''Viriconium'' is a series of novels and stories written by

M. John Harrison Michael John Harrison (born 26 July 1945), known for publication purposes primarily as M. John Harrison, is an English author and literary critic.Kelley, George. "Harrison, M(ichael) John" in Jay P. Pederson (.ed) ''St. James guide to sci ...

between 1971 and 1984, set in and around the fictional city of the same name. In the first novel in the series, the city of Viriconium exists in a future Earth littered with the technological detritus of millennia (partly inspired by

Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names. ...

's ''

Dying Earth ''Dying Earth'' is a fantasy series by the American author Jack Vance, comprising four books originally published from 1950 to 1984. Some have been called picaresque. They vary from short story collections to a fix-up (novel created from older ...

'' series,

Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...

's ''

Gormenghast Gormenghast may refer to: * ''Gormenghast'' (series), a trilogy of novels by Mervyn Peake ** ''Gormenghast'' (novel), second in the series * ''Gormenghast'' (opera), an opera based on the books * ''Gormenghast'' (TV serial), a BBC adaptatio ...

'' series"

A Storm of Wings ''A Storm of Wings'' is a novel by M. John Harrison published in 1980. Plot summary ''A Storm of Wings'' is a novel in which an invasion of alien locusts brings a worldview incompatible with that of humanity. Reception Dave Langford, reviewing ...

" in

David Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of ''Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective whic ...

, '' Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels'', Grafton Books, 1988 (pp. 201-203). and the poems of T. S. Eliot).{{Citation needed, date=September 2017 However, variations of the city appear throughout the series (most frequently as Uriconium and Vriko), in an attempt by Harrison to subvert the concept of thoroughly mapped secondary worlds featured in certain works of fantasy, particularly those by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

and his host of successors. Both universal and in particular, the city has a shifting topography and history, and is sometimes known by names such as 'Uroconium' (though there does not seem to be any association with the old Roman town of

Viroconium Viroconium or Uriconium, formally Viroconium Cornoviorum, was a Roman city, one corner of which is now occupied by Wroxeter, a small village in Shropshire, England, about east-south-east of Shrewsbury. At its peak, Viroconium is estimated to ...

''The Pastel City''

The first Viriconium novel, '' The Pastel City'' (1971), presents a civilization in decline where medieval social patterns clash with advanced technology and superscience energy weapons that the citizens of the city know how to use but have forgotten how to engineer. Harrison's leading character, Lord tegeus-Cromis, fancies himself a better poet than swordsman; yet he leads the battle to save Viriconium, the Pastel City, from the brain-stealing automatons known as the ''geteit chemosit'' from Earth's past. The decadence Harrison describes is reminiscent of

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...

's vision of the far future in ''The End of All Songs''. David Pringle wrote of the novel: "This is a sword-and-sorcery tale, yet it borders on sf by virtue of its distant future setting and the conceit that most of the 'magic' is in fact ancient, little-understood science. Despite its obvious debts to

and

, it's a very moody and stylish entertainment."David Pringle, ''The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction''. Grafton, 1990, p. 67 Reviewing the novel for ''Delap's F & SF'', Michael Bishop opined that "my own gut feeling is that M. John Harrison is wasting his time and his gift with this sort of material" but that "if you like elegantly crafted, elegantly written sword and sorcery, this book is all you could ask for."

''A Storm of Wings''

The more complex second novel of the Viriconium sequence, which is also borderline sf, is ''

'' (1980). It is set eighty years later than ''The Pastel City'' and stylistically it is far denser and more elaborate than the first novel. Fay Glass and Alstath Fulthor of the Reborn Men, awoken from their long sleep, try to alert the powers of Viriconium that the northern highlands are overrun by insectile armies. A race of intelligent insects is invading Earth as human interest in survival wanes. Fay brings the severed head of an invading locust-like giant insect to show the extent of the disaster. The story is told through both human and alien points of view and perceptions. The main characters are a resurrected man, an assassin, a magician, a madwoman, and Tomb, the Iron Dwarf. Harrison depicts the workings of civilization on the verge of collapse and the heroic efforts of individuals to help it sustain itself a little longer.

''In Viriconium''

The novel ''In Viriconium'' (1982) (US title: ''The Floating Gods'') was nominated for the

Guardian Fiction Prize The Guardian Fiction Prize was a literary award sponsored by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. Founded in 1965, it recognized one fiction book per year written by a British or Commonwealth writer and published in the United Kingdom. The award ran for 33 ...

during 1982. Savoy Books catalogs referred to it as "

Pre-raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

sword and sorcery". It is a moody portrait of Viriconium beset by a mysterious plague. As artist Audsley King slowly dies from the plague, her friend Ashlyme tries to save her. It is a desperate, misconceived enterprise which draws Ashlyme into unwilling alliance with the sinister dwarf The Grand Cairo, and which goes bizarrely wrong. Yet out of the shambles comes the clue to lifting the plague, which symbolises a paralysis of will. Where the previous books in the series held some sword and sorcery elements, ''In Viriconium'' goes beyond black humour into a coma of despair. The novel parodies

Arthurian King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a Legend, legendary king of Great Britain, Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest tradition ...

motifs. The novel is divided into sections named after cards of an imaginary

Tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...

. Resonances in the text include the art of

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Woodblock printing in Japan, Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He ...

post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

art,

and

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His novels include ''Tarr'' ( ...

Short stories

The short fiction of the Viriconium sequence replays the attrition of the novels; finally, in "A Young Man's Journey to Viriconium" (later retitled "A Young Man's Journey to London"), Viriconium has become little more than a dream. Harrison has frequently used the

as a motif in his work, as in ''

Viriconium Nights ''Viriconium Nights'' is a collection by M. John Harrison published in 1984. Plot summary ''Viriconium Nights'' is a collection of seven stories set in and around the metropolis of Viriconium. Reception Dave Langford reviewed ''Viriconium Nights' ...

'' (which is divided into sections named after cards of an imaginary Tarot) and in his story ''The Horse of Iron (and How We Can Know It and Be Changed by It Forever)''. The collection ''Viriconium Nights'' consists of various stories (the number varies depending whether one considers the Ace 1984 edition or the Gollancz 1985 edition). All are vignettes of night life in the Pastel City. In "The Lamia and Lord Cromis", tegeus-Cromis (who recurs in "Lords of Misrule" and is the protagonist of ''The Pastel City''), a dwarf, and a man named Dissolution Kahn travel to a poisonous bog to destroy a dangerous Lamia. The mission ends in confusion and despair. In the story "Viriconium Knights", the elderly swordsman Osgerby Practal is defeated in a duel by Ignace Retz, an unpopular servant of the Queen. Retz uses a power knife, a relic of previous times when high technology was used, but which is now ill understood; the badly-functioning power knife gives off floating motes which harm the wielder. (In this, Harrison invents his own variant of Moorcock's soul-draining magic swords in the Elric stories). The Queen is the grotesque Mammy Vooley, whose "body was like a long ivory pole about which they had draped the faded purple gown of her predecessor. On it was supported a very small head which looked as if had been partly scalped, partly burned, and partly starved to death in a cage suspended above the Gabelline Gate. One of her eyes was missing. She sat on an old carved wooden throne with iron wheels, in the middle of a tall limewashed room that had five windows." Retz has ambitions to seek treasure in the broad wastes south and west of Viriconium, and petitions the Queen to allow him to keep the power knife so he may defend himself against his enemies. When she refuses, he uses the knife to cut off her hand, and flees, hunted through the city by various factions of "aristocratic thugs" such as the Locust Clan and the Yellow Paper Men. Taking refuge in the house of an old man who shows him a strange tapestry, he beholds various visions of himself, seemingly at different periods in the city's history, before trying to steal a metal eagle from the old man's room. The metal eagle comes to life, attacking him, and Retz barely escapes. Later, he finds himself on a wasteland where some men are trying to bury a body with a fish-mask on its head. Retz steals the clothes and mask from the body and continues on his way. In "The Luck in the Head", in the Artists' Quarter, the poet Ardwick Crome has been having a recurring dream about a ceremony called "the Luck in the Head." He wants these disturbing dreams to stop, so he goes looking for one of the women in the dream. "Strange Great Sins" is the story of the weak and silly man Baladine Prinsep, who becomes enamored with the ballet dancer Vera Ghillera and wastes away. The story is told at one remove through the memories of his nephew, an unnamed

sin-eater A sin-eater is a person who consumes a ritual meal in order to spiritually take on the sins of a deceased person. The food was believed to absorb the sins of a recently dead person, thus absolving the soul of the person. Sin-eaters, as a conse ...

, and through those of his mother and of the singer Madame de Maupassant. In this story the motif of the

Mari Lwyd The Mari Lwyd ( cy, Y Fari Lwyd, ) is a wassailing folk custom found in South Wales. The tradition entails the use of an eponymous hobby horse which is made from a horse's skull mounted on a pole and carried by an individual hidden under a sackcl ...

is central. This story looks at the city of Viriconium from the perspective of outsiders who know that those who go there either are, or will become, decadent and self-absorbed. In "The Dancer From the Dance" the ballerina Vera Ghillera from "Strange Great Sins" visits Allman's Heath where strange things are afoot. "A Young Man's Journey to Viriconium", set in our world, explains that Viriconium is a real place and tells you exactly how to get there, in case you want to go. The doorway is a mirror in a bathroom in a café in England. "Lords of Misrule", narrated in the first person by Harrison's continuing character Lord Cromis, deals with Cromis's visit to a country house where the Yule Greave, formerly a fighter with the Feverfew Anschluss faction of Viriconium, and his wife, live with their young servant Ringmer. An unidentified enemy is gradually encroaching on the country lands and Cromis appears to be surveying their progress. During his visit, he is shown one of the ancient and highly decorated Mari - a version of the

- used by the people in the 'mast horse ceremony', which Ringmer's father used to operate. The

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

''The Luck in the Head'' adapts the short story of that name and is illustrated by Ian Miller.

Works

* ''The Pastel City'' (novel, 1971). * ''

'' (novel, 1980). Various editions have different dedicatees. The US first edition (Doubleday, 1980) is dedicated to

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...

. The Sphere 1980 edition is dedicated to various staff of Savoy Books including Michael Butterworth, John Mottershead and

David Britton David Britton (18 February 1945 – 29 December 2020) was a British author, artist, and publisher. In the 1970s he founded ''Weird Fantasy'' and ''Crucified Toad'', a series of small press magazines of the speculative fiction and horror genres. ...

. The Unwin 1987 printing is dedicated to

Christopher Fowler Christopher Fowler (born 26 March 1953) is an English thriller writer. While working in the British film industry he became the author of fifty novels and short-story collections, including the Bryant & May mysteries, which record the adventures ...

. * ''In Viriconium'' (novel, 1982). The novel was nominated for the

in 1982. The US edition, retitled ''The Floating Gods'' (Timescape, Feb 1983) is dedicated to

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...

(the UK edition had been dedicated to two of Harrison's friends). The US edition also has a three paragraph 'Author's Note' regarding Viriconium which did not appear in the UK editions. * ''

'' (short stories, 1985), consisting of the following stories in this order: ** "The Luck In the Head". This story was adapted as a

by illustrator Ian Miller and published by

VG Graphics VG, vg or v.g. may refer to: Arts and media * ''VG Cats'', a webcomic * VG-lista, the official Norwegian singles chart * '' Vanguard: Saga of Heroes'', an MMORPG computer game released in 2007 * '' Variable Geo'', a series of hentai fighter arcade ...

in 1991 (distributed in the US by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

). ** "The Lamia & Lord Cromis" ** "Strange Great Sins" ** "Viriconium Knights" ** "The Dancer From the Dance" ** "Lords of Misrule" ** "A Young Man's Journey To Viriconium" A 1988 omnibus entitled '' Viriconium'' omits the first two novels; it consists of the third novel, ''In Viriconium'', and the full contents of the short story collection ''Viriconium Nights''. The stories in this omnibus are in the same running order as in the 1985 first edition. The omnibus has an introduction by

Iain Banks Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies (). After the success of ''The Wasp Factor ...

. All four works of the sequence were published in the U.K in a single omnibus volume called ''

Viriconium ''Viriconium'' is a series of novels and stories written by M. John Harrison between 1971 and 1984, set in and around the fictional city of the same name. In the first novel in the series, the city of Viriconium exists in a future Earth littere ...

'' in 2000.. The stories are arranged in a different sequence (presumably chronological) which see the ''Viriconium Nights'' stories in a different running order than in the 1985 first edition and the 1988 omnibus. An American edition of all four was published in 2005, with an introduction"On Viriconium: some Notes Toward an Introduction." by Neil Gaiman
/ref> by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

. The novels are sequenced in publication order, but the short stories are in a different sequence. This edition was published in audio in late 2011 by Neil Gaiman Presents, read by

Simon Vance Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genu ...

References

Fictional populated places Dying Earth (genre)