Anne Harris (1964 – November 17, 2022)^[1] was an American science fiction author from Michigan.

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, the latter with a Bachelor of Science in computer and information science. 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, and "a doggy daycare worker".^[2] Harris lived in the Detroit, Michigan area all her life; as of 2016, she was living in Royal Oak with her husband Steve.^[3]

Harris also taught in Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. Harris's literary works have been recognized and highlighted at Michigan State University in their Michigan Writers Series.^[4] 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,^[5] 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 (1998), won the first Gaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Novel dealing with LGBT characters, themes, and issues.^[6]

Her short story, "Still Life with Boobs", was a 2005 Nebula Award finalist for Best Short Story.^[7] Her other novels include The Nature of Smoke (her first, published in 1996, shortlisted in translation for the 2007 Japanese Sense of Gender Award)^[8] and Inventing Memory, published in 2004.

Harris was "a long-term advocate of women's rights, reproductive freedom, and LGBT rights."^[9]

References

External links

• Her websites are jessicafreely.com and 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
• "Still Life with Boobs" online
• Anne Harris at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database