# brian aldis contributors to wikimedi ![[brianaldiss2005lf50.jpg|300]] aldiss at interaction in glasgow 200 born: brian wilson aldiss 18 august 1925 east dereham norfolk englan died: 19 august 2017 (aged92) oxford englan pen name: - jael cracken- dr. peristyle- c. c. shackleto occupation: - writer- editor- artis period: 1954–201 genre: science-fictio notable works: - non-stop- hothouse- helliconia trilogy- "supertoys last all summer long websit brianaldiss.co.u brian wilson aldiss (; 18 august 1925 - 19 august 2017) was an english writer artist and anthology editor best known for science-fiction novels and short stories. his byline reads either brian w. aldiss or simply brian aldiss except for occasional pseudonyms during the mid-1960 greatly influenced by science fiction pioneer h. g. wells aldiss was a vice-president of the international h. g. wells society. he was co-president of the birmingham science fiction group with harry harrison. aldiss was named a grand master by the science fiction writers of america in 1999 and inducted by the science fiction hall of fame in 2004. he received two hugo awards one nebula award and one john w. campbell memorial award. he wrote the short story "supertoys last all summer long" (1969) the basis for the stanley kubrick-developed steven spielberg film a.i. artificial intelligence (2001). aldiss was associated with the british new wave of science fictio ## early life education and military servic brian wilson aldiss was born on 18 august 1925 above his paternal grandfather's draper's shop in dereham norfolk. when aldiss's grandfather died his father bill (the younger of two sons) sold his share in the shop and the family left dereham. aldiss's mother dot was the daughter of a builder. he had an older sister who was stillborn and a younger sister. as a four-year-old aldiss started to write stories which his mother would bind and put on a shel at the age of 6 aldiss went to framlingham college but moved to devon and was sent to board at west buckland school in 1939 after the outbreak of world war ii. as a child he discovered the pulp magazine astounding science fiction. he eventually read all the novels by h. g. wells robert heinlein and philip k. dick. in 1943 he joined the royal signals and saw military action in burm ## writing and publishin his army experience inspired the novel hothouse and the horatio stubbs second and third books a soldier erect and a rude awakening respectivel after the war he worked as a bookseller in oxford. he also wrote a number of short pieces for a booksellers' trade journal about life in a fictitious bookshop which attracted the attention of charles monteith an editor at the publisher faber and faber. as a result faber and faber published aldiss's first book the brightfount diaries (1955) a 200-page novel in diary form about the life of a sales assistant in a booksho about this time he also began to write science fiction for various magazines. according to isfdb his first speculative fiction in print was the short story criminal record published by john carnell in the july 1954 issue of science fantasy. several of his stories appeared in 1955 including three in monthly issues of new worlds also edited by carnel in 1954 the observer newspaper ran a competition for a short story set in the year 2500. aldiss's story not for an age was ranked third following a reader vot the brightfount diaries had been a minor success and faber asked aldiss if he had any more writing they could look at with a view to publishing. aldiss confessed to being a science fiction author to the delight of the publishers who had a number of science fiction fans in high places and so his first science fiction book was published a collection of short stories entitled space time and nathaniel (faber 1957). by this time his earnings from writing matched his wages in the bookshop and he made the decision to become a full-time write ![[brianaldiss(3)lf50.jpg|300]] in 201 aldiss led the voting for most promising new author of 1958 at the next year's worldcon but finished behind "no award". he was elected president of the british science fiction association in 1960. he was the literary editor of the oxford mail newspaper from 1958 to 1969. around 1964 he and long-time collaborator harry harrison started the first ever journal of science fiction criticism science fiction horizons which during its brief span of two issues published articles and reviews by such authors as james blish and featured a discussion among aldiss c. s. lewis and kingsley amis in the first issue and an interview with william s. burroughs in the second. in 1967 algis budrys listed aldiss j. g. ballard roger zelazny and samuel r. delany as "an earthshaking new kind of" writers and leaders of the new wave. aldiss supported the new wave movement helping the magazine new worlds to get financial backing from a 1967 arts council grant and publishing some of his more experimental work in the magazin besides his own writings he edited a number of anthologies. for faber he edited introducing sf a collection of stories typifying various themes of science fiction and best fantasy stories. in 1961 he edited an anthology of reprinted short science fiction for the british paperback publisher penguin books under the title penguin science fiction. this was remarkably successful went into numerous reprints and was followed up by two further anthologies: more penguin science fiction (1963) and yet more penguin science fiction (1964). the later anthologies enjoyed the same success as the first and all three were eventually published together as the penguin science fiction omnibus (1973) which also went into a number of reprints. in the 1970s he produced several large collections of classic grand-scale science fiction under the titles space opera (1974) space odysseys (1975) galactic empires (1976) evil earths (1976) and perilous planets (1978). around this time he edited a large-format volume science fiction art (1975) with selections of artwork from the magazines and pulp in response to the results from the planetary probes of the 1960s and 1970s which showed that venus was completely unlike the hot tropical jungle usually depicted in science fiction aldiss and harrison edited an anthology farewell fantastic venus reprinting stories based on the pre-probe ideas of venus. he also edited with harrison a series of anthologies the year's best science fiction (nos. 1–9 1968–1976 aldiss invented a form of extremely short story called the mini-saga. the daily telegraph hosted a competition for the best mini-saga for several years and aldiss was the judge. he edited several anthologies of the best mini-saga ![[brianaldissmetropolislf50.jpg|300]] 'metropolis' limited edition print by brian aldis aldiss travelled to yugoslavia where he met fans in ljubljana slovenia and published a travel book about yugoslavia entitled cities and stones (1966) his only work in the genre. he published an alternative-history fantasy story "the day of the doomed king" (1968) about serbian kings in the middle ages and wrote a novel called the malacia tapestry about an alternative dalmati in addition to a highly successful career as a writer aldiss was an accomplished artist. his first solo exhibition the other hemisphere was held in oxford august–september 2010 and the exhibition's centrepiece metropolis (see figure) has since been released as a limited edition fine art print. (the exhibition title denotes the writer/artist's notion "words streaming from one side of his brain inspiring images in what he calls 'the other hemisphere'". ![[brianaldissblueplaquelf50.jpg|300]] blue plaque dereha in 1948 aldiss married olive fortescue secretary to the owner of sanders' bookseller's in oxford where he had worked since 1947. he had two children from his first marriage: clive in 1955 and caroline wendy in 1959 but the marriage "finally collapsed" in 1959 and was dissolved in 196 in 1965 he married his second wife margaret christie manson (daughter of john alexander christie manson an aeronautical engineer) a scot and secretary to the editor of the oxford mail; aldiss was 40 and she 31. they lived in oxford and had two children together tim and charlotte. she died in 199 aldiss died at his home in headington oxford on 19 august 2017 the day after his 92nd birthda ![[brianaldiss(4)lf50.jpg|300]] in 201 he was elected a fellow of the royal society of literature in 199 aldiss was the "permanent special guest" at the annual international conference on the fantastic in the arts (icfa) from 1989 through 2008. he was also the guest of honor at the conventions in 1986 and 199 the science fiction writers of america made him its 18th sfwa grand master in 1999 and the science fiction and fantasy hall of fame inducted him in 200 he was awarded the title of officer of the order of the british empire (obe) for services to literature in the 2005 birthday honours lis aldiss appeared twice on desert island discs first in 1982 when his choice of book was rasselas by samuel johnson and his luxury a time machine. in january 2007 he appeared again: his choice of record to "save" was "old rivers" sung by walter brennan his choice of book was john heilpern's biography of john osborne and his luxury a banjo. full lists of selections for both episodes are on the bbc websit on 1 july 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university of liverpool in recognition of his contribution to literature. the brian w aldiss archive at the university holds manuscripts from the period 1943–199 in 2013 aldiss received the world fantasy convention award at the world fantasy convention in brighton englan aldiss sat on the council of the society of author he won two hugo awards: the hugo award for best short story in 1962 for the hothouse series; and the hugo award for best non-fiction book in 1987 for trillion year spree. aldiss also won the nebula award for best novella in 1965 for the saliva tre aldiss was the author of over 80 books and 300 short stories as well as several volumes of poetr perhaps aldiss's most experimental work this first appeared in several parts as the acid head war series in new worlds. set in a europe some years after a flare-up in the middle east led to europe being attacked with bombs releasing huge quantities of long-lived hallucinogenic drugs. into an england with a population barely maintaining a grip on reality comes a young serb who himself starts coming under the influence of the ambient aerosols and finds himself leading a messianic crusade. the narration and dialogue reflects the shattering of language under the influence of the drugs in mutating phrases and puns and allusions in a deliberate echo of finnegans wak // republic of bo