Wednesday 13th March, 9-10pm (GMT) on Resonance 104.4 FM / www.resonancefm.com
James DC interviews the legendary author Brian Aldiss, in the first part of a 3-hour interview, for Atomic Bark! on Resonance FM.
Brian Aldiss
Science Fiction Grandmaster
Science Fiction Grandmaster
Welcome
Welcome to the official Brian W. Aldiss website. As well as being a distinguished SF writer, Aldiss is also an important mainstream novelist, a poet, an essayist, a dramatist, an SF historian and critic whose work has been published in dozens of countries around the world.
Brian writes. . . .
The Bodleian library will publish a collection of my articles and lectures. This is, so I’m told, a singular privilege. I will be lunching with their very successful publisher hoping to persuade him to use some of my paintings as illustrations.
I have just completed two more novels. They are with my agent. One’s an ordinary novel provisionally entitled “Shades and Silences”, while the other is SF, entitled “All the Planets of the Zodiac”. 5) My Journal is now at no.64. i’m sorry to say I have done nothing about getting pages reproduced, but will do something positive sooner or later. 6) tThe poems, “A Prehistory of Mind”, are doing well – for poetry, that is – and I’m hoping to get a British publisher for an extended version.
I’m shortly going to work with BBC 7, to select some SF short stories to be read over the air. I shall be introducing them. Suggestions for any really brill stories published since 2000 – welcome!
Out & About
Brian says:
Saturday February 4th, I am at Prestatyn to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Thursday March 1st will be talking at Blackwells Bookshop in the evening at 7pm.
Thursday March 8th will be at the Ashmolean from 5-6pm as an Oxford castaway.
Tuesday March 20th the day of the vernal equinox. This is the great day when ‘An Exile of Planet Earth’ is officially published. The Bodleian Librarian will talk about me, and then I will talk about the book.
Sunday March 25th – an appearance at The Oxford Literary Festival.
Monday April 10th. I am Author of the Day at the London Book Fair.
Hothouse
Fantastically now re-released Hothouse (Penguin Modern Classics)
Greybeard
Re-released Greybeard (S.F. Masterworks)
Recent Publications
Brian reports that he has written two new novels: “I have just completed two more novels. They are with my agent. One’s an ordinary novel provisionally entitled Shades and Silences, while the other is SF, entitled All the Planets of the Zodiac.” More updates coming soon.
Walcot
Walcot is now published on Goldmark, Uppigham. At 500+ pages this may well be Brian’s longest novel yet! Aldiss says: “The most beautiful – and heavy – book I’ve ever had published. The history of the 20th century told through the experiences of one family.“
Colin Greenland had this to say in The Guardian: “Walcot, then, comes out as a sort of pageant, a chronicle of modern times with commentary from Aristotle – Steve is a lifelong devotee – and alternately jaundiced and cheerful reflections from Aldiss himself.“
There’s even a Deluxe Edition available over on the Goldman website.
Buy Walcot for £20 here.
Mortal Morning
“Aldiss’s poetry has been an integral part of his creative activity throughout his writing life and many of his poems have appeared in magazines and collections. Mortal Morning brings together a selection of his best and most representative poems, including those with a science fiction or metaphysical slant, deeply personal poems about family and loss, and poems of everyday life. A sequence of poems about artists and their work includes reflections on Gauguin’s Tahiti paintings, Kandinsky and Francis Bacon.” …Flambard Press
You can buy Mortal Morning on Amazon.
A Prehistory of Mind
Brian’s new poetry collection, A Prehistory of Mind has just been published by Mayapple Inc. For more information choose the Latest Books tab above, and to order choose Bookstore from the main menu and click amazon.com.
The Publisher Says: This self-revealing volume allows readers to: ramble through a Martian desert and other fantastic realms visit the Kremlin, Ulan Bator, a European cafe–get a glimpse of Aldiss’ personal life live through the eyes of a volcano–witness the terror of war and creation of the world. Published here for the first time, on an exclusive basis, is Aldiss’ new short story, “Mortistan.” Experience a different side of Brian Aldiss in this volume—soon to be a collectors’ item!
Award-winning SF author Brian Aldiss ventures into new territory with this, his first, full-length poetry collection.Named Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 2000, Aldiss authored The Saliva Tree, the Helliconia series, Trillion Year Spree, and Jocasta—books beloved to SF lovers everywhere. Three of his works have been adapted to the big screen, including Spielberg’s 2001 film AI: Artificial Intelligence. Whether you’re a current or potential Aldiss fan, you’ll enjoy the range, vigor and intimate self-portrait of these poems.
Book news and more…
Brian is guest of honour at the next meeting of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group which he also chairs. Come along for an evening of talk and wit! More here
World Fantasy Convention 2013
October 31st – November 3rd see the World Fantasy Con return to Brighton. This year Brian Aldiss joins previously announced Author Guests of Honour Richard Matheson and Richard Christian Matheson, Artist Guest of Honour Alan Lee, Special Guest Tessa Farmer and Master of Ceremonies China Mielville.
“Of course I am radiant to be asked as a Special Guest to the World Fantasy Con,” says Brian, “particularly since it is to be held in Brighton – do our overseas guests know what a gorgeous place Brighton is?”
All the information can be found on the website (www.wfc2013.org), under HOW TO JOIN on the left-hand menu. You can easily register now by following the instructions on the page and paying via the PayPal buttons. The membership fee will be automatically converted into your local currency at the time of the transaction. Please also remember to complete and submit the details of your registration for our files. You will not be considered to have registered for the convention until we have received BOTH your payment and the registration form.
Many back catalogue titles being republished
We all delighted and excited by the news of HarperCollins imprint The Friday Project acquiring more than 50 Brian Aldiss titles.
Publisher Scott Pack bought rights to a mix of fiction, sci-fi, non-fiction works and short-story work thanks to a deal brokered by Gordon Wise at Curtis Brown. The acquisition also includes six new titles, which will be published in e-book and print editions over the next four years.
The first of the six new works to be published will be Finches of Mars, out in September. Described by Brian as his “final science-fiction novel”, it explores the problems of human colonisation of the red planet when female members of the civilisation are unable to carry babies to full term.
Read the full article here: HarperCollins buys rights…
Bodleian Essays Being Published
We’re all delighted by the forthcoming publication of a collection of 12 “personal and revealing” essays to celebrate the donation of Brian’s archives to the Bodelian library. It’s such a privilege to have his work considered for the expansive collection, and the publication of this work is the icing on the cake.
The collection of essays is entitled An Exile on Planet Earth. Broadcaster Alan Yentob has written that the essays contain: “The kind of detail that will delight aficionados of his fiction.”
More on the Oxford Mail website here.
From our blog
A.I. – Kermode apologises to Spielberg
Delighted to see that Mark Kermode has done a u-turn about his berating of the Spielberg-released movie AI which is based on Supertoys Last All Summer Long. Brian spent several long weeks working with Kubrick to create a screen play from this short story but in the end couldn’t find a solution to Kubrick’s seemingly endless desire to remake Pinocchio.
The Homeless Mind
The fifth instalment of exclusive short stories written by brian throughout September 2012.
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On a fine spring night, the moon was all but full. The countryside was hushed and a wind blew across Southern England.
That wind carried unusual micro-organisms, brought from a Kent laboratory. The micro-organisms, harmless enough, induced a temporary increased intelligence in all it met with.
