Brian
Wilson Aldiss was born in August 1925 in Norfolk, England. He is author of both
general fiction and science fiction. He quickly imposed in the science fiction
field his very personal style, both imaginative and intriguingly innovative. A
fan of the science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells, Aldiss is vice-president of the
international H. G. Wells Society. He was named a Grand Master by the Science
Fiction Writers of America in 2000.
Awards: two
Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and one John W. Campbell Memorial Award.
Works
The Rain Will Stop written in 1942 but first published by The Pretentious Press in 2000.
The Brightfount Diaries (1955)
No Time Like Tomorrow (1957) – Title changed into Space,
Time and Nathaniel
Non-Stop (1958) - published in the US under the title Starship.
Equator. Published
later in the US as Vanguard from Alpha
(1958)
The Canopy of Time (1959) – short stories
collection published later in the US with some modifications under the title Galaxies Like Grains of Sand.
No Time Like Tomorrow (1959)
The Male Response - Published first in the US (1959) then in UK (1961)
The Interpreter (1960); published in the US under the title Bow down to Nul
The Primal Urge (1961)
Hothouse, (1962) New
Title: The Long Afternoon of Earth.
The Airs of Earth (1963) – Title changed into Starswarm.
The Dark Light Years (1964)
Greybeard, (1964)
Best SF stories of Brian Aldiss (1965); Published in the US as But who can replace a Man?
Earthworks
(1965)
The Impossible Smile (1965); Serial in Science Fantasy magazine, under the pseudonym
"Jael Cracken"
The Saliva Tree and other strange growths (1966) – Story collection
An Age, (1967) published in the US as Cryptozoic!
Report On Probability A (1968) – Is this a SF book?
Farewell
Fantastic Venus (1968)
Barefoot in the Head (1969)
Neanderthal Planet (1970) Collection of four short stories.
The Moment of Eclipse (1971). Short story collection) -- British Science Fiction Award
winner, 1971[6]
The Book of Brian Aldiss (1972), published in the UK as The
Comic Inferno. Short story collection
Frankenstein Unbound, (1973)
The Eighty Minute Hour (1974)
Brothers of the Head (1977)
Last Orders and Other Stories (1977)
Enemies of the System (1978)
New Arrivals, Old Encounters (1979)
Moreau’s Other Island, (1980) – Title changed into An
Island Called Moreau.
The Helliconia Trilogy
Helliconia Spring, (1982)
Helliconia Summer, (1983)
Helliconia Winter, (1985)
Helliconia Spring, (1982)
Helliconia Summer, (1983)
Helliconia Winter, (1985)
Seasons in Flight (1984)
Courageous New Planet (1984)
The Year before Yesterday (1987); A fix-up of Equator from
1958 combined with The Impossible Smile from 1965. Cracken at Critical. First title: The Year Before Yesterday
Ruins (1987)
Dracula Unbound (1990)
A Tupolev too Far (1994)
Somewhere East of Life: Another European Fantasia (1994)
The Secret of This Book (1995) (Common Clay: 20-Odd
Stories US)
(with Roger Penrose) White Mars Or, The Mind Set Free (1999)
A Chinese Perspective, (2000)
Super-State
(2002)
The Cretan Teat (2002)
Affairs at Hampden Ferrers (2004)
Sanity and the Lady (2005)
HARM, (2007)
Non SF books
Report on Probability A, (1968)
The Horatio Stubbs saga
The Hand-Reared Boy (1970),
A Soldier Erect (1971)
A Rude Awakening (1978)
A Soldier Erect (1971)
A Rude Awakening (1978)
The Malacia Tapestry, (1976)
Pile (1979)
Poem
The Squire Quartet
Life In The West (1980)
Forgotten Life (1988)
Remembrance Day (1993)
Somewhere East Of Life (1994)
Life In The West (1980)
Forgotten Life (1988)
Remembrance Day (1993)
Somewhere East Of Life (1994)
Ruins, (1987)
Jocasta (2005)
Walcot, (2010)
Published in 1958. Aldis was already aged 33
and his style was mature; he loved using some storyteller’s tricks. Here, we
see the world through the eyes of Roy Complain the protagonist, a member of a
culturally-primordial tribe, and we advance step by step with him as he investigates
the dark, disconcerting jungle that has doors and corridors around him. And
while ultimately he uncovers the true nature of the universe he inhabits, in the
moment it dissolves, his way of life is shattered as well as his vision of the
universe. Here Aldiss questions and explores brilliantly the notion of “home”.
Here is the front cover of the Grafton edition
I bought in 1987. The cover art was made by Mark Salwowski*. In my opinion, it
is not his most brilliant illustration, but I find some interesting features in
it. First, the low angle shot that allows you to understand at a glance what
the story is dealing with: the hero standing in some sort of large room and some
details of the strange flora and fauna living there. Second, the choice of
colors may appear curious, but the orange light from above adds strangeness to
the place and indicates artificial surroundings.
Non-Stop
Published in 1958. Aldis was already aged 33
and his style was mature; he loved using some storyteller’s tricks. Here, we
see the world through the eyes of Roy Complain the protagonist, a member of a
culturally-primordial tribe, and we advance step by step with him as he investigates
the dark, disconcerting jungle that has doors and corridors around him. And
while ultimately he uncovers the true nature of the universe he inhabits, in the
moment it dissolves, his way of life is shattered as well as his vision of the
universe. Here Aldiss questions and explores brilliantly the notion of “home”.
Here is the front cover of the Grafton edition
I bought in 1987. The cover art was made by Mark Salwowski*. In my opinion, it
is not his most brilliant illustration, but I find some interesting features in
it. First, the low angle shot that allows you to understand at a glance what
the story is dealing with: the hero standing in some sort of large room and some
details of the strange flora and fauna living there. Second, the choice of
colors may appear curious, but the orange light from above adds strangeness to
the place and indicates artificial surroundings.
Amusing: I
remarked that in order to draw the plants growing there, the artist probably
took inspiration from Valeriana officinalis (see picture opposite), a plant common in England.
In an unimaginable future, the sun the rotation
of earth is locked and half of one entire continent of the planet earth is
covered by one huge banyan tree. With a strong creative imagination, Aldiss
describes the battle for survival of the last pitiful remnants of humanity
against huge carnivorous plants and dangerous insects.
Galaxies Like
Grains of Sand
Like the
author explains in a preliminary note, this collection of short stories was
first published in England in 1950 under the title The Canopy of Time, without the expository narrative. Then in the
USA the book fared better under the title Galaxies
Like Grains of Sand in 1960, but some of the stories and part of the
narrative were also discarded. Fortunately in 1979 a more complete edition was
published at last.
In the
introduction of this book, Norman Spinrad says Aldiss has “an oceanic sense of
time”, and I fully agree with his opinion. I think this collection is a little
marvel, each short story exquisitely chiseled like a gem. Like in some other
books, Aldiss makes some literary experimentation, but he is so good at it that I
doubt every reader sees them. For instance, the last short story of this collection,
“Visiting Amoeba”, is entirely
written at the second person singular in the present tense.
This
collection includes:
Out of
Reach
All the
World's Tears
Who can
Replace a Man?
Blighted
Profile
Oh Ishrail!
Incentive
Gene-Hive
Secret of a
Mighty City
Visiting
Amoeba
I
especially like the front cover of the 1985 edition, drawn by Vincent di Fate.
The white tower, delicately painted in tiny details, contrasts with the sky
made with brush strokes which give the blue background a dynamic effect,
allowing the reader to accept such impossibilities as galaxies brightly visible
above the clouds.
Hothouse
Published
in 1962. This is one of the first SF novels I did ever read: I remember reading
it lying on the carpet of our living-room in Monte-Carlo, probably in 1962. I
think it was published in French soon after its release in England but was divided
into chapters through several issues of Fiction
magazine – but I am not sure, my memory being not very precise fifty years
later!
I was
literally entranced by this novel; and reading it in the original version several
years later, I found the same excitation: Aldiss is really a wonderful
story-teller who knows how to captivate his audience. And much later, I chose
this tale among others to read to my children before going to sleep!
In an unimaginable future, the sun the rotation
of earth is locked and half of one entire continent of the planet earth is
covered by one huge banyan tree. With a strong creative imagination, Aldiss
describes the battle for survival of the last pitiful remnants of humanity
against huge carnivorous plants and dangerous insects.
This is the
front cover of the 1984 Granada edition, drawn by Tim White. I find it really
well done to excite the reader’s imagination. Indeed, when I saw “Avatar” –
even if Avatar’s characters have a blue skin instead of green – I immediately
thought of this picture featuring two delicious but probably deadly girls
nested on a gigantic branch of some strange monstrous tree. The bright
complementary colors, red against nuances of green, and the hazy green and
brown background concur to give an alien taste to the scenery.
Barefoot in the Head
Barefoot in the Head
Bow Down to Nul
Cryptozoic!
Frankenstein Unbound
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