- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: HarperPaperbacks; New edition edition (12 Sep 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0586090630
- ISBN-13: 978-0586090633
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 1.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 281,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A collection of stories which are wide-ranging in subject matter and innovative in form. The stories in the book draw their ideas from today's headlines and, with a twist of the author's imagination, give them new perspectives.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's hard to believe Ballard wrote these stories before Bush (Jr), Blair, the internet, 24 hr news, twitter, phone hacking etc.; the themes they explore feel pointedly relevant today. The best kind of science fiction, these stories take place in a world that is entirely believable and familiar: just like the real world, in fact, but with one strand pulled out and examined in astute detail. Highly recommended.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Another excellent collection of short stories from J G Ballard ranging from the satirical "Love In A Colder Climate" (priests enforcing compulsory sexual National Service to boost a declining population) and "The Secret History of World War 3" (we miss all 4 1/2 minutes of WWW III as too engrossed in rolling news of President Reagan's health to notice)to the more terrifying vision of "The Enormous Space".
Clever use of form in "Answers To A Questionnaire" and "Index" (the stories are cleverly constructed as just that).
Clever use of form in "Answers To A Questionnaire" and "Index" (the stories are cleverly constructed as just that).
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
The prodigal Sun
19 Nov 1999
Format:Hardcover
This remarkable collection demonstrates once again how Ballard is one of literature's best kept secrets. Fourteen intelligent, intense and vividly written short stories challenge our theories of the recent future. It is one of the mysteries of our own time that someone casting as long a shadow as does Ballard, is virtually unknown in his native England, let alone America. This book, with its visions of dystopia, contains some very intriguing ideas: A middle east guerrilla has an idea for ending the fighting there, only to discover that the UN has a quite different agenda. World War III is played out against the larger concerns of President Reagan's health problems. The index from an unknown and perhaps suppressed autobiography provides tantalizing details to the life and times of one of this century's most anonymous titans. Ballard shines brightest in the short form; these stories are no exception. Enjoy!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Enthralling!
19 Jan 2001
Format:Paperback
These are some of the most creative short stories I've read. Ever. A sailor wrecks his chemical-laden ship on a remote Caribbean island, and the island environment reacts surprisingly well. A young assassin escapes an English mental institution and begins targeting astronauts. A man locks himself in his house and locks the rest of the world out...forever. Intelligently written, well-researched, and ever fascinating, these stories represent Ballard at his visionary best. I couldn't put it down!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Good companion to other collections
18 July 2001
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Ballard novels have never really impressed me - they seem too unfocused and convoluted. I am a big fan, however, of his short stories - generally well-written, interestingly plotted, and providing just the right amount of alienation, making even a mundane situation seem like an otherworldly experience. "The Best Short Stories of..." is a great place to start, with many fiction and sci-fi classics, a great representation of the short story form. "War Fever" is a worthy follow-up. I don't know why it took me so long to try these stories, but they are definitely worth it. Here, he doesn't really go out of his way to write in any established genre (sci-fi, horror), but his stories seem to drift that way ever so slightly, as if trying to just tread the edge of such. He uses some interesting variations with form as well, seeing what the reader will accept as a story: a questionnaire? An index? Both are equally valid, and Ballard uses them to great effect. Give this collection a try and see how well the stories hold up to his more classic works. I think you'll find that his output from the mid to late '80s was just as good.
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