Charles Harness
Charles Leonard Harness was an American writer and patent attorney, born on December 29, 1915, in Colorado City, Texas. He grew up on a ranch, showing early interests in chemistry and radio, which led to his pursuit of higher education at George Washington University. Harness married fellow Fort Worth resident Nell White in 1938 and had two children. His professional career included roles as a mineral economist and patent attorney, spanning from the early 1940s until his retirement in 1981, when he dedicated himself to writing.
Harness's fascination with science fiction began in childhood, ultimately leading to his first published story, "Time Trap," in 1948. He is recognized for complex time travel narratives, with notable works including "Flight into Yesterday," later retitled "The Paradox Men," and the short novel "The Rose," which explores the interplay between art and science. Despite receiving critical acclaim, including nominations for prestigious Hugo and Nebula Awards, his writing career faced interruptions due to his legal work. Harness passed away on September 20, 2005, leaving behind a legacy of ambitious storytelling that continues to garner interest.
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Charles Harness
Writer
- Born: December 29, 1915
- Birthplace: Colorado City, Texas
- Died: September 20, 2005
- Place of death: North Newton, Kansas
Biography
Charles Leonard Harness was born on December 29, 1915, in Colorado City, Texas, one of two children of Conrad T. Harness and Lillian B. Harness. He grew up outside of town on a ranch on the Colorado River, but he later moved with his family to Fort Worth, Texas, where he went to high school. As a boy he was interested in chemistry and radio, building a lab in his backyard with his friends and experimenting with primitive broadcasting and receiving equipment.
For a time, Harness took night classes on a ministerial scholarship at Texas Christian University while he worked during the day at a paper warehouse. He went on to attend George Washington University in Washington, D.C., earning a B.S. degree in 1942 and a law degree in 1946. Harness married Nell White, whom he had met in high school, on July 27, 1938, and the couple had two children.
Harness worked as a mineral economist for the U.S. Bureau of Mines from 1941 to 1947; as a patent attorney for the American Cyanamid Company in Stamford, Connecticut, from 1947 to 1953; and as a patent attorney for W. R. Grace and Company in Columbia, Maryland, from 1953 to 1981. He retired in 1981 to write full-time. Harness’s wife died in 1996, and he died on September 20, 2005, in North Newton, Kansas, at the age of eighty-nine.
Harness started writing stories in high school and coedited the school newspaper. His interest in science fiction began at the age of ten, when he found a copy of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. Harness’s first published story was “Time Trap,” which appeared in Astounding Science Fiction magazine in August, 1948. Written to cover medical bills resulting from his daughter’s birth, the work is a complicated time travel story whose themes presaged much of his later work.
Harness’s first novel, Flight into Yesterday is also concerned with time travel, and was later republished as The Paradox Men. The Rose explores the opposition of art and science through a story of love, evolution, and rebirth. Although many critics regard this short novel as Harness’s best work, it initially failed to find a publisher in the United States and appeared in a small British magazine. Harness wrote a number of ambitious, densely plotted stories and novels, but his writing career was interrupted periodically by his work as an attorney. These interruptions may have prevented him from realizing the promise of his early works and may have denied him the wider readership he deserved.
Harness’s novella, The Alchemist, and his novelette, An Ornament to His Profession, were nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards in 1967, and his novella, Probable Cause, was nominated for a Nebula Award for 1970. Another novella, Summer Solstice, was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1985. Harness was also named an Author of Distinction at the 2004 Nebula Awards Weekend.