When asked in a 2012 interview how he feels about being called a “writer’s writer,” M. John Harrison “describes the ‘practice crag’ found in almost every Peak District town or village”:
“It may not be much higher than this room,” he says, “but … there will always be some last great problem that nobody’s solved. The guy who will solve it may not be the best climber in Britain, but the best climber in Britain will turn up one day in the summer to watch the local guy who can do it. And I always wanted to be that local guy, as a writer.”