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John Wyndham (1903–1969)

Author of The Day of the Triffids

167+ Works 25,847 Members 672 Reviews 112 Favorited
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About the Author

Series

Works by John Wyndham

The Day of the Triffids (1951) 7,405 copies
The Chrysalids (1955) 4,722 copies
The Midwich Cuckoos (1957) 2,932 copies
The Kraken Wakes (1953) 1,820 copies
Chocky (1968) 1,756 copies
Trouble with Lichen (1960) 1,413 copies
The Seeds of Time (1941) 964 copies
Consider Her Ways and Others (1961) 597 copies
Web (1979) 509 copies
The Secret People (1935) — Author; Pseudonym, some editions — 430 copies
The Outward Urge (1959) — Author — 424 copies
Stowaway to Mars (1935) — Author — 387 copies
Jizzle (1937) 238 copies
Out of the Deeps (1953) 236 copies
Plan for Chaos (2009) 127 copies
Time Untamed (1967) 83 copies
Selected Works (1980) 66 copies
The Infinite Moment (1961) 60 copies
The Best of John Wyndham (1973) 59 copies
Web [Penguin reader] (1996) 23 copies
The Paranoid Fifties (1995) 21 copies
Science-fiction verhalen (1975) 17 copies
Foul Play Suspected (1935) 13 copies
Consider Her Ways [novella] (1956) 10 copies
The Ultimate Freedom (1994) 10 copies
More Spinned Against (1953) 8 copies
Children of the Damned [1964 film] (1964) — Writer — 8 copies
The Wheel (1952) 7 copies
Random Quest (1961) 6 copies
Survival (1952) 6 copies
The Asteroids, A.D. 2194 (1960) 5 copies
Pawley's Peepholes (1951) 5 copies
Compassion Circuit (1954) 5 copies
The Perfect Creature (1937) 4 copies
Dumb Martian (1952) 4 copies
Chronoclasm, The (1953) 4 copies
The Trojan Beam 4 copies
The Man From Beyond (1934) 3 copies
Wild Flower (1955) 3 copies
Opposite Numbers (1954) 3 copies
The Stare 3 copies
Pavučina (1996) 2 copies
Vivos: 20% 2 copies
Jizzle [short story] (1952) 2 copies
Time to Rest (1949) 2 copies
The Moon A.D. 2044 (1958) 2 copies
Child Of Power (1939) 2 copies
The Last Lunarians (1938) 2 copies
The Puff-ball Menace (1933) 2 copies
Odd [short story] (1961) 2 copies
Meteor [short story] (1941) 2 copies
Adaptation 2 copies
The Curse of the Burdens (2024) 2 copies
Mars A.D. 2094 (1958) 1 copy
The Triffids 1 copy
nueva dimensión - 035 (1972) 1 copy
Venus A.D. 2144 (1958) 1 copy
Time Out [novelette] (1953) 1 copy

Associated Works

The Science Fiction Century (1997) — Contributor — 529 copies
The Flying Sorcerers: More Comic Tales of Fantasy (1997) — Contributor — 504 copies
Science Fiction Omnibus (1952) — Contributor — 340 copies
A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, Volume 1 (1959) — Contributor — 338 copies
A Treasury of Great Science Fiction [2-volume set] (1959) — Contributor — 292 copies
13 Great Stories of Science Fiction (1960) — Contributor — 256 copies
The End of the World: Stories of the Apocalypse (2010) — Contributor — 197 copies
My Favorite Fantasy Story (2000) — Contributor — 166 copies
A Science Fiction Argosy (1972) — Contributor, some editions — 163 copies
Vampire Stories (1996) — Contributor — 142 copies
Space Odyssey (1983) — Contributor — 138 copies
Dragons: The Greatest Stories (1997) — Contributor — 121 copies
A Sense of Wonder (1967) — Contributor — 114 copies
Spectrum 4 (1965) — Contributor — 112 copies
An ABC of Science Fiction (1809) — Contributor — 102 copies
Best SF Two (1956) — Contributor — 92 copies
7th Annual Edition: The Year's Best S-F (1962) — Contributor — 90 copies
65 Great Spine Chillers (1988) — Contributor — 79 copies
Best SF (1955) — Contributor — 76 copies
The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories (1996) — Contributor — 70 copies
The Best Science Fiction Stories (1977) — Author, some editions — 65 copies
The Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy. (1966) — Contributor — 65 copies
The Best of British SF 2 (1977) — Contributor — 59 copies
Beachheads in Space (1952) — Contributor, some editions; Contributor, some editions — 53 copies
Far Boundaries (1951) — Contributor — 46 copies
No Place Like Earth [collection] (1951) — Contributor — 43 copies
The Young Oxford Book of Nasty Endings (1997) — Contributor — 42 copies
Great Science Fiction Stories (1968) — Contributor — 40 copies
The Television Late-night Horror Omnibus (1993) — Contributor — 39 copies
The Time Travelers: A Science Fiction Quartet (1985) — Contributor — 39 copies
The Best of British SF 1 (1977) — Contributor — 38 copies
The Space Magicians (1971) — Contributor — 38 copies
Operation Future (1955) — Contributor — 34 copies
Alien Worlds (1964) — Contributor — 33 copies
Best SF Five (1963) — Contributor — 31 copies
The Day of the Triffids [1963 film] (1985) — Original book — 31 copies
Village of the Damned [1960 film] (1960) — Original story — 30 copies
The Old Masters (1970) — Contributor — 26 copies
The Unspeakable People (1969) — Contributor — 24 copies
Tales of Dungeons and Dragons (1986) — Contributor — 23 copies
The Time Curve (1968) — Contributor — 19 copies
The War Years 1936 1945 (Amazing Science Fiction Stories) (1987) — Contributor — 19 copies
World Zero Minus: An SF Anthology (1971) — Contributor — 18 copies
The Other Side of the Clock (1968) — Contributor — 18 copies
Nightfrights (1972) — Contributor — 17 copies
Tales Out of Time (1979) — Contributor — 16 copies
Science fiction verhalen [1969] — Contributor, some editions — 13 copies
Out of This World 1: An Anthology of Science Fiction (1960) — Contributor — 13 copies
Gateway to Tomorrow: A Science Fiction Anthology (1954) — Contributor — 13 copies
Weirdies, Weirdies, Weirdies (1975) — Contributor — 12 copies
The Day of the Triffids [1981 film] — Original book — 12 copies
Into the unknown;: Eleven tales of imagination (1973) — Contributor — 10 copies
Beyond Fantasy Fiction 1953 September (1953) — Contributor — 10 copies
Ghastly, Ghoulish, Gripping Tales (1983) — Contributor — 10 copies
Day of the Triffids [Import anglais] (2009) — Original book — 9 copies
As Time Goes By (2015) — Contributor — 8 copies
Verhalen omnibus (1967) — Contributor — 7 copies
Armchair Horror Collection (1994) — Contributor — 7 copies
Haunts, Haunts, Haunts (1977) — Contributor — 6 copies
Saturn im Morgenlicht (1963) — Contributor — 6 copies
Amazing Stories Vol. 35, No. 1 [January 1961] (1961) — Author — 5 copies
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: 2nd Series (1983) — Contributor — 5 copies
New Worlds Science Fiction 75, September 1958 — Contributor — 3 copies
Un passo avanti e due indietro — Contributor — 3 copies
Horror (1978) — Contributor — 2 copies
Otte Science Fiction Noveller — Author, some editions — 2 copies
In Fear and Dread (1974) — Contributor — 2 copies
Kaleidoskop II — Author, some editions — 1 copy
Argosy - November 1958 (1958) — Contributor — 1 copy
Wonder Stories, July 1935 (1935) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

1001 (94) 1001 books (105) 1950s (99) 20th century (197) aliens (182) anthology (846) apocalypse (126) British (228) British literature (99) classic (177) classics (135) collection (118) dystopia (278) ebook (223) England (147) English (156) English literature (117) fantasy (459) fiction (3,066) Folio Society (103) horror (395) John Wyndham (133) Kindle (116) literature (113) novel (458) own (97) paperback (152) penguin (100) post-apocalyptic (394) read (328) science fiction (6,413) Science Fiction/Fantasy (159) sf (1,302) sff (312) short stories (771) speculative fiction (111) telepathy (125) to-read (1,278) unread (237) Wyndham (128)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Harris, John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon
Other names
Beynon, John (pen name)
Parkes, Lucas (pen name)
Wyndham, John (pen name)
Harris, Johnson (pen name)
Beynon-Harris, John (pen name)
Birthdate
1903-07-10
Date of death
1969-03-11
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Country (for map)
England, UK
Birthplace
Dorridge, Knowle, Warwickshire, England, UK
Place of death
Oakridge House, Mill Lane, Steep, Petersfield, Hampshire, England, UK
Places of residence
Knowle, Warwickshire, England, UK (birthplace)
Edgbaston, Birmingham, West Midlands, UK
London, England, UK
Petersfield, Hampshire, England, UK
Education
Bedales School
Occupations
government official
soldier
author
farmer
commercial artist
advertising executive
Organizations
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Royal Corps of Signals
Ministry of Information
Short biography
Born in the village of Knowle in Warwickshire, England. After leaving school, Wyndham tried several careers including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, but mostly relied on an allowance from his family. He eventually turned to writing for money in 1925, and by 1931 was selling short stories and serial fiction to American science fiction pulp magazines, most under the pen names of 'John Beynon' or 'John Beynon Harris'. After WWII Wyndham returned to writing. Using the John Wyndham pen name for the first time, he wrote the novel The Day of the Triffids. The book proved to be an enormous success and established Wyndham as an important exponent of science fiction. He went on to write and publish six more novels.

John Wyndham wrote several short stories before World War II under various names, including Lucas Parkes, John Harris, and Lucas Beynon. It was not until after the war that he began to focus on the themes of disaster, invasion, and evolution under the name of John Wyndham and created two of the most well-known stories of our time – The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos. John Wyndham died in 1969, but his works continue to be read as classics of speculative fiction.

Members

Discussions

Reviews

This has been on my re-read list for some time. I didn't particularly enjoy it when I first read it as a young teenager - probably because the protagonist, Bill, is a bit of a fussy, nervous type. This time, I loved the cautionary tale of humanity's greed and excess resulting in our downfall. A must-read for all sci-fi fans.
½
 
Flagged
SarahEBear | 206 other reviews | Mar 16, 2024 |
You can live to be three hundred years old! all you have to do is administer a treatment of a biological treatment. Now, the men who do this regard it as a way of retaining power. The women, on the other hand, see it as a way of finally breaking the bonds created by a culture which has not yet found safe contraception. This is the funniest of Wyndham's books
 
Flagged
DinadansFriend | 33 other reviews | Mar 5, 2024 |
This is a collection of short stories by a single author. Wyndham was British, and he was no fan of space opera, or of the heavily techno-crazy tales being spun im the 1950's on this side of the Atlantic. This collection is a fast forward to the "New Sci-Fi" of the 1960's with a lot of character development and thoughtful asides.
 
Flagged
DinadansFriend | 14 other reviews | Feb 26, 2024 |
All the women are pregnant, they are delivered of healthy babies, and thegeneration are quite uniform in manners, and appearance. It is obviously a mass event, by extra-terrestrials. how do the parents, and society deal with this phenomemon. Read for a good time, in a restrained, British kind of way. I read an earlier edition, of course.
½
 
Flagged
DinadansFriend | 85 other reviews | Feb 26, 2024 |

Lists

1950s (4)
Kayla (1)

Awards

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Associated Authors

Lucas Parkes Pseudonym
Richard Powers Cover artist, Illustrator
Leslie Flood Introduction
Gerald Bishop Bibliography
Warren Chang Cover artist
Philip K. Dick Contributor
Monica Elias Cover designer
Richard Matheson Contributor
Marcel Laverdet Cover artist
Peter Lord Cover artist
Mark Salwowski Cover artist
Harry Willock Cover artist
Patrick Leger Illustrator, Cover artist
Christopher Priest Introduction
Eppo Doeve Cover artist
Franco Lucentini Contributor, Foreword
Carlo Fruttero Contributor, Foreword
Richard M. Powers Cover artist
John Griffiths Cover artist
Patrick Gierth Cover designer
Andy Bridge Cover artist
Edmund Morris Introduction
John Stewart Cover artist
Inge Seelig Translator
Gary Viskupic Cover artist
Samuel West Narrator
Barry Langford Introduction
Earle Bergey Cover artist
Chris Foss Cover artist
Michael Herring Cover artist
M. John Harrison Introduction
Robert Powell Narrator
C.W. Bacon Cover artist
Piroska F. Nagy Translator
Adrien Veillon Translator
Giorgio Severi Translator
Vesa Lempiäinen Cover artist
Paul Hogarth Cover artist
Dean Ellis Cover artist
Martin Zhouf Cover artist
Adam Roberts Introduction
Barbara McShane Translator
Gisela Stege Translator
Veikko Rekunen Translator
Karel Thole Cover artist
Gillian Hills Cover artist
Adam Roberts Introduction
Larry Schwinger Cover artist
Alex Jennings Narrator
Tom Arno Translator
Cees Buddingh' Translator
Matti Kannosto Translator
Robert E. Schulz Cover artist
Margaret Atwood Introduction
Robert S. Brown Cover artist
Paul Giovanopoulos Cover artist
Colin Hay Cover artist
Walter Gillings Introduction
Karin Malmsjö Translator
Frank Frazetta Cover artist
Yoma Cap Translator
Paul Lehr Cover artist
Kenneth Farnhill Cover artist
Martin Buchan Cover artist
Patrick Woodroffe Cover artist
Peter Rudland Cover artist
Richard Clifton-Dey Cover artist
Gervasio Gallardo Cover artist
Thorstein Thelle Translator

Statistics

Works
167
Also by
81
Members
25,847
Popularity
#807
Rating
3.8
Reviews
672
ISBNs
461
Languages
24
Favorited
112

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