Educated at West Buckland School in Devon, Aldiss joined the Royal Signals during the war and saw action in Burma. Always interested in science fiction, he had read Wells, Heinlein and P.K. Dick. Following the war, he worked as a bookseller in Oxford. His first novel, The Brightfount Diaries (1955) was in the form of a diary about a fictitious bookstore. The book was a minor success and convinced him that he should continue writing. He began contributing SF to the leading pulps, including New Worlds, Science Fantasy and Astounding. In 1960, he was elected president of the British Science Fiction Association and, from 1958 to 1969, was the editor of the Oxford Mail newspaper.He was also a successful anthologist and edited works such as Introducing SF and Best Fantasy Stories. Aldiss was also an accomplished artist and exhibited his works in Oxford. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1990. During his long career, he was responsible for over 80 books, some 300 short stories and several volumes of verse. is works include Non-Stop (1958), The Canopy of Time (1959), The Primal Urge (1961), Hothouse (1962), Greybeard (1964), An Age (1967), The Malacia Tapestry (1976), Ruins (1987), Dracula Unbound (1990), The Cretan Teat (2002), Finches of Mars (2012) and The Invention of Happiness (2013). |
