John Brunner

'Under his own name and numerous pseudonyms, John Brunner (1934-1995) was one of the most prolific and influential science fiction authors of the late twentieth century. He began his writing career in his teens, selling his first novel in 1951 and two stories to pulp magazines the year after. His career was both typical and exemplary. Typical, because to make a living he had to write continuously and for a readership in both Britain and the United States. Exemplary because he wrote with a stamina matchedby only a few of the great science fiction writers, and with a literary quality of even fewer. He imported modernist techniques into his novels and stories and probed every major theme of his generation: robotics, racism, drugs, space exploration, technological warfare. Brunner also wrote about science fiction in essays and editorials that reveal his thoughts, tastes, and ambitions, and that reflect the changing appeal and value of science fiction over the last half of the twentieth century. The passage of time and the verdict of readers have established that at least two of his books--Stand on Zanzibar (1968) and The Sheep Look Up (1972)--have risen to the status of science fiction classics, the first for its depiction of the consequences of overpopulation and and the second for ecological collapse. These two novels and a shelf of others are well known to sf enthusiasts and scholars, but Brunner's massive output and use of multiple pseudonyms have defied a thoroughly scholarly survey of his career untilnow. Smith's book will be the first intensive look at Brunner's life and works'--