Brian Aldiss
Brian Aldiss at Interaction in Glasgow, 2005
Born	August 18, 1925 (1925-08-18) (age 82) East Dereham, Norfolk
Pen name	Jael Cracken
Occupation	Novelist
Genres	Science fiction
Influences H. G. Wells

Brian Wilson Aldiss, OBE, (born August 18, 1925 in East Dereham, Norfolk) is a prolific English author of both general fiction and science fiction. The 63rd World Science Fiction Convention ( Worldcon) was called Interaction, and was held in Glasgow, Scotland 4&ndash8 August 2005 Glasgow (ˈglæzgoʊ is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 293 BC - The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica. Year 1925 ( MCMXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Dereham, also known historically as East Dereham, is a Town and Civil parish in the English County of Norfolk. Norfolk (ˈnɔrfək is a low-lying county in East Anglia, England, United Kingdom. A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a Pseudonym adopted by an Author or their publishers to conceal their identity Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A literary genre is a category of literary composition Genres may be determined by Literary technique, tone, Content, or even (as in the case of fiction Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British Order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. Events 293 BC - The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica. Year 1925 ( MCMXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Dereham, also known historically as East Dereham, is a Town and Civil parish in the English County of Norfolk. Norfolk (ˈnɔrfək is a low-lying county in East Anglia, England, United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss. Greatly influenced by SF pioneer H. G. Wells, Aldiss is a vice-president of the international H. G. Wells Society. Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political The HG Wells Society, founded in 1960, is an international association composed of people interested in the life work and thought of the British writer and thinker Herbert He is also (with Harry Harrison) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group. For the radio personality see Harry Harrison (radio. Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, March 12 1925 The Birmingham Science Fiction Group, (BSFG also known as the Brum Group, was founded in 1971 (the first meeting was held on 25 June.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Books 2.1 Fiction 2.2 Poetry 2.3 Non-Fiction 3 External links

Biography

Aldiss's father ran a department store that his grandfather had established, and the family lived above it. At 6 years old Brian was sent to boarding school which he attended until his late teens. In 1943, he joined the Royal Signals regiment, and saw action in Burma; his encounters with tropical rainforests at that time may have been at least a partial inspiration for Hothouse, as his Army experience inspired the Horatio Stubbs second and third books. Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar ( pjìdàunzṵ mjàmmà nàinŋàndɔ̀ is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. Hothouse is a 1962 fantasy / Science fiction novel by British author Brian Aldiss, composed of 5 novelettes that were originally

After World War II, he worked as a bookseller in Oxford. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, Besides short science fiction for various magazines, he wrote a number of short pieces for a booksellers trade journal about life in a fictitious bookshop, and this attracted the attention of Charles Monteith, an editor at the British publishers Faber and Faber. Faber and Faber, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing As a result of this, Aldiss's first book was The Brightfount Diaries (1955), a collection of the bookshop pieces.

In 1955, The Observer newspaper ran a competition for a short story set in the year 2500, which Aldiss won with a story entitled "Not For An Age". The Observer is a British Newspaper published on Sundays In about the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The The Brightfount Diaries had been a minor success, and Faber asked Aldiss if he had any more writing that they could look at with a view to publishing. Aldiss confessed to being a science fiction author, to the delight of the publishers, who had a number of science fiction fans in high places, and so his first science fiction book, Space, Time and Nathaniel was published. By this time, his earnings from writing equalled the wages he got in the bookshop, so he made the decision to become a full-time writer.

He was voted the Most Promising New Author at the World Science Fiction Convention in 1958, and elected President of the British Science Fiction Association in 1960. The British Science Fiction Association was founded in 1958 by a group of British science fiction fans, authors publishers and booksellers in order to encourage Science He was the literary editor of the Oxford Mail newspaper during the 1960s. Around 1964 he and his long-time collaborator Harry Harrison started the first ever journal of science fiction criticism, Science Fiction Horizons, which during its brief span of two issues published articles and reviews by such authors as James Blish, and featured a discussion among Aldiss, C. S. Lewis, and Kingsley Amis in the first issues, and an interview with William S. Burroughs in the second. For the radio personality see Harry Harrison (radio. Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, March 12 1925 James Benjamin Blish ( East Orange, New Jersey, May 23, 1921 – Henley-on-Thames, July 30, 1975) was an Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963 Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE ( April 16, 1922 &ndash October 22, 1995) was an English Novelist, William Seward Burroughs II ( – ˈbʌroʊz was an American Novelist, Essayist, Social critic, painter and Spoken word

Besides his own writings, he has had great success as an anthologist. For Faber he edited Introducing SF, a collection of stories typifying various themes of science fiction, and Best Fantasy Stories. In 1961 he edited an anthology of reprinted short science fiction for the British paperback publisher Penguin Books under the title Penguin Science Fiction. Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. This was remarkably successful, going into numerous reprints, and was followed up by two further anthologies, More Penguin Science Fiction (1963), and Yet More Penguin Science Fiction (1964). The later anthologies enjoyed the same success as the first, and all three were eventually published together as The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1973), which also went into a number of reprints. In the 1970s, he produced several large collections of classic grand-scale science fiction, under the titles Space Opera (1974), Space Odysseys (1975), Galactic Empires (1976), Evil Earths (1976), and Perilous Planets (1978) which were quite successful. Around this time, he edited a large-format volume Science Fiction Art (1975), with selections of artwork from the magazines and pulps. Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines

In response to the results from the planetary probes of the 1960s and 1970s, which showed that Venus was completely unlike the hot, tropical jungle usually depicted in science fiction, he and Harry Harrison edited an anthology Farewell, Fantastic Venus!, reprinting stories based on the pre-probe ideas of Venus. A space probe is a scientific Space exploration mission in which a Robotic spacecraft leaves the Gravity well of Earth and approaches the The VENUS ( V ictoria E xperimental N etwork U nder the S ea project is a cabled sea floor observatory operated by the University He also edited, with Harrison, a series of anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction (1968-1976?)

He traveled to Yugoslavia, met Yugoslav fans in Ljubljana, Slovenia, published a travel book about Yugoslavia, published an alternative-history fantasy story about Serbian kings in the Middle Ages, and, most importantly, wrote a novel, perhaps in one way his best, or most accomplished as a work of literature: a dreamy, visionary, atmospheric work of fantasy, but with many SF elements, The Malacia Tapestry, about an alternative Dalmatia, stopped in time, where some of the people are genetically related to dinosaurs (who still exist), some are winged, progress is sometimes attempted but never really achieved, and Turks may attack in the hope of enslaving Venice or Zadar at any time. The book gives you a feeling that, in Aldiss’s words, “we all stand condemned in the terrible forests of the Universe”, but it is, above all, beautiful.

He has achieved the honor of "Permanent Special Guest" at ICFA, the conference for the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, which he attends annually.

He was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to literature in HM Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Honours list, announced on 11 June 2005. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British Order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. For the ship see RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Context States headed by Elizabeth II Events 1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned according to the calculations of Eratosthenes. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

In January 2007 he appeared on Desert Island Discs. Desert Island Discs is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme It was first broadcast on 29 January 1942 and is said by the Guinness His choice of record to 'save' was Old Rivers sung by Walter Brennan, his choice of book was John Halpern’s biography of John Osborne, and his luxury a banjo. Walter Brennan ( July 25 1894 – September 21 1974) was a three-time Academy Award winning American Actor. John James Osborne ( December 12, 1929 &ndash December 24, 1994) was an English Playwright, Screenwriter, The full selection of eight favourite records is on the BBC website [1].

Books

Fiction

• The Brightfount Diaries (1955)
• Space, Time and Nathaniel (1957) Short story collection; all his published science fiction to that date, including "T", his first published story, and "Not For an Age". Aldiss had only had thirteen stories published at that time, and a fourteenth was hurriedly written to make up the numbers.
• Non-Stop (1958) A story of a small tribe in a very strange jungle, who make unsettling discoveries about the nature of their world. Non-Stop is a 1958 Science fiction novel by Brian Aldiss. It was Aldiss's first novel This was published in the US as Starship.
• Equator (1958)
• The Canopy of Time (1959) Short story collection: published in slightly different format in the US as Galaxies like Grains of Sand
• The Interpreter (1960; US title Bow down to Nul) A short novel about the huge, old galactic empire of Nuls, a giant, three-limbed, civilized alien race. Earth is just a lesser-than-third-class colony ruled by a Nul tyrant whose deceiving devices together with good willing but ineffective attempts of a Nul signatory to clarify the abuses and with the disorganized earthling resistance reflect the complex relationship existing between imperialists and subject races which Aldiss himself had the chance of seeing at first hand when serving in India and Indonesia in the forties.
• The Male Response (US: 1959, UK 1961)
• The Primal Urge (1961)
• Hothouse (1962) Set in a far future Earth, where the earth has stopped rotating, the Sun has increased output, and plants are engaged in a constant frenzy of growth and decay, like a tropical forest enhanced a thousandfold; a few small groups of humans still live, on the edge of extinction, beneath the giant banyan tree that covers the day side of the earth. The Primal Urge is a 1961 Science fiction Novel by Brian Aldiss. Hothouse is a 1962 fantasy / Science fiction novel by British author Brian Aldiss, composed of 5 novelettes that were originally A banyan is a fig that starts its life as an Epiphyte when its Seeds germinate in the cracks and crevices on a host Tree (or on structures like
• The Airs of Earth (1963 - short story collection; American title Starswarm)
• The Dark Light Years (1964): the encounter of humans with the utods, gentle aliens whose physical and mental health requires wallowing in mud and flith, who are not even recognised as intelligent by the humans.
• Greybeard (1964) Set decades after the Earth's population has been sterilised as a result of nuclear bomb tests conducted in Earth's orbit, the book shows an emptying world, occupied by an ageing, childless population.
• 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. Earthworks is a 1965 Dystopian Science fiction novel by prolific British Science fiction author Brian Aldiss. The title story of the collection, The Saliva Tree was written to mark the centenary of H.G. Wells's birth, and received the 1965 Nebula award for the best short novel
• An Age (1967: also published in the US as Cryptozoic!) a dystopic time-travel novel. Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political The Nebula Award is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA for the best Science fiction / Fantasy fiction An Age (published in the US as Cryptozoic!) is a 1967 Science fiction Novel by Brian Aldiss
• Report On Probability A (1968) Described by Aldiss as an 'anti-novel', this book had its origins some years earlier, before being serialised in New Worlds under Michael Moorcock's editorship. New Worlds was a British Science fiction magazine which was first published professionally in 1946 Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939, in London) is an English writer primarily of Science fiction and fantasy who has also The bulk of the book is the Report, describing in minute, obsessive and often repetitive detail, three characters G, S, and C as they secretly watch a house, each from a separate outbuilding with peripheral views of the house's windows, catching occasional glimpses of its occupant, Mrs Mary. As the Report is being read by a character called "Domoladossa'", he is secretly being observed from other universes, and these observers in their turn are being observed, all of them engaged in futile speculation about the exact nature of Probability A, and the exact meaning of the Victorian painting, The Hireling Shepherd (by Pre-Raphaelite William Holman Hunt), which occurs in the Report. Painting (pān'tīng in Art, is the practice of applying Color to a Surface (support base such as e The Hireling Shepherd (1851 is a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters Poets, and critics founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt (b 2 April 1827 in Cheapside, London &ndash d Later we learn that Mrs. Mary is watching a screen of her own, although this may just be a television set, and it is suggested that the painting may be a window into a world where time is standing still. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic

note: Holman Hunt's paintings also feature in Aldiss's short story The Secret of Holman Hunt and the Crude Death Rate (1975).

• ed. Farewell Fantastic Venus (1968)
• Barefoot in the Head (1969) Perhaps Aldiss's most experimental work, this first appeared in several parts as the 'Acid Head War' series in New Worlds. Farewell Fantastic Venus is a Science fiction Anthology edited by Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison. Set in a Europe some years after a flare-up in the Middle East led to Europe being attacked with bombs releasing huge quantities of long-lived hallucinogenic drugs. Into an England with a population barely maintaining a grip on reality comes a young Serb, who himself starts coming under the influence of the ambient aerosols, and finds himself leading a messianic crusade. Serbs ( Serbian: Срби Srbi) are a South Slavic people living in the Balkans and Central Europe, mainly in Serbia, The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents The narration and dialogue reflects the shattering of language under the influence of the drugs, in mutating phrases and puns and allusions, in a deliberate echo of Finnegans Wake. Finnegans Wake is a fictional work by James Joyce, published in 1939
• Neanderthal Planet (1969) Collection of four short stories - 'Neanderthal Planet, Danger: Religion, Intangibles, Inc. and Since the Assassination, first printed, respectively, in 1958, 1960,1962, and 1969.
• The Horatio Stubbs saga
  • The Hand-Reared Boy (1970)
  • A Soldier Erect (1970)
  • A Rude Awakening (1978)
• The Moment of Eclipse (1971: short story collection)
• The Book of Brian Aldiss (1972) (UK title The Comic Inferno) Short story collection
• Frankenstein Unbound (1973) A 21st century scientist, a creator of a technological monster himself, is transported to 19th century Switzerland where he encounters both Frankenstein and Mary Shelley. Victor Frankenstein is a Fictional character, the Protagonist of the 1818 novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Mary Shelley ( Née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August It was the basis for the 1990 film of the same title, directed by Roger Corman. Frankenstein Unbound is a 1990 horror movie based on Brian Aldiss ' novel of the same name Roger William Corman (born April 5 1926) sometimes nicknamed "King of the Bs" for his output of B-movies (though he himself rejects this as inaccurate
• The 80 minute Hour (1974)
• The Malacia Tapestry (1976)
• Brothers of the Head (1977) This was a large-format book, illustrated by Ian Pollock, telling the strange story of the rock stars Tom and Barry Howe, Siamese twins with a third, dormant head, which eventually starts to awaken. Plot Summary Brothers of the Head is the 2005 Mockumentary featuring the story of Tom and Barry Howe ( Luke Treadaway and Harry The year 1977 in literature involved some significant events and new books Conjoined twins are whose bodies are joined in utero A rare phenomenon the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50000 births to 1 in 200000 births with a somewhat higher incidence Also adapted for film by Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe, released in 2006. The year 2006 in film involved some significant events Releases of sequels took place with Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest
• Last Orders and Other Stories (1977)
• Pile (1979; Poem)
• New Arrivals, Old Encounters (1979)
• Moreau's Other Island (1980)
• The Squire Quartet
  • Life In The West (1980)
  • Forgotten Life (1988)
  • Remembrance Day (1993)
  • Somewhere East Of Life (1994)
• The Helliconia Trilogy
  • Helliconia Spring (1982)
  • Helliconia Summer (1983)
  • Helliconia Winter (1985)
• Seasons in Flight (1984)
• Courageous New Planet (c. The Helliconia Trilogy is a series of Science fiction books by Brian Aldiss, set on the Earth -like planet Helliconia 1984)
• The Year before Yesterday (1987); A fix-up of Equator from 1958 combined with The Impossible Smile from 1965.
• 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)
• When the Feast is Finished (with Margaret Aldiss) (1999)
• (with Roger Penrose) White Mars Or, The Mind Set Free (1999)
• Super-Toys Last All Summer Long and Other Stories of Future Time (2001) The title story was the basis for the Steven Spielberg film A.I.
• Super-State (2002)
• The Cretan Teat (2002)
• Affairs at Hampden Ferrers (2004)
• Jocasta (2005); A re-telling of Sophocles' Theban tragedies concerning Oedipus and Antigone. "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" is a short story by science fiction author Brian Aldiss, first published in 1969 Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE (Hon (born December 18 1946 is an American Film director, Screenwriter and producer. In Aldiss' novel, myth and magic are vibrantly real, experienced through an evolving human consciousness. Amidst various competing interpretations of reality, including the appearance of a time-travelling Sophocles, Aldiss provides an engaging alternative explanation of the Sphinx' riddle.
• Sanity and the Lady (2005)
• HARM (2007)

Poetry

• Home Life With Cats (1992)
• At The Caligula Hotel (1995)
• Songs From The Steppes Of Central Asia (1995)
• A Plutonian Monologue on His Wife's Death (2000)
• At A Bigger House (2002)
• The Dark Sun Rises (2002)
• A Prehistory of Mind (2008)

Non-Fiction

• Cities and Stones - A Traveller's Yugoslavia (1966)
• The Shape of Further Things (1970)
• Item Eighty Three (with Margaret Aldiss) (1972): a comprehensive bibliography of all books and short works published to that date. (The book is number 83 in its own list).
• Billion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (1973) in which he argues that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was the first true science fiction novel. Mary Shelley ( Née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a Novel written by the British author Mary Shelley Revised and expanded as Trillion Year Spree (with David Wingrove)(1986)
• Hell's Cartographers (1975, edited with Harry Harrison): a collection of short autobiographical pieces by a number of science fiction writers, including Aldiss. David Wingrove (born September 1954 in North Battersea, London) is a British Science fiction writer The title is a reference to Kingsley Amis's book about science fiction, New Maps of Hell
• The Pale Shadow Of Science (1986)
• This World and Nearer Ones: Essays exploring the familiar (1979)
• The Detached Retina: Aspects of SF and Fantasy (1995)
• The Twinkling of an Eye or My Life as an Englishman (1998)
• Art after Apogee: The Relationships between an Idea, a Story, a Painting (with Rosemary Phipps) (2000)
• Bury My Heart at W. H. Smith's - A Writing Life (1990) - an autobiography

External links

• Brian W. Aldiss - his official site
• Supertoys Last All Summer Long story
• Brian W. Aldiss at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Brian Aldiss at www.contemporarywriters.com
• Brian Aldiss at the Internet Book List
• Brian Aldiss's online fiction at Free Speculative Fiction Online
• Guardian newspaper profile
• 1984, 1986 interviews with Brian Aldiss by Don Swaim at Wired for Books. Don Swaim (born 1936 is an American journalist and broadcaster. Wired for Books is an online educational project of the WOUB Center for Public Media at Ohio University in Athens Ohio.

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