Aldiss, Brian W. (1925-2017), was a British science-fiction writer, critic, and editor. He wrote short stories, novels, and criticism of science-fiction literature. His many books include Space, Time and Nathaniel (1957), Non-Stop (1958), The Canopy of Time (1959), Hothouse (1962), The Hand-Reared Boy (1970), The Lurid Glare of the Comet (1986), Remembrance Days (1992), The Cretan Teat (2001), and Harm (2007). He also wrote the “Helliconia” trilogy of science-fiction novels, consisting of Helliconia Spring (1982), Helliconia Summer (1983), and Helliconia Winter (1985). His many short stories were published in such collections as Best Science Fiction Stories of Brian Aldiss (1965, revised edition 1971), Best SF Stories of Brian Aldiss (1988), A Tupolev Too Far (1993), and Supertoys Last All Summer Long (2001). With the American science-fiction writer Harry Harrison, Aldiss edited several annual editions of Best Science Fiction Stories, beginning in 1968.
Brian Wilson Aldiss was born on Aug. 25, 1925, in Norfolk, England. After serving in the British Army in World War II (1939-1945), Aldiss worked in bookselling until he became a full-time writer in 1956. He was literary editor of the Oxford Mail from 1957 to 1969. In 1973, he wrote Billion Year Spree, a history of science fiction. He revised the book with David Wingrove as Trillion Year Spree (1986). Aldiss wrote the autobiographies Bury My Heart at W. H. Smith’s: A Writing Life (1990) and The Twinkling of an Eye: My Life As an Englishman (1998). Aldiss also wrote travel literature and traditional novels. He invented a short story form called the “minisaga” that consists of exactly 50 words. He edited collections of minisagas published in 1998 and 2001. Aldiss was also an artist who painted numerous critically praised abstract paintings. He died on Aug. 19, 2017.
