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The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard
“More than one thousand compelling pages from one of the most haunting, cogent, and individual imaginations in contemporary literature.”—William Boyd
J. G. Ballard should be recognized as one of the greatest and most prophetic writers in the world. Here, in his Complete Stories, readers can finally celebrate the unparalleled range and the mesmerizing cadences
Hardcover, 1199 pages
Published
September 21st 2009
by W. W. Norton & Company
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JG Ballard's stuff divides fairly neatly into three phases:
1) 1956-64 - At first he was writing actual science fiction, and he was really cranking it out. There are some beautiful ones in this early part, probably my favourites - "The Sound Sweep", "The Concentration City", "Billenium", "The Voices of Time". It became gradually clear - to JG and to the reader - that he wasn't really able to do the hard-sf thing (extrapolation with a lot of wir...more
1) 1956-64 - At first he was writing actual science fiction, and he was really cranking it out. There are some beautiful ones in this early part, probably my favourites - "The Sound Sweep", "The Concentration City", "Billenium", "The Voices of Time". It became gradually clear - to JG and to the reader - that he wasn't really able to do the hard-sf thing (extrapolation with a lot of wir...more
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Misha
marked it as sometimes-reading
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Like my friend tENTATIVELY, a, cONVENIENCE, I was a major Ballard fan who read so many of his books that I got a bit burned out after a while. I've generally been more interested in his novels than his short stories. I am *slowly* reading this large collection and will be happy to say that I've read all of his stories once I'm through. I would say conservatively I've read a quarter of them already.
It's interesting to see what he was doing chronologically. As I peruse the general cont...more
It's interesting to see what he was doing chronologically. As I peruse the general cont...more
R.
marked it as to-read
Prima Belladonna (Sept. 18, 2009): A sexy, mysterious nightclub singer moves to Vermilion Sands. Has a most unusual relationship with a singing flower. Makes a quick exit.
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INTRODUCTION
By Martin Amis
This man needs no introduction.
- Martin Amis
April-May 2009
London
Martin Amis is the author of well-received novels, thought-provoking essays and a best-selling memoir. His most recent work is still unpublished.
...more
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INTRODUCTION
By Martin Amis
This man needs no introduction.
- Martin Amis
April-May 2009
London
Martin Amis is the author of well-received novels, thought-provoking essays and a best-selling memoir. His most recent work is still unpublished.
...more
The 98 entries in The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard remind us of the power of the well-crafted short story. The tales' chronological ordering offers a valuable glimpse into the author's evolution of thought and style, and the range of the work might surprise American readers (the collection was first published nearly a decade ago in Britain) who know Ballard's novels but haven't spent much time with the short fiction. Ballard draws on and influences an eclectic tradition—the author will remi...more
The first spot on my 'writers-who-I'm-going-to-read-everything-of-before-I-die' list belongs to J.G. Ballard. He is my favourite author in the world, and reading this enormous collection (1200 pages long, spanning more than 35 years) is as near as little ol' agnostic me will ever come to reading a religious text. So many brilliant ideas! The man's imagination was frightening. At their best (Billenium, The Drowned Giant, The Ultimate City) these stories have as much to tell us about the world as ...more
Easily in my top 5 books ever. I love JG Ballard, and his ideas come across best in short story form.
It took a while while for Ballard to really hit his stride, and he was much better as a conceptualist than as a storyteller. But what concepts! How to write a J.G. Ballard story: Technology + sex + Levi-Straussian anthropology + the impact of behavioral psychology on modern man. Recombine in every possible way. Wheeee!!!!
Also, this volume gives you a great perspective on Ballard's evolution as a writer, from his early sci-fi pieces to his more stylistically distinct later works, as...more
Also, this volume gives you a great perspective on Ballard's evolution as a writer, from his early sci-fi pieces to his more stylistically distinct later works, as...more
Wow. Two wows, in fact. A small one to me, for actually reading 1,196 pages of short stories in this era of constant distraction/instant gratification (though of course it did take several months and around six library renewals split up over two years), and two, a much bigger wow, one of the biggest wows in the known universe, to J.G. Ballard. It's an understatement to say he was a fantastic writer, though of course he was. In his writing, he cut away layers of exposition, leaving only sharp, wh...more
Fantastic. 1200 pages and rarely a dull moment. Also I will say, I've read two of Ballard's books before this one, but I never realized how much he loves to use beaches as a setting. Not a complaint, just a curiosity.
After reading this book you realize how unstoppably imaginative Ballard is. It's interesting to look at the time periods each of these stories were written in, and seeing how Ballard would take the popular obsessions of the time, and twist their meaning to reveal the hor...more
After reading this book you realize how unstoppably imaginative Ballard is. It's interesting to look at the time periods each of these stories were written in, and seeing how Ballard would take the popular obsessions of the time, and twist their meaning to reveal the hor...more
It's interesting to see how this British Science-Fiction writer's short stories reflect his real life experiences in WWII in Shanghai, as recounted in his fiction/bio Empire of the Sun. The early stories from 1956-1960 are very dystopic and recall Ray Bradbury. I like them. As time moves on, however, Ballard's writing becomes laced with vulgarity and decadence. This makes the collection uneven, but there are still interesting tales. Since Spielberg's film of Empire of the Sun is one of my f...more
This book took me an extraordinarily long time to read for four reasons. Three of these -- it's long; it's physically large, so I had to substitute something else when I travelled; and it's made up of short stories, which can be hard to read in succession -- are incidental to the quality of the writing. The fourth, though, is that many of the stories are frankly quite similar. This is especially odd because the premises of the stories are usually quite original and unique. Ballard wrote in t...more
I grew up reading Ballard--- from the more traditional sci-fi novels like "Wind From Nowhere" or "The Burning World" through the eerie beauty of "The Crystal World". His short story collections were filled with things that I'd read and then find myself wondering about: sci-fi or not? What is Ballard doing? Somewhere in my late teens or early twenties I realised that my vision of the world and of sci-fi had been shaped by the way Ballard's own work had changed. And ...more
A "summer project" that took an eternity to rip through, "The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard" is an often-recommended collection of 96 little capsules of SF, horror and fantasy. If you are to become a writer (one who usually starts off writing superb short stories), then Ballard is your main man.
I thought of the cover page (of the American Ed.) while trying to make a cohesive review (which I probably failed at already)- a monolith of a man staring straight at yo...more
I thought of the cover page (of the American Ed.) while trying to make a cohesive review (which I probably failed at already)- a monolith of a man staring straight at yo...more
This is the first 1,200 page collection of short stories I've ever read, and probably the last. The stories were published over the course of almost 40 years, and one of the attractions from the book (apart from his reputation and my lack of knowledge of his stories) was the opportunity to see the development of a sci-fi writer over the course of four decades. But apart from a few exceptions, I was surprised at how similar his last stories were to those he published 30 years earlier.
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In addition to the short story "The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race," this collection caught my eye by way of NPR's review, and more specifically: "Reading him serially is like eating a meal of desserts, while somehow still getting a lot of protein."
I read 200 of 1200 pages, but I own this and will return someday. Ballard is amazing but not quite, to me, an amazing writer. No, he's a good writer, but his stories never catch me as stories. I mean, I'm always kind of bored. That said, he's unbelievable in his ability to futurecast - like William Gibson good. The stories (and novels) from the 50s and 60s about environmental destruction and pollution would be right on today. He also has a PK Dickian interest in time and psychedelic percept...more
Complete, indeed — some 120 stories written between 1956-1996. Many odd psychological explorations. Some favorites from the early works: "Prima Belladolla," (1956); "Now: Zero," (1959); "Chronopolis," (1960); "The Man on the 99th Floor," (1961); "The Singing Statues," (1961); and "End-Game," (1963).
This huge book of short stories reveals that J.G. Ballard was effective in this form almost from the beginning of his career. His speculations about human life and culture in new and challenging circumstances are in the finest traditions of science fiction at its best, and some of the most memorable plots and stories are set in circumstances not so totally different from our own. I often found myself when reading these stories thinking that many of them would have made great episodes on the old ...more
I've finished most of this mammoth tome, but I'll probably continue dipping into it for years to come. It's a catalog of new literary values and ways of telling stories that showcase a still-startling sensibility. You know, "Ballardian." Like any collection the quality fluctuates, but the best pieces remain truly visionary. And in this context, even the weaker stories play like intriguing minor variations on major themes. Pick hits: "The Beach Murders," "Notes Toward A M...more
This is one of the best books ever. The 113th floor, the sound garden, the astronauts who worship in their grounded spaceship and the spaceman assassin gliding down to Westminster Abbey will always exist in this book.
Cameron
added it
For the most of its near 1200 pages consistently excellent and thought provoking - the 1980-82 era stories were a bit of dull trudge.
An uncanny simulation of what popular literature might be like in an alternate future (not ours, unfortunately). In the interest of honesty, I admit to not having read the entire volume, but intend to in my lifetime. And if I had children, I would pass it on to them. It weighs roughly half as much as my cat and is equally unhinged.
Wonderful collection of all of Ballard's short stories. It's a huge book with surprisingly few duds. My favorites include The Illuminated Man, clearly the inspiration for The Crystal World, which includes meaning bombs like "It's almost as if a sequence of displaced but identical images were being produced by refraction through a prism, but with the element of time replacing the role of light." and The Ultimate City (which isn't using ultimate in the sense of being good...). I've read ...more
I'd forgotten how important his writing has been in my life.
Slowly working through this one. Indispensable.
The first couple stories were just OK, pretty typical 1950's stuff. I did really like the story about the singing plants, but only because I like the idea of a plant choir.
one of the best sf books of 2010 according to Bookmarks Magazine.
JG Ballard's collection of short stories, War Fever, was a HUGE influence on my first novel. Oddly enough, I never really got around to reading anything else from the man -- except for Crash. This is obviously an impressive collection. Ballard was definitely an idea man. His characters are generally not too compelling, though. Even still, I owe him a debt of gratitude.
I'm excited to check this out. I'll probably read a story or two a day, just to see what long-term, slow-release exposure to Ballard does to my brain.
I haven't read every story in the collection, but I'm amazed by the ones that I have. There is nothing else like J.G. Ballard in fiction. His imagination is peerless. Absolutely recommended to any fan of SF or short fiction.
I haven't read every story in the collection, but I'm amazed by the ones that I have. There is nothing else like J.G. Ballard in fiction. His imagination is peerless. Absolutely recommended to any fan of SF or short fiction.
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J.G. Ballard (James Graham Ballard) was born in 1930 in Shanghai, China where his father was a businessman. After the attack on Pearl Harbour, Ballard and his family were placed in a civilian prison camp. They returned to England in 1946. After two years at Cambridge, where he read medicine, Ballard worked as a copywriter and a Covent Garden porter before going to Canada with the RAF.
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