Editing M. John Harrison (section)

===1978–1985: ''Manchester Review'', ''The Ice Monkey'', more Viriconium ===
Harrison later relocated to [[Manchester]] and was a regular contributor to ''New Manchester Review'' (1978–79). [[David Britton]] and [[Michael Butterworth (author)|Michael Butterworth]] of Savoy Books employed him to write in their basement (where he did so "amidst stacks of antique ''Eagles'', ''Freindz'', ''New Worlds'' and ''Styng''. A basement that reverberates with indecent exposures of stolen sound, bootlegs sucked from hidden mikes, stacked in neat piles.").<ref>''[[Savoy Dreams]]'', p. 14</ref><ref>Andrew Darlington, "Doin' That Savoy Shuffle", ''International Times''; online at [http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/doin.html]</ref> The commissioned work, originally announced in Savoy publications as ''By Gas Mask and Fire Hydrant'', eventually became the novel ''[[In Viriconium]]''.

During the decade of 1976–1986, Harrison lived in the [[Peak District]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=M. John Harrison: Profile, Works, Critical Essays, and a List of Books by Author M. John Harrison |url=https://www.paperbackswap.com/M-John-Harrison/author/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=www.paperbackswap.com}}</ref> In 1983, he published his second short story collection, ''The Ice Monkey and Other Stories'', containing seven tales which capture the pathos, humour, awe, despair, pain and black humour of the human condition. ''The Ice Monkey'' was praised by [[Ramsey Campbell]], who stated "M. John Harrison is the finest British writer now writing horror fiction and by far the most original".<ref name="jl">[[Joel Lane|Lane, Joel]]. "Harrison, M(ichael) John", in David Pringle, (ed.) ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, and Gothic Writers''. Detroit: St. James Press/Gale, 1998, {{ISBN|1558622063}} (pp. 252-4)</ref> In "The Incalling", a story of seedy suburban magic which in some ways foreshadows his later novel ''The Course of the Heart'', an editor is haunted by an author's attempts to cure himself of cancer by faith healing.<ref name="jl" /> The "Incalling"  is one of the few of Harrison's tales (aside from "Running Down") in which a male character is physically ill; though many of his stories feature male characters who are psychologically unwell, in many of his fictions, it is women who are damaged - either physically or emotionally ill or both. "The New Rays" here exemplifies this tendency.

In 1980 Harrison contributed an introduction to Michael Moorcock's early allegorical fantasy, written by Moorcock at age 18, entitled ''The Golden Barge'' and published by Savoy Books.  That same year he released his second novel in the Viriconium sequence, ''[[A Storm of Wings]]''. Set eighty years later than ''The Pastel City,'' stylistically it is denser and more elaborate. A race of intelligent insects is invading Earth as human interest in survival wanes. A third novel, entitled ''[[In Viriconium]]'' (1982) (US title: ''[[The Floating Gods]]''), was nominated for the [[Guardian Fiction Prize]] during 1982. It is a moody portrait of artistic subcultures in a city beset by a mysterious plague.

The short story "A Young Man's Journey to Viriconium" (1985, later retitled "A Young Man's Journey to London") is set in our world and concerns the idea of escape from it.