| Birth Date: | 1964 |
| Death Date: | November 17, 2022 |
| Genre: | science fiction |
| Education: | Oakland University (BS) |
| Awards: | Gaylactic Spectrum Award |
Anne Harris (pen names, Pearl North and Jessica Freely; 1964 – November 17, 2022)[1] was an American science fiction author from Michigan.
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]