Paul Harland
Encyclopedia
Paul Harland was the pseudonym of the Dutch science fiction
writer Paul Smit. He had written several novels, one in English. And one of his collections was translated into English. Along with his writing he also designed furniture.
in his honor.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writer Paul Smit. He had written several novels, one in English. And one of his collections was translated into English. Along with his writing he also designed furniture.
Death
His death had initially been reported as a suicide. Later his husband, a Bosnian immigrant and architect named Tarik Dreca, was convicted for his murder. Tarik had apparently staged the death to look like a suicide. Tarik's defense attorney theorized that Harland had recreated a plot from his book The Hand That Takes, which has a man commit suicide and set up his partner, but the court rejected the idea. And yet, many questions remain open - the judges in both District Court's and Appeal Court's verdicts stated how neither suicide nor murder can't be excluded. No clear motive could have been established either. Thus, instead of applyimg principle recognised in an international law, „In dubio pro reo“ (When in doubt, for the accused), the court sentenced him although the guilt has not been „Proven beyond reasonable doubt“ - the term from Anglo-Saxon law. The best known Dutch crime investigator journalist, Peter R. De Vries, also expressed his doubts in his programme about this case.Awards
Four times, Harland won the King Kong Award, the major Dutch award for short science fiction, fantasy or horror stories, for Fuga in frictieloos porcelein (1984), De wintertuin (1990), Retrometheus (1992), and Onkruid en stenen (1995). After his death the King Kong Award was renamed the Paul Harland PrizePaul Harland Prize
The Paul Harland Prize is the oldest annual award for original Dutch short science fiction, fantasy or horror stories. It is named after Dutch science fiction author Paul Harland, who died in 2003....
in his honor.