- GRANT, Richard
- (1952-)US writer; he lives with Elizabeth HAND. RG began writing work of genre interest with "Drode's Equations" for New Dimensions 12 (anth 1981) ed Marta RANDALL, and came to rapid prominence with three novels ofmixed sf/fantasy provenance, set in the same post- HOLOCAUST land, almost certainly the USA, but transfigured by time and events. The first, Saraband of Lost Time (1985), is set much the deepest into this venue, sofar into the future that the rather shambling plot mainly serves the PLANETARY-ROMANCE function of guiding the reader through the world, whosecontours have reminded some critics of M. John HARRISON's Viriconium. The rich array of protagonists featured in Rumours of Spring (1987) is reminiscent of the same source, though RG seems quite visibly to have taken more pleasure in creating characters than Harrison ever has; the plot involves a quest, hampered by spiritual ENTROPY, for the Gaian spirit of the forest which is beginning to assault the desultory evening cultures of humankind. Beyond Harrison, authors freely used as models by RG include James P. BLAYLOCK and John CROWLEY; but the amalgam has a recognizableflavour of its own. View from the Oldest House (1989) casts its net even more widely, bringing in allusions to figures from Milton to James Joyce to Archibald MacLeish to Thomas PYNCHON, in addition to all the above; the story itself, set in a NEAR FUTURE, HOLOCAUST-haunted version of the same domain, tends to founder in these labyrinths of reference, just as its protagonist founders in his search for a self. A fourth novel, Through the Heart (1992), sharpens in sf terms RG's abiding venue: North America afterthe Fall, and won the 1993 PHILIP K. DICK AWARD.JC
Science Fiction and Fantasy Encyclopedia. Academic. 2011.