Jad Smith’s John Brunner isn’t a Forgotten Book (it was just published), but it does explore the impact of an unjustly forgotten writer–John Brunner–and his forgotten oeuvre of great books. Smith discusses Brunner’s early, pulpish work (still readable to me!) and the works ACE Books published for a decade. Then, Smith turns to Brunner’s more ambitious, challenging and longer works like his Hugo-Award winning Stand on Zanzibar (1968) which deals with our planet’s population crisis. Brunner borrowed narrative techniques from John Dos Passos to communicate the scope of his story. My favorite John Brunner novel is The Jagged Orbit (1969) where urban life deteriorates because of unlimited guns (sound familiar?) and increasing violence. If haven’t read any of John Brunner’s works, Jad Smith gives you a nice guide to where to start.
University of Illinois Press plan forthcoming books on Gregory Benford, Alfred Bester, Ray Bradbury, Lois McMaster Bujold, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Greg Egan, William Gibson, Joe Haldeman, China Miéville, and Connie Willis. If they’re as good as Jad Smith’s John Brunner I’ll be buying them all.
Well, once again you’ve piqued my curiosity, George. I don’t read science fiction on a regular basis but your mention of The Jagged Orbit caught my attention. I’ll be watching for it.
With the exception of Benford, Bester, and Egan, I think I’ve read at least one thing by most of these folks – lots by Connie Willis and Ray Bradbury. Lois McMaster Bujold is, for me, unreadable.
I struggle with Lois McMaster Bujold, too, Beth. This Science Fiction series should be in every library. THE JAGGED ORBIT is well worth reading. I’ll send you a copy.
Nice one. I picked up STAND ON ZANZIBAR a while ago because I’m a big fan of Dos Passos’s USA. One of these days…
Jeff, you’ll appreciate how Brunner uses Dos Passos’ narrative techniques to tell his story. Brunner won a Hugo Award for best novel with STAND ON ZANZIBAR. Well deserved!
Sounds great George and the list of forthcoming books really mouthwatering! Cheers.
You would enjoy Jad Smith’s guide to John Brunner’s works, Sergio. If the future volumes in this series are just as good, SF readers will be delighted!
It is remarkable how much Brunner’s star seems to have fallen over the last couple of decades…a book like this might spark some interest, one could hope. The sea-change in Brunner’s work from the late ’60s onward paralleled and might’ve been the only congruent literary explosion to Silverberg’s digging in from the mid-’60s onward to the mid ’70s…but, unfortunately, after THE SHOCKWAVE RIDER was bungled by its US publisher, Brunner never had a triumphal LORD VALENTINE’S CASTLE sort of return…
You’re right, Todd. John Brunner’s career went off the tracks after THE SHOCKWAVE RIDER.
I’ve read Sanctuary in the Sky, Enigma from Tantalus, The Squares of the City, Stand on Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up by him. I’ve meant to read Shockwave Rider, but never get around to it. Fine author.
Rick, you would really enjoy Brunner’s THE JAGGED ORBIT.
John Brunner has been unfortuately neglected. I have this on order and am looking forward to some of the other volumes-esp the Bester, Dick and Mieville. I also have never been able to get thru a novel by Bujold.
Steve, I have the same problem with Bujold. Reading her books is like wading through molasses. I don’t understand how Bujold’s novels have won so many awards.
I don’t care much for Bujold either, but she seems to move a lot of books.
Drongo, she sells tons of books and wins awards. I find both of those events inexplicable.
Rick, you definitely don’t want the first US edition of THE SHOCKWAVE RIDER, where the US editor cleverly decided to make two characters who were brothers with similar names into one character…because clearly Brunner was having difficulty remembering his character’s name. Brunner, who had already had problems with US copyediting in minor ways in previous books, was understandably flabbergasted.
Brunner was apoplectic with the “editing” of the U. S. edition of THE SHOCKWAVE RIDER, Todd. And, I don’t blame him.
George, I gather Brunner expected THE GREAT STEAMBOAT RACE historical novel to be his equivalent of Eckert’s A SORROW IN HIS HEART…the non-fantasticated book that would turn his career around commercially. Sadly, unlike THE SAND PEBBLES for McKenna or even the suspense novel 34-EAST for Alfred Coppel, RACE fizzled badly in the market.
Ed Gorman: http://newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com/2006/12/careers-john-brunner_16.html
I have a copy of THE GREAT STEAMBOAT RACE, Todd, but I haven’t read it. You’re right: Brunner thought THE GREAT STEAMBOAT RACE would be his “breakthrough book” but it flopped badly. Brunner never recovered from that disappointment.
Sorry, the Eckert is called A SORROW IN OUR HEART…
As with many other authors, the industry did not treat Brunner kindly. His big “breakout” book should have been MANALIVE, a topical novelwritten in the mid 1960s which many felt would do for Brunner what LUCKY JIM did for Kingsley Amis. Due to a number of screwups on the part of the publisher, the book kept getting delayed until, finally, it’s subject matter was no longer topical. It remains unpublished, although a brief except was published in THE BOOK OF JOHN BRUNNER (1976).
Max Curfew was Brunner’s foray into series characters. Curfew was a Black spy with a distrust of Whites; he lasted through four books. The first three books (those I have read) were exciting reads. With the right promotion, the series could have become a best-selling money-machine for Brunner. His publisher demanded that Brunner’s next book in the series have a specific plot that he (the publisher) thought would be great; the plot the published wanted had alr4eady been used in an earlier book in the series — the publisher had never even read the books! The final Max Curfew, HONKY IN THE WOODPILE, was never published in the US.
Then came THE SHOCKWAVE RIDER debacle.
THE GREAT STEAMBOAT RACE was a major effort and a darned good read, although I doubt if it would have made the best-seller lists. Instead, I feel it should have been a steady, albeit not outstanding, seller — similarto Gary Jennings’ Aztec books or to Herbert’s Dune in its early days. The publisher evidently decided not to go that way and the book sank. It probably did not help that there were several books out that dealt with the same historical event. (I believe I had read two similar novels, one being a Manly Wade Wellman YA book, shortly before Brunner’s book came out. Wellman had also published a non-fiction book about the race previously.)
Brunner was in bad health for the last ten or fifteen years of his life and his condition worsened after the death of his first wife. I met him once, briefly, and his spoke of his career disappointments without rancor. He was only 60 when he died. He was a bright, innovative author who kept one foot firmly in the SF tradition while pushing the boundaries into new and exciting directions.
Jerry, thanks for the wonderful, eloquent post! Like you, I’m a big admirer of Brunner’s work. It’s tragic that such a talent was done in by a stupid series of publishing blunders. I’m just trying to help a new audience find Brunner’s work so he gets the respect he’s due.
The Max Curfew novels would fit perfectly in with Stark House Press. (Hint. Hint.)
I totally agree, Jerry. I’d love to see the Max Curfew novels reprinted. Stark House is the obvious candidate.
That limns his problems well (he wasn’t temperate with fools, which probably didn’t help him with various publishers)…though Jennings’s AZTEC was a bestseller, too, and is another example of Just Another Fantasy/SF writer “suddenly” bursting through to a mass audience…
Todd, it’s vexing that Brunner’s STAND ON ZANZIBAR wasn’t his “break-through book.” It’s cleverly constructed and delivers a powerful message.
How come so many Forgotten Books posts start out with, “This isn’t really a forgotten book, but…?”
After posting over 200 FORGOTTEN BOOKS entries, Bob, I occasionally like to vary the formula a little. I’m sure other FFB posters have their own reasons for saying, “This isn’t really a forgotten book, but…”