Charles Leonard Harness (December 29, 1915 - September 20, 2005) was an American science fiction writer. He was born in Texas, earned degrees in chemistry and law, and worked as a patent attorne... (more)

Charles Leonard Harness (December 29, 1915 - September 20, 2005) was an American science fiction writer. He was born in Texas, earned degrees in chemistry and law, and worked as a patent attorney in Connecticut and Washington, DC, for 35 years.

Harness' first story, "Time Trap" (1948), is unusual for a first story in that it shows many of his recurring themes, among them art, time travel, and a hero undergoing a quasi-transcendental experience. Several of Harness' works draw on his background as a lawyer. Among his best known stories are "The Rose", "An Ornament to his Profession", "The Alchemist", and "Stalemate in Time".

Brian Aldiss mentioned Harness' Flight into Yesterday as a leading example of the "widescreen baroque" style in science fiction, along with Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination. His story "The New Reality" has been called "SF's best Adam & Eve story" by Brian Stableford. His novel Redworld is one of the very few science fiction novels where all characters are aliens.

Harness' ideas influenced numerous writers and he continued to write up to 2001, gathering nominations for multiple Hugo and Nebula awards. In 2004 he was named Author Emeritus by SFWA, but he declined the banquet invitation due to being unable to travel and was honored by SFWA as an "Author of Distinction". His admirers find his relative obscurity extremely perplexing.

Source: Wikipedia