Brian Aldiss

Years ago, during my first term at university, when I was just starting to become an avid SF reader, I read Brian Aldiss' novel 'Non-Stop'. It was one of the first SF Masterworks I read, perhaps the 3rd or 4th. I have very fond memories of it; it contributed to my new and burgeoning enthusiasm for SF and the SF Masterworks series (I have now read about 90 of them). I remember describing 'Non-Stop' to someone who'd popped in to visit, and them saying "That's a very Michael book, isn't it."

A few years later, I read 'Greybeard' on a long train journey in America. My copy was a very ugly old copy which had been a duplicate in the university Science Fiction & Fantasy Society's library. The spine was a strange, perhaps light-damaged, grey-purple colour. The cover image was of a deranged-looking old man with a wispy white beard, one squinting eye, one wide eye, and a strange tusk-like growth emerging from his cheek. A raven or crow on his shoulder smiled with a human mouth, and its head was angled in a way that suggested he was turning to a camera. The combination was like an odd family portrait, and I still don't know its significance to the book. It jarred with the story itself, which was far more somber and melancholic, being about old age and infertility. I don't recall any smiling ravens at all.

(I have since replaced both my 'Greybeard' and 'Non-Stop' with nice new editions.)

Aldiss was a guiding Wise Man on my journey to become an Olaf Stapledon super fanboy. He introduced me to Stapledon's magnum opus; as in, he wrote the introduction to it. I reread that introduction many times, trying to sort out my own thoughts on the book: reading it had been like a visionary experience, a religious conversion, a life-changing event. (Those who knew me at that time will likely remember my incessant 'Star Maker' evangelizing.) It is still one of books that has had the biggest impact on me, and Aldiss is caught up in that.

When we read, the writer's voice in our head can become like a companion. And so, Aldiss' friendly, witty voice introduced me to Stapledon's lesser known 'Nebula Maker' and 'Four Encounters', and to Robert Crossley's Stapledon biography, making me feel like I was becoming part of some small esoteric group of Stapledon superfans. In the 'Star Maker' introduction, he lists the little-known 'The Martyrdom of Man' by Winwood Reade as one of Stapledon's influences, and quotes a passage from it, because: "I hope to find others to share my enthusiasm for Winwood Reade."

The oldest book I own is an 1896 edition of 'The Martyrdom of Man'. It is like a prequel to Stapledon's two great works, covering human history from evolutionary origins to the present, with some minor proto-SF speculation about the near future, in a prose style very similar to Stapledon's: sweeping, grand, poetic. I read it while on a two-day boat journey down the Mekong river is Laos: the scenery, the prose, the subject matter, the journey - all made it a very personal experience; visionary, like a mystical pilgrimage. There are passages in which Reade guides you down 'the River of Time'. These are extremely evocative in themselves: reading them while on an actual river with Cretaceous-looking jungle surrounding you is on a whole other level. This experience was Aldiss' fault; he'd recommended it to me.

Later that year I attended my first Worldcon, Loncon3. One of the programme items was Brian Aldiss and David Wingrove in conversation. Aldiss talked about book covers, writing, reading, publishing, drinking with Kingsley Amis, experiences in World War 2, and so much more. At the end he did a signing - the queue was rather large, of course. I had with me the SF Masterworks edition of 'Helliconia' (which I still haven't read because it's an intimidating 1300-page beast), and my 1896 'The Martyrdom of Man'. After we exchanged a few words (me very nervous), he signed both of them, and with the latter scribble it felt like he was approving my membership of the weird group of Stapledon superfans.

Earlier this year I read 'Trillion Year Spree', Aldiss' history of science fiction. I would thrust it into the hands of any SF fan. It is one of my favourite books of the year. It was a joy having that familiar Aldiss voice, the Stapledon-introducing voice, enthusiastically, wittily, knowledgeably chatting away about so many books. His enthusiasm is infectious; I came away from it both more knowledgeable and more enthusiastic about SF than ever before. Seven years after 'Non-Stop' swelled my budding enthusiasm for SF, his work is still making that love grow.

The obituaries in The Bookseller and The Guardian show how obscenely accomplished his career has been, how enormously talented he was. I must read more of his work. When I got home from work last night I scrolled through the titles in Harper's 'Brian Aldiss Collection'. So many books. So many to buy. So many to read. Fantasies, comedies, autobiographies, historical fiction, short stories, "weird" books, essays. So much to discover.

I should probably start with 'Helliconia'.