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Bury My Heart at W.H. Smith's
Brian Aldiss. SIGNED/LIMITED. Bury My Heart at W. H. Smith's. London: Avernus/Hodder and Stoughton, [1990]. First edition, limited to 250 numbered copies. Signed by Aldiss. Octavo. 280 pages. Publisher's binding and dust jacket. Aldiss' signed Royal Academy card laid in.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
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38 people want to read
About the author
Brian W. Aldiss
833 books674 followersPseudonyms: Jael Cracken, Peter Pica, John Runciman, C.C. Shackleton, Arch Mendicant, & "Doc" Peristyle.
Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.
Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads
Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.
Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 4, 2007
Overall this is an excellent collection of thoughts, ideas, essays and reflections on the writing life from an established writer in at least two genres (in the book it says he's written poetry, although I've never read any, which would make it three!)
I would take issue with him in a few places - I do not believe, for example, that women are less prone to 'ideology as a terrible scourge of the intellect' than men - I just think the publishing industry has tended to publish idealogue men and not idealogue women as a form of gender prejudice (look at Anne Coulter in the USA these days for an example of modern gender equality in this area). I do not always agree with his views on other science-fiction writers (although his scathing attack on Heinlein is worth the admission price alone, as it were), and I don't believe that some of his stated views on creativity and manic-depression are borne out by current research, although others are.
What I most admired about this book was the complete lack of artifice - Mr Aldiss says that 'admirers often find their favourite authors disappointing in the flesh' - and here he makes no attempt to give himself a more appetizing persona, though he could. He delineates the rather obsessive, often reclusive and terminally boring process of 'being' a writer without grace notes or apologies and at least half a dozen times I put down the book to grin ruefully and realise that my own strange behaviours are not personal but professional. Of most note, as far as I was concerned was a bluntly realistic essay on continuing to be a writer, rather than 'becoming' one, which he could have written with me in mind, it so clearly echoes my own concerns about the number of courses and tutors who teach people to 'begin' to write without giving them the tools for a self-reliant, productive, realistic lifetime of writing.
Can't recommend this book too highly, but be prepared for the various buckets of cold water that Aldiss empties over the pretentions of 'literary life' - not for the faint-hearted
I would take issue with him in a few places - I do not believe, for example, that women are less prone to 'ideology as a terrible scourge of the intellect' than men - I just think the publishing industry has tended to publish idealogue men and not idealogue women as a form of gender prejudice (look at Anne Coulter in the USA these days for an example of modern gender equality in this area). I do not always agree with his views on other science-fiction writers (although his scathing attack on Heinlein is worth the admission price alone, as it were), and I don't believe that some of his stated views on creativity and manic-depression are borne out by current research, although others are.
What I most admired about this book was the complete lack of artifice - Mr Aldiss says that 'admirers often find their favourite authors disappointing in the flesh' - and here he makes no attempt to give himself a more appetizing persona, though he could. He delineates the rather obsessive, often reclusive and terminally boring process of 'being' a writer without grace notes or apologies and at least half a dozen times I put down the book to grin ruefully and realise that my own strange behaviours are not personal but professional. Of most note, as far as I was concerned was a bluntly realistic essay on continuing to be a writer, rather than 'becoming' one, which he could have written with me in mind, it so clearly echoes my own concerns about the number of courses and tutors who teach people to 'begin' to write without giving them the tools for a self-reliant, productive, realistic lifetime of writing.
Can't recommend this book too highly, but be prepared for the various buckets of cold water that Aldiss empties over the pretentions of 'literary life' - not for the faint-hearted
February 10, 2019
I'm generally an aldiss fan but, like many of my favourite authors (I'm looking at you isaac asimov) I find him incredibly tiresome when writing from his own perspective. This one is for aldiss obsessives only
December 26, 2019
Engaging memoir by Brian Aldiss about becoming a science fiction writer.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews