Ballard, J. G. (1930-2009), was a popular British author of science-fiction novels and short stories. Much of his fiction is grim and violent. Ballard often portrayed a world damaged by the misuse of modern technology.
In his first four novels, Ballard described worldwide catastrophes that destroy modern civilization. They are high winds in The Wind from Nowhere (1962) and melting icecaps in The Drowned World (1962). The world is threatened by drought in The Burning World (1964, revised as The Drought, 1965), and by a mysterious spreading disease in The Crystal World (1966). Several of his other novels describe widespread violence in modern society. For example, Crash (1973) centers on unsettling automobile accidents. Other novels with violent themes include Concrete Island (1974) and High-Rise (1975).
Ballard explored the violence that lies beneath apparently normal modern life in Rushing to Paradise (1994), Cocaine Nights (1996), and Super-Cannes (2000). His other novels include The Unlimited Dream Company (1979), Running Wild (1988), Millennium People (2003), and Kingdom Come (2006). Ballard’s many short stories were collected in The Complete Short Stories (2001).
James Graham Ballard was born on Nov. 15, 1930, in Shanghai, China, where his father was a businessman. Ballard began selling short stories to science-fiction magazines in the mid-1950’s. He and his family were held in a Japanese prison camp in Shanghai from 1943 to 1945, during World War II. His experiences there inspired the partly autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun (1984) and a sequel, The Kindness of Women (1991). Ballard died on April 19, 2009.
