Brian Aldiss RIP

[Voice From Limbo]

Yep. Looking at the Ballard article on the SF Encyclopedia site, I see how much of his work I've missed:

http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ballard_j_g

Although that's true with most other authors, except maybe my favorite, Jack Vance.

Checking some of the linked articles, I noticed that the author of the entry "Optimism and Pessimism" classifies Ballard as an "ironist" rather than a pessimist. I'm not sure I'd agree,though it's an interesting argument.

The entries on "Post-Apocalypse","Ruined Earth",and related themes are also of interest,although with articles by multiple authors,you can get some disagreements among them,as well as differing uses of the same terms. I noticed this with the companion Encyclopedia of Fantasy,in articles related to Tolkien.

BTW--I've been tempted to chime in on some of the other book threads,but most of the other ones are over a year old. That would be considered to thread necromancy, I suppose.

OTOH,whenever I browse the Book Forum, I seem to be the only one here,so I'm guessing no one would care!

[Voice From Limbo]

Damn,how did that random "to" get in there? And I can't edit.
Oh,well.

[bennieGrara]

Very sad to hear of the passing of Brian Aldiss. He was one of the greats of Science Fiction and a true gentleman. Alan and I were lucky enough to get into his talk at the Worldcon when it was in London a few years ago. He was, as always, a brillant speaker and kept the audience entranced. He recounted numerous stories of his life with great humour and a twinkle in his eye. He will be greatly missed.