Richard Harland

For the scientist, see Richard Harland (biologist).

Richard Harland
Born	Huddersfield, United Kingdom
Nationality	Australian
Education	BA, English Literature, PhD. Literary Theory
Occupation	Novelist
Spouse	Aileen
Website	http://www.richardharland.au/ (Main) http://ferren.com.au http://www.writingtips.com.au/ (Writing Tips)

Richard Harland is an Australian fantasy and science fiction writer, living in New South Wales, Australia. He was born in Huddersfield, United Kingdom and migrated to Australia in 1970. He has been an academic, performance artist and writer, publishing 15 full-length works of fiction, three academic books, short stories and poems.

He is the author of the Eddon and Vail science fiction thriller series, the illustrated Wolf Kingdom series for children and three YA steampunk fantasies: Worldshaker, Liberator and Song of the Slums. He has been awarded the Australian Aurealis Award on six occasions for his fiction.

Life and academic career

Richard Harland completed undergraduate studies at Cambridge University, graduating with a BA and majoring in English. After graduation, he planned an ambitious doctoral thesis, focusing on a global theory of the language of poetry and approached numerous universities around the globe seeking funding for his research. Support was unforthcoming until an offer from the University of Newcastle in New South Wales. He migrated to Australia in 1970 to take advantage of this opportunity. He originally only intended to remain in the country until his PhD was completed, but after some months decided to settle permanently.

Work on his thesis was slow, and he eventually reduced its scope to an MA, before moving away from his studies for several years, while he worked as a singer, songwriter and poet in and around Sydney. He published poetry and short stories during this period in a number of literary magazines. He returned to academic life in the 1980s through a tutoring position at the University of New South Wales and continued work on his doctoral thesis, which was published by Methuen (UK) as Superstructuralism: The Philosophy of Structuralism and Post-Structuralism in 1987. The volume sold well, was well received, and secured him a lecturing position in English at the University of Wollongong. His later published academic books are Beyond Superstructuralism: The Syntagmatic Side of Language (Routledge, UK) and Literary Theory from Plato to Barthes (Macmillan, UK). He taught at the University of Wollongong for ten years before resigning to become a full-time writer of fiction.

Fiction writing

He scored an early success in childhood with a short story which won a prominent United Kingdom competition, and also wrote and distributed stories while at school, exchanging ongoing instalments for sweets and other tokens when other pupils were reluctant to part with legal tender.

He is best known for several series of novels, but commenced his novel writing career relatively late in life. He had been eager to write full length tales from late childhood but suffered from writer's block, which prevented him making significant headway with novel projects (and also many short stories) for much of the next 25 years. He attributes the writer's block partly to his belief that he had to write serious literary novels rather than what he found most enjoyable to work on. It was not until writing the comic horror novel The Vicar of Morbing Vyle (1993) that he managed to conquer this obstacle. However he had published short stories prior to this, some of which were collected in Testimony (1981), which also included his poetry.

He was still lecturing at the University of Wollongong when he wrote The Dark Edge, the first novel of his "Eddon and Vail" science fiction thriller series. His senior lecturing role was a secure tenured position, much sought after by professional scholars, however, with a sequel to The Dark Edge having been commissioned by his publisher, Pan Macmillan Australia, set to appear the following year, he felt unable to juggle the demands of full-time academic life with fiction writing. Despite an uncertain future in a small Australian publication market, where relatively low volume sales are considered a best-seller and there are few full-time writers, he resigned his position in 1997 to concentrate on his fiction. He has been a full-time writer ever since. For many years, he remained an Honorary Senior Fellow in English at the University of Wollongong, and also taught summer courses there on young adult fantasy fiction.

Novels

Many of Harland's novels contain maps. He has confessed to a fascination with maps, sometimes spending hours studying them. He has also admitted to often viewing his fictional worlds as though seen from an elevated distance, something he feels is a common feature among fantasy writers.

Following the 1999 publication of Hidden from View, the final volume in his Eddon and Vail series, all of his novels have been written either for young adults or children, with the exception of The Black Crusade (2004). Some of his novels have also been published as audio books.

The "Vicar" series

The first volume of this series, The Vicar of Morbing Vyle, was Harland's first published novel. When it came out from Karl Evans Publishing, he approached individual booksellers in the Australian cities of Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney to promote it. While no longer in print, it has since attained a cult status, something he claims was his original hope and dream when marketing the book.

The Black Crusade, a prequel to The Vicar of Morbing Vyle, came out many years later in 2004. It describes the journey of the hapless Basil Smorta, a multi lingual bank clerk, who is forced into the company of a group of "fundamental Darwinists" because they've imprisoned the object of his undying love, Australian singer, Volusia, in a mobile iron box. The group travel across Eastern Europe during 1894, and encounter ghosts, blood donating vampires and other comic horror curiosities. The novel shows the origin of the 'vyle' principle, which has descended from the Marquis of Morbol Villica to the Vicar in the first volume in the series. The Black Crusade plays with the notion of the tale's reliability as a factual narrative, including fictional footnotes apparently inserted by the book's publishers, who deplore Basil's actions and despise his unheroic qualities.

The novel was published by Chimaera Publications, which also produces Aurealis, a magazine which publishes and promotes Australian speculative fiction, and originated the Aurealis Awards (although these awards have been administered entirely independently from Chimaera by another organisation since 2004). The novel won an Aurealis Award in both the "Best Horror Novel" and the overarching "Golden Aurealis Best Novel" categories.

The Eddon and Vail series

In this series of three science fiction novels, there are both detective mystery elements and supernatural elements. Inspector Eddon Brac, a male detective with traditional sleuth leanings, is partnered with assistant Vail ev Vessintor, a female goth aristocrat with expertise in the psychic sciences. Each novel explores the tension between the pair as they confront murder mysteries of unorthodox and surprising origin.

The series is set against the background of the colonial hegemony of the planet Terra, whose influence has spread across the cosmos, but is increasingly threatened by the Anti-Human, an unknown menace, which follows a steady path from the boundaries of the universe towards the core, consuming Terran colonies as it advances.

The first volume, The Dark Edge was a finalist for the 1997 Aurealis Award in both the Horror Novel and Science Fiction Novel categories and the third, Hidden from View, was nominated for the 1999 Ditmar Award in the Best Novel category.

The Heaven and Earth trilogy

This trilogy for young adults is set in Australia 1000 years into the future and concerns a war between heaven and earth. Each book includes an 'angelology'.

In preparation for writing the trilogy, Harland extensively researched angels and cosmology, including both the mainstream and unorthodox sources of Christian, Islamic and Judaic lore on the subjects. He was particularly concerned to present angels as awe inspiring, beautiful and numinous beings, possessing personalities that allow for reader empathy, yet far removed from 'Disney-fied' images of sweetness-and-light. The first book he read on angels was A Dictionary of Angels by American poet Gustav Davidson, and he has returned to this book numerous times since to help with inspiration for all the books in the trilogy. He has also stated that the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck greatly assisted in creating his vision of heaven.

The Wolf Kingdom series

The Wolf Kingdom Series comprises four illustrated fantasy books, aimed at older pre-adolescents, commencing with Escape! and completed by The Heavy Crown, all published in 2008. Harland wrote the story, and Laura Peterson provided illustrations which head each chapter and are mostly full page. Each tale functions as a self-contained narrative, but the series also interlinks as a larger story arc.

The books were launched in association with the Children's Book Council of Australia.

A race of talking, bipedal wolves have overrun and enslaved humankind, leaving only a determined resistance, known as the "Free Folk", who shelter in a subterranean refuge and plot to liberate themselves from their overlords. The revelation unfolded over the larger story arc turns upon the mystery of how these creatures have risen from their former animal state, to become oppressive rulers of humankind. The books focus on two children, a brother and sister, whose parents are taken by the wolves, and who subsequently join the "Free Folk" and become key to the success of the rebellion. Harland had long been fascinated with wolves; during his childhood in the United Kingdom he passed an ominous wood named 'Wolves Wood' on daily basis in a school bus and this left a marked impression upon him.

The series won the 2008 Aurealis Award for the "best children's illustrated work/picture book" category. In awarding the series an Aurealis, the judges acknowledged the dual work of Harland and his illustrator partner, Laura Peterson: "The illustrations help to bring alive aspects of the story – muscular pictures for a muscular tale. Laura Peterson has shown attention to detail in all the artwork pertaining to the wolves and helps to support the atmosphere of peril that Richard Harland has created."

Other children's fiction

• Walter Wants to Be a Werewolf (2003)

It is part of the Aussie Chomps series for teenagers. Walter is a young member of a family of werewolves, but struggles to manifest true werewolf characteristics when the full moon rises, and subsequently visits a doctor hoping to find a cure for his condition.

• Sassycat: The Night of the Dead (2005)

Published by Scholastic, the novel is mostly in the voice of Sassycat, a truly superior cat. She moves to a new home with her mistress/carer, Rebecca, and doesn't think much of her new animal neighbours. But she has to work with them in order to defeat the ghosts who are invading their territory from a nearby cemetery.

Worldshaker, Liberator, Song of the Slums

Harland's series of YA steampunk novels commenced with Worldshaker, partly inspired by the works of Mervyn Peake and Charles Dickens. It was released in May 2009 in Australia, then in the US, UK, France, Germany and Brazil. The main inspiration for this book was the dream he had which is now one of the scenes in the book. The principal character is Col, who lives in the privileged upper sections of a mountain-sized city-ship. He has been selected to become the next commander of the craft, but is forced to question his world when a girl who has escaped from the lower decks, seeks his help and reveals to him the poverty and exploitation below the elite world of his upbringing. The novel sold to US publisher Simon & Schuster for a substantial advance.

The story bears a resemblance to the plot of the film Metropolis. Both feature a young man who is the heir to a position of power in a society where the wealthy live "above" and the poorly treated workers "below", with a young woman of the worker class teaming together with the young man to overthrow the cruel establishment.

Harland began developing the ideas for Worldshaker in the mid 1990s and took five years to write the novel, passing through 3 complete rewrites. It was first entitled Leviathan, later Juggernaught, before finally being published as Worldshaker. The sequel to Worldshaker was published globally by the same publishers as Liberator.

For his third steampunk novel, Harland shifted the setting to an earlier period in the same world, later than the Napoleonic invasion of England (by a tunnel which was planned, but never built, in real history), but before the launching of the great city-ships or juggernauts. The principal character is Astor, who starts out from a refined and privileged background and ends up in the incredibly polluted, fog-bound slums of 'London Town'. There she falls in with a gang and discovers a talent as a drummer playing a new kind of rhythmical music, which is essentially rock 'n roll, only a century before Elvis and Bill Haley. The novels tells the story of the triumph of 'gang music' and the rise to popularity of Astor's band, along with a plot to take power by a group of oligarchs and Astor's relationship with the enigmatic Verrol.

Shorter works of fiction

Richard Harland has published over 20 short stories and novellas in magazines and anthologies in the US, Australia, Canada and France. His work has been included in 'best of' anthologies such as Dreaming Again, Dreaming in the Dark and Ghosts by Gaslight, compiled by noted American editor and anthologist, Jack Dann, The Best Horror of the Year, ed Ellen Datlow (US), Year's Best Fantasy 9, ed Hartwell and Cramer (US), Year's Best Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy 4, ed Congreve and Marquardt, The Year's Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2011, ed Grzyb and Helene, and in France, Ténebres 2007, ed Benoit Domis. Several of his stories have received honourable mentions in the prominent Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthologies, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling. His shorter fiction has been both nominated for and won Australian speculative fiction awards.

Author's website

His website at www.richardharland.au is notable for presenting the substance and background of each of his fiction projects, along with an extended biography, describing the development of his writing career, including his protracted battle with writer's block. His older web address, www.richardharland.net, redirects to the same site, and a third site, www.ferren.com.au, contains similar information with a focus on forthcoming releases.

Harland has also created a separate website solely to provide advice to writers. The result of a four-month break from his writing it has over 140 pages of advice and tips and is located at http://www.writingtips.com.au.

Awards

Richard Harland has won the following awards:

The Black Crusade

• 2004 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel
• 2004 Golden Aurealis for Best Novel

"Catabolic Magic"

• 2004 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story (tie with Louise Katz)

"The Greater Death of Saito Saku"

• 2005 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story (tie with Rosaleen Love)

'The Wolf Kingdom series' (Escape!, Under Siege, Race to the Ruins, The Heavy Crown)

• 2008 Aurealis Award for Best Children's Illustrated Work/Picture Book (with Laura Peterson as Illustrator)

"The Fear"

• 2010 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Short Story

'Le Worldshaker'

• 2010 Prix Tam-tam du Livre de Jeunesse (France)

General

• 2012 The A. Bertram Chandler Award for lifetime contribution to Australian Science Fiction

External links

• Official website
• Richard Harland Writing Tips Website
• Richard Harland reading from Worldshaker on YouTube
• Richard Harland at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database