Editing M. John Harrison (section)

===1985–1989: ''Climbers''===
{{Main article|Climbers (novel)}}

Harrison's interest in rock climbing resulted in his semi-autobiographical novel ''[[Climbers (novel)|Climbers]]'' (1989), the first novel to receive the [[Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature]].  Harrison also [[ghostwriter|ghost-wrote]] the autobiography of one of Britain's best rock climbers, [[Ron Fawcett]] (''Fawcett on Rock'', 1987, as by Mike Harrison).<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VW1WAAAACAAJ |title = Fawcett on Rock|isbn = 9780044400769|last1 = Fawcett|first1 = Ron|last2 = Beatty|first2 = John|last3 = Harrison|first3 = Mike|year = 1987| publisher=Unwin Hyman }}</ref> Harrison has repeatedly affirmed in print the importance of rock climbing for his writing as an attempt to grapple with reality and its implications, which he had largely neglected while writing fantasy. The difference in his approach pre- and post-''Climbers'', can be observed in the extreme stylistic differences between the first novel of the Viriconium sequence ''The Pastel City'' and the second, ''A Storm of Wings''. Around the time of writing ''Climbers'', he declared that he had abandoned science fiction forever.<ref>M. John Harrison News, ''Interzone'' 13 (Autumn 1985).</ref>

[[Robert Macfarlane (writer)|Robert Macfarlane]] wrote an introduction to the 2013 reissue of ''Climbers''. Writing about the book in ''The Guardian'', he said: "...it is surely the best novel about rock-climbing ever written – though such a description drastically limits its achievement".<ref name=macfarlane />