Viriconium Nights

This wonderful 1985 collection is again available in a newer publication called Viriconium, released in 2005. 'Viricomium Nights' is more of an addition to Harrison's 'The Pastel City' and 'A Storm Of Wings' than a continuation. There are two stories in this earlier edition that are not available in the new publication, 'Lamia Mutable' and 'Events Witnessed From A City'. There are eight stories in all. 'The Lamia And Lord Cromis'. teagus-Cromis takes his swordsmanship into the wastelands, in search of the Lamia of the Sixth House. 'Lamia Mutable' is a strange tale of Birkin Grif and his skinless Lamia who travel with the odd Dr. Grishkin to the edge of Wisdom. 'Viriconium Nights'. A young Ignace Retz learns what its like to defend Mammy Vooley's honor. 'Events Witnessed From A City' is another tale of teagus-Cromis, but nicely portrays his tower as sentient, a rather cool idea. 'The Luck In The Head'. A man named Crome is subject to dreams of a lamb, prompting a strange visit by a strange woman who promises to ease his malaise. 'Lords Of Misrule' is an intriguing tale told in first person by teagus-Cromis in his younger years, about a visit to one of the city's old Defenders. 'In Viriconium' is a beautiful tale of two artists in Viriconium, Audsley King who is dying of plague in the Low City and Ashlyme, a portrait painter living in the High City. Vying for police power over the spreading plague-areas is the dwarf called the Grand Cairo, and The Barley Brothers, strange godlike-men who romp and play rudely through the streets. Ashlyme wants nothing more than to save Audsley King from her illness by bringing her to the High City, but somehow never manages to help her. Note: The ending is slightly different in this version than the 2005 version. 'Strange Great Sins' is a tale told by a Sin-Eater about his uncle's stay in Viriconium. If you are a diehard fan, then this older version is worth a hunt through the used book stores for the two stories missing from the newer version. Otherwise, you are much better off with the 2005 edition that includes The Pastel City and A Storm Of Wings. Harrison's prose is as rich and lush as tropical sunshine, but will leave you shuddering in the depths of the chilly winds that cross his bleak deserts and wastelands. He really paints a vivid landscape for Viriconium, one you can taste and smell and almost touch. If you like being absorbed into strange worlds, then you will love M. John Harrison. Enjoy!

M John Harrison cut his teeth on these haunting pieces, travelogue of a city which is never the same place twice. The ultimate fantasy and the end of fantasy, for me. After walking these strange, shifting streets and eavesdropping on their hyper-realistic but completely unreal denizens, I could never take Tolkien or Tad Williams seriously again. I read it in the UK edition "Viriconium", which also contains "In Viriconium", a novel set in the same world, with an introduction by Iain Banks. Brilliant stuff--but Harrison's last two novels, "Signs of Life" and "The Course of the Heart" are even better. How a writer of this stature could have remained "unknown" for so long amazes me.

M.John Harrison is often lumped together with fantasy/sci-fi writers. However, he draws together many genres, particularly in these short stories. While reading this book I drifted in and out of stories which, as in real life itself, have no conclusion, but have the most exquisite way imaginable of reaching their non-conclusion. He tells tales of a city Viriconium (sometimes Uroconium, somtimes Vriko) which doesn't seem to exist in any discernable time or place. The names of streets sound vaguely familiar - smatterings of French and German, the inhabitants perform bizarre and meaningless rituals that show traces of the English countryside traditions of Harrison's own youth. For the most part, you feel that you are in a fantasy setting - characters include warriors, a dwarf, and the Mammy Vooley - the thousand-year old queen of Viriconium, a living mummy who dribbles into her dust-filled lap as her bearers carry her in procession through the streets, but then someone goes into their house and switches on an electric light and you think "hey?". The book ends with a story of two old men in present day England, who have heard and read much of Viriconium, and who spend their time visiting the bookshops of Huddersfield, because they have heard a rumor the at the back of a cafe in one of these bookshops is a toilet whose mirror is the gateway to Uroconium. Some of the stories also have an aspect of horror, the same sense of urgency and terror as a good H.P.Lovecraft or Edgar Allan Poe.As the reviewer from Time Out said "An evening's read, and at least a fortnight's dreams". I never return to books after reading them - I have far too many unread books to make time for that, but this is a book which I have gone back to again and again just to drink in the atmosphere of Viriconium.