Anne Harris (1964 – November 17, 2022) was an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

author from

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Life and work

Harris published under three different names: her legal name, Pearl North, and Jessica Freely. Harris was a graduate of Ferndale High School and

Oakland University Oakland University is a public research university in Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan. Founded in 1957 through a donation of Matilda Dodge Wilson, it was initially known as Michigan State University-Oakland, operating under the Mi ...

, the latter with a ( Bachelor of Science in

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

and

information science Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, Categorization, classification, manipulation, storage, information retrieval, retrieval, movement, dissemin ...

). According to her blog, she worked as a cook in a vegetarian restaurant, a freelance journalist, a public relations writer, an operations research analyst for the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

, and "a doggy daycare worker". Harris lived in the Detroit,

area all her life; as of 2016, she was living in

Royal Oak The Royal Oak is the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. C ...

with her husband Steve. Harris also taught in

Seton Hill University Seton Hill University is a private Catholic university in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Formerly a women's college, it became a coeducational university in 2002 and enrolls about 2,200 students. History The school was founded in 1885 by the Sist ...

's Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. Harris's literary works have been recognized and highlighted at Michigan State University in their Michigan Writers Series. She wrote under two pseudonyms. As Pearl North she published ''Libyrinth'' in 2009. It is the first volume in a young adult science fiction trilogy. The second in the series, ''The Boy From Ilysies'', came out in November 2010, and the third, ''The Book of the Night'', was released in 2012. Under the pen name Jessica Freely, Harris has written numerous male/male erotic romance ebooks since 2008. Harris's second novel, ''Accidental Creatures'', won the first Spectrum Award for a

science fiction novel This is a list of science-fiction novels, novel series, and collections of linked short stories. It includes modern novels, as well as novels written before the term "science fiction" was in common use. This list includes novels not marketed as SF ...

dealing with

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

characters, themes and issues, published in 1998. Her short story, " Still Life with Boobs", was a 2005

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

finalist for Best Short Story. Her other novels include ''The Nature of Smoke'' (her first, published in 1996, shortlisted in translation for the 2007 Japanese

Sense of Gender Award The Sense of Gender Awards are annual awards given by the Japanese Association for Gender, Fantasy & Science Fiction since 2001 for the science fiction or fantasy fiction published in the Japanese language in the prior year which best "explore an ...

) and ''Inventing Memory'', published in 2004. Harris was "a long-term advocate of women's rights, reproductive freedom, and LGBT rights."

References

External links

*Her websites ar
jessicafreely.com
an
anneharris.net
*https://web.archive.org/web/20101114150527/http://www.setonhill.edu/academics/fiction/
Walsh, Therese. "AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Anne Harris" ''Writer Unboxed'' August 11th, 2006
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Anne 1964 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American fantasy writers American science fiction writers American women short story writers American women novelists Nebula Award winners Writers from Detroit Oakland University alumni Seton Hill University Women science fiction and fantasy writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers Novelists from Michigan