When a writer like M. John Harrison looks at love, you know the results will be unusual and compelling, evocative and imaginative, dark, depressing and transcendent. In SIGNS OF LIFE, the beautiful Isobel Avens dreams of flying like a bird; Mick 'China' Rose runs a fast (and sometimes illegal) courier service to the genetics industry. When they meet and become lovers, it sets off an unstoppable train of events. Set in London and Budapest, against a backdrop of cosmetic surgery, genetic engineering and medical waste-dumping, SIGNS OF LIFE is both a sparely written thriller and an unforgettable love story. THE COURSE OF THE HEART follows three students whose lives are changed forever by the ritual they carry out one May night in a Cambridge meadow. To escape the consequences, they seek out the Coeur, a country which emerges from the shifting borders of Europe under only the most special conditions. In the Coeur anything is possible: even hope; even redemption.
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About the Author
M. John Harrison was born in the Peak District and now lives in London.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
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This review is from: Anima (Gollancz Sf S.) (Paperback)
In the two books that form Anima - the fantasy novel The Course of the Heart and the SF novel Signs of Life - M. John Harrison showed that his excellent Viriconium books were only the beginning. Having finally achieved total freedom from all genre conventions, these two books are nothing but Harrison. They are fully alive, very well-written and show a depth that is very rarely achieved by writers of fantastic literature. I have no qualms in saying that Anima is not merely great fantasy and SF, it is also very good literature.
The Course of the Heart is a book about love and dreams, about giving meaning to a life that seems all too mundane. Using rich symbolism and a free mixture of the everyday and the magical, Harrison explores where spicing up one's life turns into escapism, and whether love helps or hinders us in accepting reality. Signs of Life is also about love and dreams, but this time focused on the question whether we can achieve our dreams through methods external to ourselves - such as genetic engineering. The story follows the protagonist through a world of fast money and faster cars, in which he is implicated in many a dubious action without ever having the courage to take responsibility for his own life. Meanwhile, his girlfriend is attempting to make true her dreams of flying. I cannot recommend these books highly enough. M. John Harrison is a great writer; undoubtedly one of the best living SF/F writers, but certainly also among the most original and interesting living writers tout court.
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