Best Selling Books by Brian W. Aldiss

Survivors of nuclear war endure strange adventures across time and space in this humorous classic by a Grand Master of Science Fiction. World War III is coming to an end, but the real chaos is just beginning. Nuclear warfare during the conflict has given rise to a disturbance in the fabric of space and time. Time-turbulences run rampant, sending whatever is caught in their trap to different times and locations. Survivors find themselves in the past, present, or future—or on other planets. Leaders across the globe, as well as an advanced AI system, are all vying to learn as much as possible about these time anomalies—and exploit them as best they can. But the disappearance of a mega-industrialist could have some answers . . . Meanwhile, a band of heroes embarks on a perilous quest in an alternate world of swords and sorcery. A mad scientist is wreaking havoc on Mars. And just about everyone is bursting whimsically into song. Who knows if the mayhem will ever subside . . . "Offers some wild entertainment . . . the whizzing energy behind all these time-warps and dirty deterministic work at the cosmic crossroads is something to wonder at." — The Guardian

It was the first British novel to explore, frankly and with a gleeful honesty, the sexual awakening of a teenage boy. It was regarded as so outrageous that thirteen publishers initially refused to publish it. The Hand-Reared Boy no longer shocks, instead, it stands as the classic novel of teenage self-discovery and the realisation of a young boy of love, and the fact that other people are more than sexual objects.Depicting the preoccupations common to all young boys as they reach puberty, The Hand-Reared Boy is a delightfully funny account of burgeoning sexuality, marked by self-revelation, self-mockery and a complete absence of prurience. It was shortlisted for the Lost Booker Prize in 2010.

A disruption of time and space sends a modern man back two hundred years to confront Dr. Frankenstein''s immortal monster in this brilliant reinvention of Mary Shelley''s classic tale Some years into the twenty-first century, a newly devised weapon of mass destruction will do far worse than kill; it will disrupt time and space. Suddenly, land, buildings, animals, and people are falling through "timeslips" and being transported briefly back to earlier eras. One of these inadvertent time travelers, Joe Bodenland, is shocked when he finds himself parked outside a villa on the shore of Lake Geneva—and soon after, unbelievably, in the presence of nineteenth-century literary luminaries Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, along with Shelley''s very enticing fiancée, budding author Mary. But when Joe comes face to face with a real, flesh-and-blood Victor Frankenstein and the monster the mad doctor brought into this world, the visitor from the future realizes that not only has time been disrupted, reality itself has been transmogrified. And this Frankenstein, it seems, is far from finished with his unholy endeavors, leaving it up to Joe to make it right for the sake of history—and for the bewitching lady novelist who has stolen his heart—before he is rudely thrust back to his own time. An absolutely stunning reinvention of a cherished literary classic, Frankenstein Unbound proves once more that there are no limits to the unparalleled creative genius of science fiction Grand Master W. Brian Aldiss, one of the most revered names in the field of speculative fiction.

A grieving songwriter reflects on his life and contemplates his future in this classic novella of heartbreak and healing from a Grand Master of Science Fiction. It''s been a long time since Hugh Billing visited his home in England. Decades earlier, he made his fortune as a hit songwriter in America, but years of shuffling between cities and countries has changed him. His clothes are American, his speech is American—even his thoughts are American. He doesn''t have much English left inside him and he hasn''t had a hit in years. What he does have, however, is sadness . . . Then his mother''s death returns him to London to embark on a new journey. Forced to examine the state of his life, Hugh begins moving from loneliness and aimlessness to somewhere around survival and hope.

In a brilliant reimagining of Bram Stoker''s horror classic, an inventor travels back in time to save humankind from a nightmarish enslavement by vampires Joe Bodenland has figured out how to manipulate time—a discovery that leads him to Utah and an impossible sixty-five-million-year-old human gravesite. It is here that he learns of the existence of a monstrous race of intelligent predators as old as the dinosaur, and of the remarkable "train" the undead creatures use to travel back and forth from a Paleolithic past to a monstrous far future in which Homo sapiens are enslaved cattle. With the fate of all humanity at stake, Joe commandeers the ghostly transportation and rides it back to Victorian England, where he enlists the aid of a powerful ally, the author Bram Stoker, in the battle to secure Earth. But to prevent the coming apocalyptic nightmare, they must first confront and destroy the most cunning and deadly being the world has ever known: Lord Dracula, the immortal vampire. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, including multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and the Prix Jules Verne, Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss puts a bold new science ficion spin on Bram Stoker''s classic tale of vampiric horror. An ingenious reinvention of the Nosferatu myth, Dracula Unbound is a breakneck thrill ride from one of the most revered names in science fiction and fantasy.

Twelve science fiction tales collected from the prolific career of the Hugo Award–winning author of the Helliconia trilogy. "Brian Aldiss is a master of the form." — The Guardian Nominated for the Locus Award for Best Collection In this dynamic collection, Science Fiction Grandmaster Brian W. Aldiss bridges fantasy and reality as he offers up some remarkable tales sure to enthrall fans both old and new . . . A mobile cinema breaks down in Patagonia and transforms a local family''s life forever. An enormous head appears in the sky, forcing civilization to ponder its significance. A train passenger struggles to read his book while a fellow traveler interrupts him with a tale stranger than fiction. A boy discovers what happens when he doesn''t hibernate for winter like the rest of humanity. A man captures everything he says on a digital recorder as an exercise in personal humility. An English teashop awaits you at the end of civilization . . . Aldiss came to prominence during the New Wave period of science fiction, known for experiments with form and content. His refusal to confine himself to any one style and his interest in a wide variety of subjects earned him praise in the St. James Guide to Science Fiction as "the most significant English writer of science fiction since H. G. Wells." First published in 2005, Cultural Breaks spans four decades of Aldiss''s long and distinguished career, and makes it clear that he never stopped exploring.

The entire catalog of the Hugo Award–winning author''s science fiction stories from the 1960s: all four volumes in one book. Featuring "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," the basis of the Steven Spielberg film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. "One of the best SF writers Britain has ever produced." —Iain M. Banks Hailed by the Guardian as "a master of the form," Science Fiction Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss came into his own as an author in the early 1960s. He created enough short fiction over the course of one decade to fill four volumes. This edition of The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s combines all four into one complete collection. The stories herein, gathered from diverse and often rare sources, showcase how Aldiss became one of Great Britain''s most beloved authors, and how his work exemplifies the New Wave style. He was constantly experimenting with form and content and exploring new ideas. In this collection, you will meet astronauts approaching a star-swallowing vortex, a mother and son captured by aliens and taken to a world where time runs backward, a robot who commits suicide, and a unique little boy who is closer to his teddy bear than his own mother. The scope of Aldiss''s imagination and his gifted prose are sure to challenge and delight readers both old and new. This special short story collection is a must-have for Aldiss fans, as well as an exciting introduction to the work of a true master.

First in the acclaimed Squire Quartet—from the author of "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," the basis for the movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. Thomas C. Squire, creator of the hit documentary series Frankenstein Among the Arts, one-time secret agent and founder of the Society for Popular aesthetics, is attending an international media symposium in Sicily. It is here that he becomes involved with lovely, but calculating Selina Ajdina. Alongside the drama of the conference is the story of Squire''s private life—the tale of his infidelity, the horrifying circumstances surrounding his father''s death, and the threatened future of his ancestral home in England. Winner of two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Brian W. Aldiss challenged readers'' minds for over fifty years with literate, thought-provoking, and inventive science fiction. "A complex, thoughtful and beguiling story by one of our best novelists." —William Boyd This ebook includes an introduction by the author.

From a Science Fiction Grand Master: The sweeping epic of a planet veering from one extreme atmosphere to another—and the humans trying to survive on it. Helliconia Spring introduces us to a tumultuous world that follows an eccentric orbit around a double-star system—and the satellite from Earth secretly monitoring it. Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Brian W. Aldiss then explores the social and religious divisions keeping the planet''s population in conflict even as they''re devastated by plague in Helliconia Summer, and concludes the trilogy with Helliconia Winter, which recounts both the threat of a looming, frigid age of decay and the hope of a new future. The Helliconia Trilogy is both a riveting story and a thought-provoking examination of how our destinies are shaped by the environment around us. Aldiss''s study of fields from astronomy to climatology to geobiology endow all three novels with rich details of the planet Helliconia. This riveting, century-spanning saga is a timely exploration of what climate change can mean for our own planet. "Brian Aldiss''s towering imagination places his Helliconia Trilogy far above standard science fiction" ( Daily Mail).

Four loosely linked realistic novels from "one of Britain''s most accomplished and versatile writers" ( The Guardian). A Hugo and Nebula Award–winning science fiction writer, British novelist Brian W. Aldiss also regularly "returned to earth with distinction," penning realistic works, including the Squire Quartet ( The New York Times). Comprised of "loosely interconnected novels following many characters through a twenty-first century landscape of insidious new technology and international political turmoil" ( Booklist), here is the complete series from this "ambitious and gifted writer" ( The Guardian). Life in the West: Thomas C. Squire, creator of the hit documentary series Frankenstein Among the Arts, one-time secret agent, and founder of the Society for Popular Aesthetics, is attending an international media symposium in Sicily. It is here that he becomes involved with the lovely but calculating Selina Ajdina. Alongside the drama of the conference is the story of Squire''s private life—the tale of his infidelity, the horrifying circumstances surrounding his father''s death, and the threatened future of his ancestral home in England. "[A] novel of ideas that is also eminently readable . . . a virtuoso performance." — Publishers Weekly Forgotten Life: Analyst Clement Winters is trying to write a biography of his recently deceased older brother, Joseph. Through the writings Joseph left behind—letters, diaries, notes, and confessions—Clement realizes how vastly his perception of his sibling differs from reality. As Clement tries to make sense of Joseph''s life, he uncovers dark corners of his family history and even his own existence. "A realistic novel . . . imaginative richness . . . [a] many-layered venture into the extraordinariness of ordinary lives." — The New York Times Remembrance Day: When four people are killed by a terrorist bombing in a small British seaside hotel, an American academic examines the details of the victims'' lives and histories to find the relationship between them and their fate. "Aldiss discovers fresh and arresting nuances in the dichotomy between blind chance and predestination in human affairs . . . original, disturbing, and memorable." — Kirkus Reviews Somewhere East of Life: Architectural historian Roy Burnell has been tasked with traveling the globe and listing architectural gems in danger of being destroyed. But when Burnell is in Budapest, ten years of his memory, including his sexual experiences, are stolen. In this near future, where thieves sell memories on the black market, Burnell tries to resume his life, while also searching for the "bullet" that will restore his memory. "Intelligent, funny, and hopeful in spite of itself." — Kirkus Reviews