The Book of Brian Aldiss
by Brian W. Aldiss
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Aldiss is one of my favourite writers, but I don’t think this is one of my favourite collections. The best stories here I already knew from other anthologies; the others, including the title story, have mostly not been published elsewhere since they were published here, and generally for good reason. It’s still interesting to appreciate just how much the retreat from Empire affected Britain of Aldiss’s generation, and even the stories that have not stood the test of time have some great turns of phrase in Aldiss’s typically laconic descriptions. So I’m glad I finally got to it, though I suspect I may not pick it up again.
Aldiss is one of my favourite writers, but I don’t think this is one of my favourite collections. The best stories here I already knew from other anthologies; the others, including the title story, have mostly not been published elsewhere since they were published here, and generally for good reason. It’s still interesting to appreciate just how much the retreat from Empire affected Britain of Aldiss’s generation, and even the stories that have not stood the test of time have some great turns of phrase in Aldiss’s typically laconic descriptions. So I’m glad I finally got to it, though I suspect I may not pick it up again.
stories include: Comic Inferno, The Underprivileged, Cardiac Arrest, In the Arena, All the World's Tears, Amen and Out, The Soft Predicament, As for our Fatal Continuity, Send her Victorious
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4,379 works; 124 members
Author Information
Brian W. Aldiss was born in Dereham, United Kingdom on August 18, 1925. In 1943, he joined the Royal Signals regiment, and saw action in Burma. After World War II, he worked as a bookseller at Oxford University. His first book, The Brightfount Diaries, was published in 1955. His first science fiction novel, Non-Stop (Starship in the United show more States), was published in 1958. He wrote more than 80 books including Hothouse, Greybeard, The Helliconia Trilogy, The Squire Quartet, Frankenstein Unbound, The Malacia Tapestry, Walcot, and Mortal Morning. His short story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long was the basis for the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. He has received numerous awards for his work including two Hugo Awards, the Nebula Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and an OBE for services to literature. He was also an anthologist and an artist. He was the editor of 40 anthologies including Introducing SF, The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus, Space Opera, Space Odysseys, Galactic Empires, Evil Earths, and Perilous Planets. He was an abstract artist and his first solo exhibition, The Other Hemisphere, was held in Oxford in August-September 2010. He died on August 19, 2017 at the age of 92. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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DAW Book Collectors (29)
Goldmann Science Fiction (0238)
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Contains
Common Knowledge
- Alternate titles
- Comic Inferno; The Comic Inferno
- Original publication date
- 1972
- Dedication
- To THE SPIRIT OF CAPTAIN JUSTICE
- First words
- January Birdlip spread his hands in a characteristic gesture.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Froding jerked his head. "That's why I want to be the dummy!"
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Statistics
- Members
- 181
- Popularity
- 179,045
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.05)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 8
