J.G. Ballard est morte

Drowned world, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Like many I first came aware of the work of J. G. Ballard because of the Steven Spielberg's movie, Empire of the Sun. The film, which was based on Ballard's book of the same name then led me to read his science fiction novels such as the Drowned World, Drought and later works of satire/social critique such as High Rise and Crash, all of which I would recommend as they deal they most interesting of topics, us.

Beyond the fantastical settings was always the idea that weirdness, violence, conflict and outrage were just a sharp knock away, that if fate realigned itself by just a few degrees we could all become demons.

A man whose life was as fascinating as any work of fiction died yesterday after a long fight with cancer.