RIP Brian Aldiss.

[Gob]

"Brian Aldiss, the “grand old man” of science fiction whose writing has shaped the genre since he was first published in the 1950s, has died at the age of 92.



Aldiss’s agent, Curtis Brown, and his son, Tim Aldiss, have announced that the author, artist, poet and memoirist died at home in Oxford in the early hours of 19 August. “Brian had celebrated his birthday with close friends and family and spoken to many close to him,” wrote Tim on Twitter as he announced the death of “our beloved father and grandfather”.

Aldiss was the author of science fiction classics including Non-Stop, Hothouse and Greybeard, as well as the Helliconia trilogy, which his agent said bridged “the gap between classic science fiction and contemporary literature”. His numerous short stories include Super-Toys Last All Summer Long, which was adapted into the Steven Spielberg film AI, while his Horatio Stubbs saga was based on his time during the war in Burma and the far east.

Aldiss was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Hugo and Nebula prizes for science fiction and fantasy, an honorary doctorate from the University of Reading, the title of grand master from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and an OBE for services to literature. In a 2013 profile of Aldiss for the Guardian, Stuart Kelly described him as “the grand old man of British science fiction”, saying that “few writers have contributed more” to speculative fiction."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/ ... es-aged-92

[Burning Petard]

Thank you Gob, for post the above. My usual news sources on this side of the pond did not announce his passing.

snailgate

[MajGenl.Meade]

Barefoot in the Head..... a life-changing read, that