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EUROPE'S MOST VISITED SF/F WEB SITE |
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Brian Aldiss: the Master of Glacial Helliconia
Brian Aldiss, one of Britain's greatest authors, interviewed. He
holds forth to our Hunty on why he was glad Michael Moorcock appeared
in the sixties, why his Helliconia trilogy is just about a change
in the weather, and the terrible unwisdom of terraforming Mars.
I am a writer and always was; being a writer is an integral part of my identity. Being published, being well regarded, is a component of that identity. Do you use an agent and if so, who? Of course I have a literary agent; I also have a publicity agent and a secretary. How did your early years from your work as a writer?
When spending a year in Sumatra, I also ran a theatre and painted murals. On return to England, I discovered in me an aversion to regular work. I could not get into university. I began to write again, plays, short stories, novels, poems. As I still do.
What changes have you noted in the science fiction genre along the years? It was fortunate that Mike Moorcock came along in the Sixties. SF life opened up with the advent of Mike's "New Worlds". A more intelligent readership developed, a more intelligent and with-it type of people flocked in to conventions and conferences. Current new writers get the benefit of that movement. I wrote "Billion Year Spree" to make my own kind of writing more tenable - every writer worth his salt has to do something of the kind. And there were other objectives. From your question, it seems you have never heard of the massive revision, "Trillion Year Spree", while last year Stratus brought out yet another edition, with some additions. How would you describe your Helliconia trilogy? The Helliconia trilogy is just about a change in the weather - very English. Bear in mind I was ill when I wrote it. There are nebulous plans for filming it, but so there are on seven other novels and books. It keeps the adrenaline going but one is wise not to be too hopeful. Talking about movies, how did you find the production of the film A.I., based on your 'Supertoys' story? I have said all I can say about working with Stanley Kubrick in an article which I think appears on my website. I remain very friendly with the Kubrick family, who are lovely. Stanley was a great filmmaker, although I disagreed with him on various points - for instance, could not stomach the Blue Fairy! So I threw up, so he threw me out! Stanley was never content to do over again what he had done before. I go along with that. That we had in common. Outside writing, do you have any hobbies? Happiness, hanging about. What made you choose the theme of your latest novel, White Mars? "White Mars" was written because I felt the world needed a utopia whether they liked it or not. In essence, it had been an ambition for years - nothing to do with Kim Robinson's trilogy. Setting it on a remote island had been done: see Thomas More and Aldous Huxley. I wanted a utopia to burst forth in the midst of Europe. I tried Norway, which seemed a likely spot. But I feared that someone might nuke Norway if they tried it on. So Mars it had to be, There my utopia can be established: it's cooperate or perish on Mars. Are you against terraforming Mars? Of course I am against the unwisdom of terraforming Mars. For what? To turn it into a second-rate terrestrial suburb, run by the military? No, we need vision! The planet itself might revolt against any rash engineering experiments. Besides, how much would such a venture cost? The objective of Mars would be as a launch pad for the much greater adventure, the leap across a far vaster space to the satellites of Jupiter, and then on, ever outward. Why "White"? You have to read the book. Painful though that may be. What advice would you give to budding new authors? While I was writing the Mars book in collaboration with Sir Roger Penrose, my wife was dying of cancer. You have to keep on keeping on, through shit and misery as well as joy. The only advice you can give a young writer is to keep on writing. It is comparatively easy to become a writer; staying a writer, resisting formulaic work, generating one's own creativity - that's a much tougher matter. Such things are never easy; nor should they be. It's not the market that fucks you up - it's your character! What are you working on at the moment? I had two novels published this summer. "The Cretan Teat" and "Super-State". Did you discuss them? The latter was written in what for me was experimental style, where the narrative was subsumed into various episodes, which the reader can gradually piece together to see the whole jigsaw of Europe. I'm now trying the same technique, with variations, concentrating on a small Oxfordshire village, Hampden Ferrers. The novel will appear next year (we hope) from Little Brown, entitled "Affairs in Hampden Ferrers". It's about love and the cosmos. Have you had any nice feedback on your work? Feedback is a pleasant thing. I get a lot of letters from unexpected people in unexpected places. Also, I get invited to talk in unexpected places. My publishers in Paris are the best in the world, and my reception there much the most intelligent (compare the footling reviews of "Super-State" in Britain with the well-considered criticisms in France.) The French literary establishment is less commercially minded than in Britain or the U.S.A., at least in my experience.
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OTHER CONTENT - January 2003
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My
late adolescence was spent in the army in the East - as related
in "Twinkling". Those years of danger and adventure naturally
had a strong influence on me. I wrote even then, and ran a Section
magazine for some while. 
It
wasn't EASY by it was fun and remains that way. Not caring greatly
about fame or making money, I have had - am having - a terrific
life. 
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