DANGEROUS VISIONS AND NEW WORLDS: RADICAL SCIENCE FICTION, 1950-1985
If you’re a fan of literary science fiction this book is absolutely essential reading
TEN MONOLOGUES FROM THE LIVES OF THE SERIAL KILLERS
A 1994 “documentary” about serial killers that mixes actual confessions by mass murderers with fictional works by J.G. Ballard, Roberta Lannes and Henry Rollins
1996: The Year in Bedlam
From a cinematic standpoint 1996 can be viewed as the beginning of the end on two counts
AVENTINE
A most interesting science fiction pastiche, consisting of stories set in and around an interplanetary resort called Aventine.
CRASH
There’s never been another novel like this one, and that includes those of its author, the brilliant James Graham Ballard. CRASH was adapted from a short piece that initially appeared in Ballard’s ATROCITY EXHIBITION (1969).
J.G. Ballard and the Progeny of HIGH-RISE
In the distinguished lexicon of England’s J.G. Ballard (1930-2009) his 1975 novel HIGH-RISE looms large. A notably brutal yet staunchly intellectual thriller set in a London-based residential high rise whose tenants devolve into lawlessness and savagery,
THE ATROCITY EXHIBITION
With this nonlinear epic, filmmaker Jonathan Reiss adapted what is certainly one of the most unfilmable books of all time: THE ATROCITY EXHIBITION by J.G. Ballard
CRASH (1996)
What was the best film of 1996? That’s easy: David Cronenberg’s CRASH!
2009: Bedlam in Print
To those who claim the horror story/novel is dead—or the horror novel is worn out, or fiction in general is dead, or whatever—I’ve got this to say: you haven’t been paying attention
2008: Bedlam in Print
Here it is: my third annual look back at the year’s literary output