J.G. Ballard

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Anyone here fond of J.G. Ballard?

The Shanghai-raised British author J. G. Ballard became known to most people outside science-fiction circles with the publication and subsequent filming of his childhood autobiography, Empire of the Sun. Those in the know were already familiar with Ballard's upending of sci-fi traditions and practical invention of the dystopian novel in such works as The Drowned World (no relation to this story or the Madonna tour). Things got weirder with Ballard by the late 1960's, with the auto-erotic novel Crash (no, not that movie, but the other movie), the very unsettling Atrocity Exhibition (no wonder Joy Division stole the title!), and our personal favorite, Why I Want to F#*k Ronald Reagan, which sent the 1980 Republican National Convention all atwitter. (Plan for the Assassination of Jacqueline Kennedy is pretty good, too.)

I'm really into his weird, Twilight-Zone-esque, short stories. And his short story collections usually have great cover art (which is a bonus).

If you're new to Ballard and want to check him out I suggest that you start with his collection The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard. If you like that, get The Complete Stories which contains every short story he ever wrote.

 

[King_Oni]

Ballard is on my to read list. The only thing I read by him (and is also a movie adaption) was Crash, and I thought it was good.

But yeah, there's sooooooo much on my to read list still