(1891-?)
Harris is one of the significant and more mysterious figures in the history of science fiction. She is significant as one of the pioneers of modern SF in the 1920s and as the first female to write for Hugo Gernsback’s groundbreaking first SF pulp, Amazing Stories. She is mysterious in that she disappeared from the publishing scene for many years, reappeared briefly to publish her only topic, and then vanished forever.
Harris sold her first piece of fiction, “A Runaway World,” to Weird Tales and subsequently contributed several more stories to that magazine. Her fiction for Gernsback’s publications included the prizewinning “Fate of the Poseidonia,” the highly regarded “A Baby on Neptune” (written with Miles Breuer), and the anthologized “The Miracle of the Lily,” a centuries-spanning tale of the Earth’s destruction by insects, with a sardonic conclusion that illustrates the fluid definition of the term pest.
The 11 science fiction stories Harris wrote for the pulps were gathered together in a volume published in 1947, Away from the Here and Now. The collection met with acclaim by SF fans, but it would turn out to be the last known work of the author, who disappeared from the scene shortly after the topic’s release.
Works
- Away from the Here and Now (1947)
