New Releases by Brian Wilson Aldiss

Brian Aldiss brings vividly to life the ancient world of dreaming Thebes: a world of sun-drenched landscapes, golden dust, sphynxes, furies, hermaphroditic philosophers, ghostly apparitions and ambivalent gods.

An oddity among Aldiss works - verse translations.

After the "Accident," all males on earth become sterile. Society ages and falls apart bit by bit. First toy companies go under. Then record companies. Then cities cease to function. Now earth''s population lives in spread-out, isolated villages, with its youngest members in their 50''s. When the people of Sparcot begin to make claims of gnomes and man-eating rodents lurking around their village, Greybeard and his wife set out for the coast with the hope of finding something better. With a New Introduction from the Author! "When is science fiction not science fiction? The answer must be: When it becomes too frighteningly believable. This is." - Sacramento Bee

This special collection of short stories from Grand Master Brian Aldiss is being issued to coincide with his 80th birthday. Set to include such notable works as "Aboard the Beatitude," "A Man with His Mule," and "Head," the anthology will also feature commentaries from a group of his peers sharing their perspectives on this amazingly talented individual.

Published to accompany the exhibition held at Modern Art Oxford, 8 May - 4 July 2004.

The title story, Supertoys Last All Summer Long, soon to be a major film directed by Steven Spielberg, tells of a young boy who, whatever he does, cannot please his mother. He is puzzled by this, not realising that he is an android, a cunning construct of artificial intelligence - as is his one ally, his teddy bear. It was a story that hugely affected Stanley Kubrick (director of 2001) and Steven Spielberg (who perhaps saw in his forthcoming movie AI (Artificial Intelligence) a complement to his ET!). The other stories in the collection, whether SF, utopian fantasy or dark fable show a master writer at the peak of his considerable powers.

Curiosity was discouraged in the Greene tribe. Its members lived out their lives in cramped Quarters, hacking away at the encroaching ponics. As to where they were - that was forgotten. Roy Complain decides to find out. With the renegade priest Marapper, he moves into unmapped territory, where they make a series of discoveries which turn their universe upside-down ... Non-Stop is the classic SF novel of discovery and exploration; a brilliant evocation of a familiar setting seen through the eyes of a primitive.

WHITE MARS is Brian Aldiss'' Utopian vision of mankind''s future in space, written in collaboration with distinguished physicist Roger Penrose. Halfway through the next century, an organisation called EUPACUS, consisting of all the leading industrialised nations, has found a way to colonise Mars. They have, however, decided to protect the planet for scientific research. Human beings will live in great, self- perpetuating domes, producing their own food and oxygen, while drawing water from the planet''s core. The option of terraforming the planet, bombarding it with CFCs in order to give it an atmosphere, has been discontinued. Owing to economic collapse on earth the martian colony is cut off from the mother planet (''Downstairs'' as they call it). The head of the colony, Tim Jefferies, sets out to create a perfect society. Some, however, only want to get home, and think that the Utopian ideals (which are all broadcast back to Earth) will only hamper their rescue. An arresting novel of ideals and conflicts WHITE MARS contrasts the warmth of community in the domes with the icy wastes of Mars.

The great drama of life on Helliconia is shaped by its cosmic limitations. In fierce contrasts of climate, whole seasons last for centuries and civilizations rise and fall as the planet orbits the giant sun Freyr every 3000 years. The trilogy won the J.W. Campbell Memorial Award.

Burnell, a culture preservationist, travels throughout the world appealing to the masses to consider the detriment of war and human folly, and trying to locate a ten-year piece of his memory that has been stolen and sold as soft porn.

Three characters - Russian-born Dominic, whose marriage is coming adrift, bankrupt, high-flier Ray Tebbutt, and Peter Petrick, a dissident Czech film director, converge towards the finality of an IRA bomb episode in Great Yarmouth.

A glittering twelve story collection from Britain''s best loved Sci-Fi writer.

A collection of fantasy stories, including "Old Hundredth," "The Girl Who Sang," "The Source," "Bill Carter Takes Over," and more

From Hugo and Nebula Award winner Brian W. Aldiss comes the third book of the internationally bestselling Helliconia trilogy. A fitting culmination, not only for the trilogy . . ., but for Aldiss'' career to date . . . highly recommended.--Fantasy Review.

A planet orbiting binary suns, Helliconia has a Great Year spanning three millennia of Earth time: cultures are born in spring, flourish in summer, then die with the onset of the generations-long winter. Helliconia is emerging from its centuries-long winter. The tribes of the equatorial continent emerge from their hiding places and are again able to dispute possession of the planet with the ferocious phagors. In Oldorando, love, trade and coinage are being redisovered, This is the first volume of the Helliconia Trilogy -- a monumental saga that goes beyond anything yet created by this master among today''s imaginative writers.

Large-format book of weird/fantasy/science fiction poetry by SF master Brian W. Aldiss, with suitably Gothic drawings and coloured illustrations (reminiscent of Escher''s work but without the trompe l''oeuil effects) by talented artist Mike Wilks.

Last orders.--Creatures of apogee.--Enigma 1.--Enigma 2.--Live? Our computers will do that for us.--The monster of Ingratitude IV.--Enigma 3.--Backwater.--Enigma 4.--The expensive delicate ship.--Enigma 5.--An appearance of life.--Wired for sound.--Journey to the heartland