Editing Brian Aldiss (section)

==Life and career==
===Early life, education and military service===
Brian Wilson Aldiss was born on 18 August 1925,<ref>{{cite news|date=22 August 2017|work=The New York Times|location=EU: Britain|title=Obit: Brian Aldiss|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/08/22/world/europe/ap-eu-britain-obit-brian-aldiss.html}}</ref> above his paternal grandfather's [[draper]]'s shop in [[Dereham]], [[Norfolk]]. When Aldiss's grandfather died, his father, Bill (the younger of two sons), sold his share in the shop and the family left Dereham. Aldiss's mother, Dot, was the daughter of a builder.<ref name=andrewbrown>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jun/16/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.artsandhumanities | work=The Guardian | first=Andrew | last=Brown | title=Profile: Brian Aldiss | date=16 June 2001 | location=London}}</ref> He had an older sister who was stillborn and a younger sister.<ref name="New York Times: Brian Aldiss, Author of Science Fiction and Much More, Dies at 92" /> As a three-year-old, Aldiss started to write stories which his mother would bind and put on a shelf.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/my-secret-life-brian-aldiss-87-author-8567603.html | location=London | work=The Independent | first=Charlie | last=Cooper | title=My Secret Life: Brian Aldiss, 87, author | date=13 April 2013}}</ref>

At the age of 6, Aldiss went to [[Framlingham College]], but moved to [[Devon]] and was sent to board at [[West Buckland School]] in 1939 after the outbreak of [[World War II]].<ref name=andrewbrown/> As a child, he discovered the pulp magazine ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]''. He eventually read all the novels by [[H. G. Wells]], [[Robert A. Heinlein|Robert Heinlein]], and [[Philip K. Dick]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Roberts|first=Sam|date=24 August 2017|title=Brian Aldiss, Author of Science Fiction and Much More, Dies at 92|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/books/brian-aldiss-author-of-science-fiction-and-much-more-dies-at-92.html|access-date=27 January 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1943, he joined the [[Royal Signals]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/The-World-Of-Brian-Aldiss/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/The-World-Of-Brian-Aldiss/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Brian Aldiss at 90: 'British readers had a prejudice against science fiction'|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=31 October 2015|access-date=21 August 2017|last1=Kelly|first1=Guy}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and saw military action in [[British rule in Burma|Burma]].<ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/13/brian-aldiss-science-fiction-author-review|title=Brian Aldiss: 'These days I don't read any science fiction. I only read Tolstoy'|first=Stuart|last=Kelly|date=13 December 2013|access-date=21 August 2017|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

===Writing and publishing===
His army experience inspired the novel ''Hothouse''<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1038/454698a|title=Q&A: Turning up the heat on sci-fi|year=2008|last1=Henderson|first1=Caspar|journal=Nature|volume=454|issue=7205|page=698|bibcode=2008Natur.454..698H|s2cid=5161949|doi-access=free}}</ref> and the Horatio Stubbs second and third books, ''A Soldier Erect'' and ''A Rude Awakening'', respectively.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Aldiss, Brian W |url=http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/aldiss_brian_w |encyclopedia=SFE: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |author1-last=Clute |author1-first=John |author2-last=Pringle |author2-first=David |date=22 August 2017 |access-date=22 August 2017}}</ref>

After the war, he worked as a bookseller in [[Oxford]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jun/16/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.artsandhumanities|title=Master of the universes: Brian Aldiss|first=Andrew|last=Brown|date=15 June 2001|access-date=21 August 2017|work=The Guardian}}</ref> He also wrote a number of short pieces for a booksellers' trade journal about life in a fictitious bookshop, which attracted the attention of Charles Monteith, an editor at the publisher [[Faber and Faber]].<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Brian Aldiss | date=15 May 2003 | title=Brian Aldiss – Creating 'The Brightfount Diaries' (37/79) |medium=Motion picture | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ_YRljmhgA | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211123/KJ_YRljmhgA| archive-date=23 November 2021 | url-status=live| publisher=[[Web of Stories]]|quote=So finally, I wrote to the Editor and said, you know you don't have a comic column. Don't you think that '[[The Bookseller]]' would do better if it had a comic column every week? I would like to write such a column for you. He wrote back and said, come and see me. Bring some of your comic columns. I wrote six of them, and since I was working, in fact, for Blackwells, Blackwell became Brightfount and my bookshop was Brightfounts... The Brightfount Diaries, and my pseudonym was not Aldiss, but Pica, a small type. OK. ... I received a very nice letter from Faber & Faber, saying, 'Dear Mr Aldiss, We all enjoy 'The Brightfount Diaries'. We wondered if you'd care to make them into a book'. Make them into a book! You know, I didn't have to submit anything – they asked me! Well, I mean, there's the root of arrogance for you.}}{{cbignore}}</ref> As a result, Faber and Faber published Aldiss's first book, ''The Brightfount Diaries'' (1955), a 200-page novel in diary form about the life of a sales assistant in a bookshop.

About this time he also began to write science fiction for various magazines. According to [[ISFDB]], his first [[speculative fiction]] in print was the [[short story]] ''Criminal Record'', published by [[John Carnell]] in the July 1954 issue of ''[[Science Fantasy (magazine)|Science Fantasy]]''.<ref name=isfdb/> Several of his stories appeared in 1955, including three in monthly issues of ''[[New Worlds (magazine)|New Worlds]]'',<ref name="isfdb"/> also edited by Carnell.<!-- supported by our magazine articles -->

In 1954, ''[[The Observer]]'' newspaper ran a competition for a short story set in the year 2500. Aldiss's story ''Not For An Age'' was ranked third following a reader vote.<ref>{{cite news|title=Short Story, Ballot|work=The Observer|date=16 January 1955 |page= 9}}</ref>

''The Brightfount Diaries'' had been a minor success, and Faber asked Aldiss if he had any more writing they could look at with a view to publishing. Aldiss confessed to being a science fiction author, to the delight of the publishers, who had a number of [[science fiction fandom|science fiction fans]] in high places, and so his first science fiction book was published, a collection of short stories entitled ''Space, Time and Nathaniel'' (Faber, 1957). By this time, his earnings from writing matched his wages in the bookshop, and he made the decision to become a full-time writer.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}
[[File:Brian Aldiss (3).jpg|left|thumb|upright|In 2012]]
Aldiss led the voting for Most Promising New Author of 1958 at the next year's [[Worldcon]], but finished behind "no award".<ref name=SFAwards/> He was elected president of the [[British Science Fiction Association]] in 1960. He was the literary editor of the ''Oxford Mail'' newspaper from 1958 to 1969.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Around 1964, he and long-time collaborator [[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison]] started the first ever journal of science fiction criticism, ''Science Fiction Horizons'', which during its brief span of two issues published articles and reviews by such authors as [[James Blish]], and featured a discussion among Aldiss, [[C. S. Lewis]], and [[Kingsley Amis]] in the first issue<ref>{{cite web|title=SF Horizons, No. 1|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?302524 |website=isfdb.org|publisher=Al von Ruff|access-date=24 August 2017}}</ref> and an interview with [[William S. Burroughs]] in the second.<ref>{{cite web|title=SF Horizons, No. 2|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?302525 |website=isfdb.org|publisher=Al von Ruff|access-date=24 August 2017}}</ref> In 1967 [[Algis Budrys]] listed Aldiss, [[J. G. Ballard]], [[Roger Zelazny]] and [[Samuel R. Delany]] as "an earthshaking new kind of" writers, and leaders of the [[New Wave (science fiction)|New Wave]].<ref name="budrys196710">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Budrys
 |first=Algis
 |date=October 1967
 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v26n01_1967-10_modified#page/n175/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=188–194
}}</ref> Aldiss supported the New Wave movement, helping the magazine New Worlds to get financial backing from a 1967 Arts Council grant and publishing some of his more experimental work in the magazine.<ref name="sf-encyclopedia.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/aldiss_brian_w|title=Authors : Aldiss, Brian W : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia}}</ref>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Scifi omnibus.JPG|thumb|175px|The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1975). Paperback edition. 36 stories - 616 pages]] -->
Besides his own writings, he edited a number of anthologies. For Faber he edited ''Introducing SF'', a collection of stories typifying various themes of science fiction, and ''Best Fantasy Stories''. In 1961, he edited an anthology of reprinted short science fiction for the British paperback publisher [[Penguin Books]] under the title ''Penguin Science Fiction''. This was remarkably successful, went into numerous reprints, and was followed up by two further anthologies: ''More Penguin Science Fiction'' (1963) and ''Yet More Penguin Science Fiction'' (1964). The later anthologies enjoyed the same success as the first, and all three were eventually published together as ''The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus'' (1973), which also went into a number of reprints. In the 1970s, he produced several large collections of classic grand-scale science fiction, under the titles ''Space Opera'' (1974), ''Space Odysseys'' (1975), ''Galactic Empires'' (1976), ''Evil Earths'' (1976) and ''Perilous Planets'' (1978). Around this time, he edited a large-format volume ''Science Fiction Art'' (1975), with selections of artwork from the magazines and [[pulp magazines|pulps]].

In response to the results from the [[space probe|planetary probes]] of the 1960s and 1970s, which showed that [[Venus]] was completely unlike the hot, tropical jungle usually depicted in science fiction, Aldiss and Harrison edited an anthology ''[[Farewell, Fantastic Venus]]'', reprinting stories based on the pre-probe ideas of Venus. He also edited, with Harrison, a series of anthologies ''The Year's Best Science Fiction'' (Nos. 1–9, 1968–1976).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.locusmag.com/2000/Issues/08/Aldiss.html|title=Locus Online: Brian Aldiss interview (excerpts)|website=locusmag.com|access-date=21 August 2017}}</ref>

Aldiss invented a form of extremely short story called the ''[[minisaga|mini-saga]]''. ''The Daily Telegraph'' hosted a competition for the best mini-saga for several years, and Aldiss was the judge.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4717359/Your-chance-to-enter-the-Daily-Telegraph-Mini-saga-Competition-1999.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416161529/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4717359/Your-chance-to-enter-the-Daily-Telegraph-Mini-saga-Competition-1999.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=16 April 2015 | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Your chance to enter the Daily Telegraph Mini-saga Competition 1999 | date=27 April 1999 | location=London}}</ref> He edited several anthologies of the best mini-sagas.

[[File:BRIAN ALDISS Metropolis.jpg|thumb|250px|'Metropolis' limited edition print by Brian Aldiss]]
Aldiss travelled to Yugoslavia, where he met fans in [[Ljubljana, Slovenia]] and published a travel book about Yugoslavia entitled ''Cities and Stones'' (1966), his only work in the genre.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://brianaldiss.co.uk/writing/non-fiction/non-fiction-a-p/cities-stones/|title=Brian Aldiss – Cities & Stones|website=brianaldiss.co.uk|date=7 May 2011|access-date=21 August 2017}}</ref> He published an alternative-history fantasy story, "The Day of the Doomed King" (1968), about Serbian kings in the Middle Ages, and wrote a novel called ''[[The Malacia Tapestry]]'', about an alternative Dalmatia.

===Art===
In addition to a highly successful career as a writer, Aldiss was an accomplished [[artist]]. His first solo exhibition, ''The Other Hemisphere'', was held in [[Oxford]], August–September 2010, and the exhibition's centrepiece ''Metropolis'' (see figure) has since been released as a limited edition fine art print.<ref name=metroart>{{cite web |url=http://www.wire-frame.net/fineart.html#Metropolis |title=wire-frame • giclée prints |publisher=Wire-frame fine art publishing (wire-frame.net) |access-date=18 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227124835/http://www.wire-frame.net/fineart.html#Metropolis |archive-date=27 December 2012 }}</ref> (The exhibition title denotes the writer/artist's notion, "words streaming from one side of his brain inspiring images in what he calls 'the other hemisphere'".)<ref name=metroart/>

===Personal life===
In 1948, Aldiss married Olive Fortescue, secretary to the owner of Sanders' bookseller's in Oxford, where he had worked since 1947.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He had two children from his first marriage: Clive in 1955 and Caroline Wendy in 1959, but the marriage "finally collapsed" in 1959 and dissolved in 1965.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-brian-aldiss-and-anthony-storr-1578953.html|title=HOW WE MET: BRIAN ALDISS AND ANTHONY STORR|date=22 October 1995|website=The Independent|access-date=21 August 2017}}</ref>

In 1965, he married his second wife, Margaret Christie Manson (daughter of John Alexander Christie Manson, an aeronautical engineer),<ref>Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, vol. 2, R. Reginald, 1979, p. 793</ref> a Scot and secretary to the editor of the ''[[Oxford Mail]]''; Aldiss was 40, and she 31.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> They lived in Oxford and had two children together, Tim and Charlotte.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="independent.co.uk"/> She died in 1997.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===Death===
Aldiss died at his home in [[Headington]], Oxford, on 19 August 2017, the day after his 92nd birthday.<ref>{{Cite web|date=21 August 2017|title=Science fiction author Brian Aldiss dies aged 92|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/21/science-fiction-author-brian-aldiss-dies-aged-92|access-date=27 January 2022|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite ODNB |last=Guttridge |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Guttridge |date=14 January 2021 |title=Aldiss, Brian Wilson (1925–2017), author |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380158}}</ref>