In 1998, NESFA Press published An Ornament to His Profession, a collection of the short SF of Charles L. Harness. This year we are proud to present Rings, an omnibus of four SF novels by the same author.
The extravagantly symmetrical selections in this omnibus were chosen to spotlight Harness' dazzling "ring" stories. These powerful works display the momentous themes spoken of in NESFA's previous Harness collection—transformation, change, transcendence, evolution ... destruction and rebirth, death and transfiguration ... grand beginnings and epic endings ....
Rings contains three previously-published novels, The Paradox Men, The Ring of Ritornel, and Firebird that loop through space-time, and a new work, Drunkard's Endgame, that accomplishes the same dizzying feats as its predecessors. Introductions by George Zebrowski and Priscilla Olson.
Baroque space-time opera at its best!
![[Charles Harness photo]](images/Harness-photo-150.JPG)
Charles L. Harness
Charles L. Harness was born in Texas in 1915. He had degrees in chemistry and law, and worked as a patent lawyer in Connecticut and Washington D.C. for more than thirty-five years. He was first published in 1947. Harness's ideas influenced numerous writers and he continued to publish until 2001, being nominated for multiple Hugo and Nebula awards. In 2004 he was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
During this impressive time span, he produced eleven novels and more than thirty shorter works (often in the form of novellas and novelettes). His stories are characterized by Byzantine plots and myriad baroque ideas, through which serious social themes are woven. He writes about love and transcendence, humanity and hope.
Harness died in 2005, at the age of 89, in North Newton, Kansas.
Theere has been a well deserved resurgence of interest in Harness's work. And, although some of his stories have been Hugo and Nebula award nominees, many of them have rarely (or never!) been anthologized.
Read and enjoy the NESFA Press selection of these gems from Charles Harness. a critically-acclaimed, and yet often-neglected writer. ...And bring your sense of wonder along for the ride.