J G Ballard

[Bella Fortuna]

Anyone read him?

I'm listening to all 1200 pages (!) of his collected short stories and am mostly enjoying it despite his bleak dystopian views. On the basis of this I bought a novel of his, High Rise, to read soon. I know he's known for the scandalous Crash, but I'm curious what others think of his writing.

[JimC]

Yes, I read quite a bit of his early, surreal SF when I was at uni. His stories had a dreamlike quality and were classy pieces of writing, but for some reason they never encourage a re-read, as many other books do for me...

[hadespussercats]

Bella, what's the hook for you, so far?

[Jason]

Nope.

[Bella Fortuna]

Yes, I read quite a bit of his early, surreal SF when I was at uni. His stories had a dreamlike quality and were classy pieces of writing, but for some reason they never encourage a re-read, as many other books do for me...

I can understand that with the things that I've been listening to. Dreamlike is an apt term - much dealing with psychological states and the senses.

[Bella Fortuna]

Bella, what's the hook for you, so far?

I've always been intrigued by dystopian fiction - not spacey science fiction, but something that uses a setting that we can identify with but which is made grotesque in some way.

There have been a couple of stories that are just kind of fascinating - one where a man ages backwards and becomes a child again, and another where a snippet of time replays over and over and the main character is the only one who realises it and tries to break free. He's got some interesting ideas, and it's more psychological speculative fiction than hardcore SF. Ballard studied to be a psychiatrist, so that's not surprising.

[hadespussercats]

Bella, what's the hook for you, so far?

I've always been intrigued by dystopian fiction - not spacey science fiction, but something that uses a setting that we can identify with but which is made grotesque in some way.

There have been a couple of stories that are just kind of fascinating - one where a man ages backwards and becomes a child again, and another where a snippet of time replays over and over and the main character is the only one who realises it and tries to break free. He's got some interesting ideas, and it's more psychological speculative fiction than hardcore SF. Ballard studied to be a psychiatrist, so that's not surprising.

Maybe I should try a non- Crash intro. I like short stories.

[Bella Fortuna]

I'd recommend the collected stories - it's gargantuan and hence a little intimidating, but easy enough to skip around and read what strikes your fancy.

[hadespussercats]

I'd recommend the collected stories - it's gargantuan and hence a little intimidating, but easy enough to skip around and read what strikes your fancy.

Maybe for my next library trip, if they don't have my book yet.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Bella, what's the hook for you, so far?

I've always been intrigued by dystopian fiction - not spacey science fiction, but something that uses a setting that we can identify with but which is made grotesque in some way.

You'll love High Rise in that case - and Concrete Island. I have pretty much all of his books on my kindle. I must get around to reading some.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Read him solely when I was high. It was great because I could read the same chapter five times and still be surprised.

[redunderthebed]

Have to go to the library tomorrow to pick up a reserve will check him out and see if the books they have in the catalogue are still there.

[Audley Strange]

Yeah, I read a bunch of Ballard in the nineties. Enjoyable, dark, snarky but sadly it never made much impact. Probably because of the comparison to Burroughs, who I was digging at the time.

[tattuchu]

Is Crash the one that was made into that fucked up but totally awesome movie? I liked Empire of the Sun and so read the book, then was surprised but delighted to find out what other sorts of stories he usually wrote. When I tried to get into them, though, I found I really couldn't. I should give them another chance.

[Svartalf]

Nobody who'se such close pal with michael morecock can be really good.