James Blish said. . . .
Brian W. Aldiss . . . is perhaps the most thorough, disciplined professional ever to concentrate his gifts upon science fiction. As a man who loves the English language with a profound and contagious passion, and knows it far too well to be showy about it, Aldiss was from the beginning almost in himself a New Wave in science fiction, and almost for that reason alone got lumped in with the group (and seems to be much in sympathy with it); but he differs from almost everybody else in it not only by being almost always in control of what he writes, but also by being convinced of the desirability of being in control. In consequence, he is virtually the only New Wave writer who never offers aborted experiments in the disguise of finished work It sometimes seems, indeed, that only Aldiss’ receptivity, and his willingness to try any drink once, tie him to the New Wave at all, but as a poet and an experimentalist he belongs with them, however more easy to take his professionalism makes his work for the ordinary reader.
