M. John Harrison

Easton Press M. John Harrison books

Nova Swing - Signed First Edition of Science Fiction - 2007

 

Author M. John Harrison

M. John Harrison, whose full name is Michael John Harrison, is a British author known for his contributions to science fiction and fantasy literature. Born on July 26, 1945, in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, Harrison has had a significant impact on the speculative fiction genre with his unique writing style and innovative storytelling.

Harrison's early works gained attention for their exploration of new narrative techniques and their departure from traditional science fiction norms. His debut novel, The Committed Men, was published in 1971, and he continued to build his reputation with novels such as The Pastel City (1971) and A Storm of Wings (1980), which are part of his Viriconium series. One of M. John Harrison's most acclaimed works is the novel Light, published in 2002. Light is the first book in the Kefahuchi Tract trilogy, followed by Nova Swing (2006) and Empty Space (2012). This trilogy is known for its complex narrative structure, rich prose, and exploration of themes such as the nature of reality, the limits of human understanding, and the interplay of science and mysticism. Harrison's writing often challenges genre conventions, blending elements of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. He has received critical acclaim for his ability to combine thought-provoking ideas with a distinctive and evocative writing style.

In addition to novels, M. John Harrison has written numerous short stories, essays, and reviews, contributing significantly to the discourse on speculative fiction. His influence extends beyond his fiction writing, as he has been involved in the wider science fiction community and has contributed to discussions about the genre's evolution. M. John Harrison's work has earned him recognition, including nominations for and winning various awards within the science fiction and fantasy community. His impact on the genre lies not only in the content of his stories but also in his willingness to challenge conventional narrative structures and push the boundaries of speculative fiction.
 

 

Nova Swing - Kefahuchi Tract series book 2

A sequel to the bestselling Light, 'a novel of full-spectrum literary dominance' - The Guardian

Set in the unique world first featured in the award-winning Light, here is a story of love, murder, and intergalactic noir on the razor’s edge of the imagination, as envisioned by the incomparable M. John Harrison.

Not far from Moneytown, in a neighborhood of underground clubs, body-modification chop shops, adolescent contract killers, and sexy streetwalking Monas, you’ll find the Saudade Event a zone of strange geography, twisted physics, and frightening psychic onslaughts. Vic Serotonin is an illegal “travel agent” into and out of Saudade. His latest client is a woman as unpredictable as the site itself and maybe as dangerous. She wants a tour inside Saudade just as a troubling new class of biological artifacts have started leaving—living algorithms that are transforming the “real” world in unsettling ways. Pursued by a detective intent on collaring him for his illegal tours, and hunted by a gangster convinced that the travel agent has infected him with a rogue artifact, Vic must make one final trip as the universe around him rapidly veers toward viral chaos.

It is some time after Ed Chianese's trip into the Kefahuchi Tract. A major industry of the Halo is now tourism. The Tract has begun to expand and change, but, more problematically, parts of it have also begun to fall to earth, piecemeal, on the Beach planets.

Years after Ed Chianese’s fateful trip into the Kefahuchi Tract, the tract has begun to expand and change in ways we never could have predicted and, even more terrifying, parts of it have actually begun to fall to Earth, transforming the landscapes they encounter.Not far from Moneytown, in a neighborhood of underground clubs, body-modification chop shops, adolescent contract killers, and sexy streetwalking Monas, you’ll find the Saudade Event a zone of strange geography, twisted physics, and frightening psychic onslaughts not to mention the black and white cats that come pouring out at irregular intervals. Vic Serotonin is a “travel agent” into and out of Saudade. His latest client is a woman who’s nearly as unpredictable as the site itself and maybe just as dangerous. She wants a tour just as a troubling new class of biological artifacts are leaving the site living algorithms that are transforming the world outside in inexplicable and unsettling ways. Shadowed by a metaphysically inclined detective determined to shut his illegal operation down, Vic must make sense of a universe rapidly veering toward a virulent and viral form of chaos…and a humanity almost lost.

We are in a city, perhaps on New Venusport or Motel Splendido: next to the city is the event site, the zone, from out of which pour new, inexplicable artifacts, organisms and escapes of living algorithm the wrong physics loose in the universe. They can cause plague and change. An entire department of the local police, Site Crime, exists to stop them being imported into the city by adventurers, entradistas, and the men known as 'travel agents', profiteers who can manage or think they can manage the bad physics, skewed geographies and psychic onslaughts of the event site.

But now a new class of semi-biological artifact is finding its way out of the site, and this may be more than anyone can handle.