Everyone liked Bob Shaw. He was an Irishman with an amazing sense of what was funny about the universe. His early SF novel, ‘Orbitsville’ (1975) was a success, though by success we mean within the SF field and sadly never noticed beyond those limits. That, probably, was what happened to his suceeding books, all with […]
In one of his essays, Joseph Brodsky, talking about Osip Mandelstam, says this about our lives: Any poet, no matter how much he writes, expresses in his verse, physically or statistically speaking, at most one tenth of his life’s reality. The rest is normally shrouded in darkness. Is this admirable remark what we feel about […]
Mention has been made of the Inklings. This was the literary group which met frequently in the aforementioned pub, The Bird and Baby. The leading members were C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. One was accustomed to seeing Tolkien bustling along in the Broad, clutching a copy of Sweet’s Anglo-Saxon Primer. Possibly he was then – […]
Brian’s UK publishers The Friday Project is curating a series of short anecdotes that Brian has written about some of the many literary greats that he has been fortunate enough to know and meet over his illustrious career, and others that he has simply admired. In a short series here on Brian’s blog we publish […]
(This post was originally published on aldissandmore.com) How about these beautiful pieces of poster artwork commissioned by NASA themselves to help inspire a generation to stay on board with the space discovery missions being run by NASA. Commissioned to look like art deco 1930’s era classic poster-work they certainly evoke memories of some classic science […]
Brian’s UK publishers The Friday Project is curating a series of short anecdotes that Brian has written about some of the many literary greats that he has been fortunate enough to know and meet over his illustrious career, and others that he has simply admired. In a short series here on Brian’s blog we publish […]
On the 29th November, with my partner, Alison Soskice, I was one of the many who attended the last rites of that darling writer, DORIS LESSING. The ceremony was held on the outskirts of London, conducted by a woman of the British Humanist Association. So no religion there, then. placemats” I sat most of the […]
Brian was lucky enough to count Doris Lessing as one of his friends. I asked him for comment on her passing and he had this to say: She had a great sense of humour; I loved the woman… We were good friends and I often went round to her place until she fell ill.
Brian is back in Brighton and back in his old stomping ground – the Metropole Hotel – for the World Fantasy Convention this weekend. His visit kicked off with a panel discussing the demise of the genre magazine. He was joined by equally greyed hair co-panellists Robert K Weiner, publisher of illustrated horror, William F Nolan, author […]
I was very proud to be able to accompany dad to the launch party for his latest (and possibly last) science fiction novel Finches of Mars. Ahead of the evening’s festivities dad had a session signing books at the legendary Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Avenue.
