The Viriconium Sequence by M. John Harrison
The Viriconium Sequence is a collection of novels by M. John Harrison that defies traditional trilogy structures, instead presenting a loose narrative framework centered around the fictional city of Viriconium. The series blends elements of science fiction and fantasy, emphasizing the city as the main character, a place of both beauty and decay amid a backdrop of post-apocalyptic remnants from a previous civilization known as the Afternoon Cultures. The first book, *The Pastel City*, follows Tegeus Cromis, a poet-warrior, as he battles threats to Viriconium from Northmen and the terrifying brain-stealing creatures called geteit chemosit.
As the sequence progresses, *A Storm of Wings* introduces a more complex narrative with themes of identity and alien invasion, while *In Viriconium* shifts focus to the internal struggles of its citizens amid a plague, highlighting personal acts of courage in a decaying society. Throughout the series, recurring characters like Tomb the Dwarf and Cellur provide continuity, but each novel explores different styles and themes, ultimately portraying a city on the brink of stagnation and decline. The Viriconium Sequence is recognized for its unique blend of narrative experimentation and rich, layered storytelling.
On this Page
The Viriconium Sequence
First published:The Pastel City (1971), A Storm of Wings (1980), and In Viriconium (1982; also published as The Floating Gods, 1983)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Science fiction—New Wave
Time of work: The reign of the Evening Cultures, roughly between c.e. 20,000 and 80,000
Locale: The Earth city of Viriconium and outlying lands
The Plot
M. John Harrison repeatedly has stated that he did not intend the Viriconium novels to form a trilogy but, rather, a sequence. The books support Harrison’s assertion, as the Viriconium sequence displays little of the cohesion present in most trilogies. The style, structure, and characters, with a few exceptions, change from novel to novel, and the thrust of the works gradually veers away from any semblance of science fiction toward a synthesis more properly described as science fantasy.
If the Viriconium sequence has a main character, that character is the city itself. An artifact of incomparable glamour, decadence, and cruelty, Viriconium dominates a world of comparative barbarism mitigated by leftover technologies of the Afternoon Cultures. The citizens of Viriconium understand these technologies no better than the scavengers outside their walls, but as poets, painters, sculptors, tarot readers, dancers, and astronomers, they put these gifts to more elegant uses. Often, especially in A Storm of Wings and In Viriconium, the city shapes the fortunes of its inhabitants by literally reshaping itself.
The Pastel City follows classic quest structure, with Viriconium threatened by Northmen who have discovered and reanimated the long-dormant geteit chemosit, or “brain stealers.” The geteit chemosit scoop out the brains of their victims; eventually, they will kill not only the defenders of Viriconium but all humankind.
Tegeus Cromis, a gaunt poet-warrior, is a knight of sorts for the Queen of Viriconium, Nian Methvet. He must gather his old comrades to defeat both Northmen and geteit chemosit. His principal companion is Tomb the Dwarf, who has a genius for energy weapons and all items mechanical. A garrulous, bloodthirsty, and enduring character, Tomb also appears in A Storm of Wings.
Cellur, an immortal man who commands a flock of mechanical raptors, helps Tegeus Cromis and Tomb the Dwarf in their quest by providing warnings and guidance. Cellur appears in both A Storm of Wings and In Viriconium as well, and he must be considered the major source of unity between otherwise quite different novels. Only Cellur has sufficient knowledge of Viriconium’s history to recognize threats to its existence.
After many adventures, Tomb shuts down the communal mind of the geteit chemosit, saving Viriconium and the world. In stopping the geteit chemosit, however, Tomb also resurrects men and women from the Afternoon Cultures. These reborn refugees-in-time form the core of Harrison’s second book, A Storm of Wings.
A Storm of Wings combines an external quest to stop an alien invasion with an internal quest for identity. The locustlike aliens, who plan to poison Earth’s atmosphere, have been brought to Earth by a long-lost astronaut, Benedict Paucelyman. In a garbled attempt to warn Earth, Paucelyman uses arcane technologies to manifest himself to the Reborns as a floating apparition.
Lord Galen Hornrack and fellow Reborns Alstath Fulthor and Fay Glass, the latter a madwoman, travel north to repulse this latest threat to the world. Tomb accompanies them, and Cellur again helps by dint of his advice. Although they succeed in repulsing the aliens and the human cult that has sprung up around them, the Reborns cannot resolve their internal quest, for they are caught between dreams of the past and the shock of the present. The book’s baroque style and inward-turning quest are abrupt departures from the less symbolic The Pastel City.
In Viriconium continues to subvert the typical quest form. This time the threat, a strange plague, already has enveloped the city. Its citizens largely are oblivious to it and are unwilling to save themselves. The plague brings inertia and ennui with it, affecting the animate and inanimate alike.
In this grayer, less certain Viriconium, all victories occur on a smaller scale, and no one dares to save the world. Only individual, isolated acts of courage remain to stave off tragedy. Thus, the portrait painter Ashlyme tries to save fellow artist Audsley King, who is trapped, sickly, in the plague zone. His task quickly descends into the realms of the burlesque and the disastrous, as he falls afoul of his incompetent astronomer friend Emmett Buffo; the Grand Cairo, head of the plague police, who may well be Tomb the Dwarf; and the brawling Barley Brothers, who may or may not be gods.
Ashlyme, portrayed as a man of intriguing honesty and amorality, becomes an accessory to a murder performed by the Grand Cairo below King’s room during one of his rescue attempts. At the end, despite Ashlyme’s efforts, King dies and the Grand Cairo leaves the city. Ashlyme, goaded by rage and grief, forces the Barley Brothers to take back their mantle of godhood, thus ending the plague.
There is a sense, then, that the Viriconium sequence becomes a series of disconnected actions describing smaller and smaller circles. Finally, the city comes to rest within a stagnancy of its own making as the Evening Cultures continue their slow, tortuous course into night.