Notes on 'Nova Swing' (2006) by M John Harrison (b. 1945)
Renowned for his literary sophistication, M. John Harrison has made several significant contributions to the space opera subgenre. Nova Swing, the second novel in his Kefahuchi Tract trilogy (2002–2012), explores a reality in which the strange phenomena of quantum mechanics, including superposition, entanglement and tunnelling, spill into the macroscopic world. Harrison constructs a universe in which time, space, narrative and identity exist in states of uncertainty, ultimately collapsing in upon themselves. Nova Swing won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2007 and the Philip K. Dick Award in 2008.