Nights (1985 UK). The 1984 U.S. collection of the same title omitted "The Dancer from the Dance" and "A Young Man's Journey...", but included:
- "Lamia Mutable" (1972, in Again, Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison)
- "Events Witnessed from a City" (1975, in The Machine in Shaft Ten)
- In Viriconium (1984, original novella)
Harrison's other novels include:
- The Course of the Heart (1992) – This explores a more complex relationship between this world and the imagined other world.
- Signs of Life (1996)
Harrison's science fiction novels include:
- The Centauri Device (1975) – A space opera, pervaded by Harrison's trademark melancholia, but with great energy and sharp cynicism. The novel is reminicent both of Alfred Bester's freewheeling plots and of Ken MacLeod's political sensibilities. Harrison's extension of the Arab-Israeli conflicts – albeit those of the sixties and seventies – into a galactic struggle seems strangely contemporary.
- The Committed Men (19??)
- Light (2002)