Within the structure of seven linked and interwoven stories, M. John Harrison invites us once more into the strange and haunting world that is Viriconium.
In this infinitely mutable world that is 'so old that the substance of reality no longer knows quite what it ought to be', we find a Viriconium that mutates through various manifestations—at one time Vriko; at another, Uroconium.
Characters come and go at will, in different guises, without regard for the constraints of Time: tegeus Cromis, minor prince of the city; Rotgob the dwarf; Egon Rhys, leading fighter of the Blue Anemone Ontological Association—all take their places in the decaying, violent, but ever-alluring world of Viriconium.
Through shifts in perception we view the City, with its courtyards and plazas, alleys and wastelands, through its haze of folk memory, ritual and myth; even through a mirror in the lavatory of the Merrie England cafe in Huddersfield: Viriconium is everywhere and nowhere, starkly realistic and utterly fantastical: the ultimate paradox.
M. John Harrison writes with truly remarkable imaginative power and individuality, with elegance and wit. Viriconium Nights is an extraordinary creation.
Contents:
The Lamia and Lord Cromis (1971).
Lamia Mutable (1972).
Viriconium Knights (1981).
Events Witnessed from a City (1975).
The Luck in the Head (1984).
The Lords of Misrule (1984).
In Viriconium (1984).
Strange Great Sins (1983).