From Library Journal
Harness managed to produce a fair amount of fiction despite a full-time career as a lawyer for more than 35 years. This volume combines three of his existing works (1953's The Paradox Men, 1968's The Ring of Ritornel, and 1981's Firebird) with a brand new novel, Drunkard's Endgame. A lot for the price.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Although still writing, Harness is obscure--undeservedly, for he was exploring the boundary between fantasy and sf, as well as the potential of lyricism in prose, before many of his colleagues were born. The third volume in the publisher's resuscitation of Harness contains four short novels, three previously published and the fourth new. The Paradox Men, Harness' best-known work, combines time travel and swashbuckling space opera. The Ring of Ritornel explores the conflict between free will and determinism. Firebird, with its theme of doomed lovers, has a Wagnerian tone that Harness' prose makes convincing. Drunkard's Endgame, the newbie, takes the concept of the "drunkard's walk" (Brownian movement) from physics and uses it in a way Harness admits was influenced by Asimov's famous robot stories. Together, the four constitute a valuable sample, full of fine and graceful storytelling, of the output of a working life that spans virtually the entire history of modern sf. Roland Green
From the Publisher
This is the eleventh book in the "NESFA's Choice" series.
