In Viriconium
core novel 1982 Viriconium
Record
| First published | 1982 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.83 (347 ratings, collected 2026-10-28) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780575032125 |
| Internal chronology | 3 |
Synopsis
A plague that is not quite a plague has settled over the Low City, the poorer quarter of Viriconium, turning it into a quarantine zone. There the famous painter Audsley King is slowly dying, and Ashlyme, a portrait artist known for his cruel and truthful likenesses, resolves to rescue her and carry her to a part of the city the sickness has not reached. His desperate, misconceived plan draws him into an alliance with the sinister dwarf who calls himself the Grand Cairo and into the antics of the Barley Brothers, the city's two buffoonish gods, and it goes bizarrely wrong. Published in the United States as The Floating Gods.
Where it sits
- Universe: Viriconium
- Series: Viriconium core; position 3 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: M. John Harrison
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 1983: finalist; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 16.
- Philip K. Dick Award, 1984: finalist; For the US edition, The Floating Gods.
- Guardian Fiction Prize, 1982: nominated; Shortlisted.
- British Fantasy Award (August Derleth Award (Best Novel)), 1983: nominated
Notes
- Published in the United States as The Floating Gods (1983).
- From the series record (Viriconium): The three novels set in and around the far-future city of Viriconium.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Viriconium: position 3 of 4: previous A Storm of Wings (1980) · next Viriconium Nights (1984)
- Internal chronology, within Viriconium: position 3 of 3: previous A Storm of Wings (1980)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Viriconium
- Reader ratings: Viriconium series page
- Black Gate: In Viriconium
- EBSCO Research Starters: The Viriconium Sequence
- AbeBooks: In Viriconium, Gollancz 1982 first edition
- 4th Estate (HarperCollins): M. John Harrison biography
- Science Fiction Awards Database: M. John Harrison titles
- Science Fiction Awards Database: M. John Harrison chronology
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Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.