FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE COMPLETE STORIES OF J. G. BALLARD

The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard (2009)

Well, not really.  This is a massive (1199 pages of small type) collection of 99 stories.  I've included a list of Ballard's stories not in this book at the end of this post.

I discussed Ballard's work earlier this week in Monday's post.  His stories are poetic, sometimes outrageous, and always thought-provoking.  His stories can be funny -- not ha-ha, slap your knee funny, but a sly kind of wit that sneaks up on you and whacks you on the side of the head.  His themes of the 20th century psyche and obsession with violence -- both direct and sublimated -- and fame and sex can be disturbing but always on point and important in understanding our age.  Reading Ballard at times can be difficult but always rewarding.

How many of these have you read?

The contents:

• Prima Belladonna (from Science Fantasy, December 1956)
• Escapement (from New Worlds Science Fiction, December 1956)
• The Concentration City [a.p.a. Build-Up] (from New Worlds Science Fiction, January 1957)
• Venus Smiles [a.p.a. Mobile] (from Science Fantasy, June 1957)
• Manhole 69 (from New Worlds Science Fiction, November 1957)
• Track 12 (from New Worlds Science Fiction, April 1958)
• The Waiting Grounds (from New Worlds Science Fiction, November 1959)
• Now:  Zero (from Science Fantasy, December 1959)
• The Sound-Sweep [a.p.a The Sound Sweep] (from Science Fantasy, February 1960)
• Zone of Terror (from New Worlds Science Fiction, March 1960)
• Chronopolis (from New Worlds Science Fiction, June 1960)
• The Voices of Time (from New Worlds Science Fiction, October 1960)
• The Last Word of Mr. Goddard (from Science Fantasy, October 1960)
• Studio 5, The Stars (from, Science Fantasy, February 1961)
• Deep End (from New Worlds Science Fiction, May 1961)
• The Overloaded Man (from New Worlds Science Fiction, July 1961)
• Mr F. Is Mr F. (from Science Fantasy, August 1961)
• Billennium (from New Worlds Science Fiction, November 1961)
• The Gentle Assassin (from New Worlds Science Fiction, December 1961)
• The Insane Ones (from Amazing Stories, January 1962)
• The Garden of Time (from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Science Fiction, February 1962)
• The Thousand Deaths of Stellavista (from Amazing Stories, March 1962)
• Thirteen to Centaurus (from Amazing Stories, April 1962)
• Passport to Eternity (from Amazing Stories, June 1962)
• The Cage of Sand (from New Worlds Science Fiction, June 1962)
• The Watch-towers [a.p.a. The Watchtowers] (from Science Fantasy, June 1962)
• The Singing Statues (from Fantastic Stories of Imagination, July 1962)
• The Man on the 99th Floor (from New Worlds Science Fiction, July 1962)
• The Subliminal Man (from New Worlds Science Fiction, January 1963)
• The Reptile Enclosure [a.p.a. The Sherrington Theory] (from Amazing Stories, March 1963)
• A Question of Re-Entry (from Fantastic Stories of Imagination, March 1963)
• The Time-Tombs (from If, March 1963)
• Now Wakes the Sea (from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1963)
• The Venus Hunters (from Amazing Stories, June 1963)
• End-Game [a.p.a. End Game] (from New Worlds Science Fiction, June 1963)
• Minus One (from Science Fantasy, June 1963)
• The Sudden Afternoon (from Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, September 1963)
• The Screen Game (from Fantastic Stories of Imagination, OcTober 1963)
• Time of Passage (from Science Fantasy, February 1964)
• Prisoner of the Coral Deep (from Argosy [UK], March 1964)
• The Lost Leonardo (from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1964)
• The Terminal Beach (from New Worlds Science Fiction, March 1964)
• The Illuminated Man (from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1964)
• The Delta at Sunset (from Ballard's collection The Terminal Beach, 1964)
• The Drowned Giant [a.p.a. Souvenir] (from Ballard's collection The Terminal Beach, 1964)
• The Gioconda of the Twilight Noon (from Ballard's collection The Terminal Beach, 1964)
• Volcano Dances (from Ballard's collection The Terminal Beach, 1964)
• The Beach Murders [a.p.a. Confetti Royale] (from Rogue, February/March 1966)
• The Day of Forever (from Ballard's collection The Impossible Man and Other Stories, 1966)
• The Impossible Man (from Ballard's collection The Impossible Man and Other Stories, 1966)
• Storm-Bird, Storm-Dreamer [a.p.a. Storm Bird, Storm Dreamer] (from Ballard's collection The Impossible Man and Other Stories, 1966)
• Tomorrow Is a Million Years (from Argosy [UK], October 1966)
• The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race (from Ambit #29, 1966)
• Cry Hope, Cry Fury! (from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1967)
• The Recognition (from Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison, 1967)
• The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D (from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1967)
• Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan (from International Times, [issue unknown] 1968)
• The Dead Astronaut (from Playboy, May 1968)
• The Comsat Angels (from If, December 1968)
• The Killing Ground (from New Worlds, March 1969)
• A Place and a Time to Die (from New Worlds, September-October 1969)
• Say Goodbye to the Wind (from Fantastic, August 1970)
• The Greatest Television Show on Earth (from Ambit #53, 1972)
• My Dream of Flying to Wake Island (from Ambit #60. 1974)
• The Air Disaster (from Bananas, January 1975)
• Low-Flying Aircraft (from Bananas, Summer 1975)
• The Life and Death of God (from Ambit #66, 1976)
• Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown (from Bananas, [unknown issue] 1976)  NOTE:  This story is totally different from one of the same title that appeared in Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibit, 1967; that story for some reason does not appear in The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard)
• The Sixty Minute Zoom (from Bananas, [unknown issue] 1976)
• The Smile (from Bananas, [unknown issue, 1976)
• The Ultimate City (from Ballard's collection Low-Flying Aircraft and Other Stories, 1976)
• The Dead Time (from Bananas, [unknown issue] 1977)
• The Index (from Bananas, Summer 1977)
• The Intensive Care Unit (from Ambit #72, 1977)
• Theatre of War (from Bananas, [unknown issue] 1977)
• Having a Wonderful Time (from Bananas, [unknown issue], 1978]
• One Afternoon at Utah Beach (from Anticipations, edited by Christopher Priest, 1978)
• Zodiac 2000 (from Ambit #75, 1978)
• Motel Architecture (from Bananas, [unknown issue] 1978)
• A Host of Furious Fancies (from Time Out [unknown issue] 1978)
• News from the Sun (from Ambit #87, 1981)
• Memories of the Space Age (from Interzone, Summer 1982)
• Report on an Unidentified Space Station (from City Limits, [unknown issue] 1982}
• The Object of the Attack (from Interzone, Autumn 1984)
• Answers to a Questionnaire (from Ambit, [unknown issue] 1985)
• The Man Who Walked on the Moon (from Interzone, Autumn 1985)
• The Secret History of World War 3 (from Ambit #114, 1988)
• Love in a Colder Climate (from Interview, January 1989)
• The Enormous Space (from Interzone, July-August 1989)
• The Largest Theme Park in the World (from The Guardian, July 7, 1989)
• War Fever (from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1989)
• Dream Cargoes (from Shincho, [unknown issue] 1990)
• A Guide to Virtual Death (from Interzone, February 1992)
• The Message from Mars (from Interzone, April 1992)
• Report from an Obscure Planet (from Leonardo, April 1992)
• The Secret Autobiography of J. G. B. [a.p.a. The Secret Autobiography of J. G. B******, and as The Autobiography of J. G. B.] (from Ambit #96, Spring 1984)
• The Dying Fall (from Interzone, April 1996)

 Not included are:

• The Violent Noon (Ballard's first story, written in 1951 when he was 20 and published only in France in 2010)
• Equinox (a 2-part serial in New Worlds SF, May-June and July-August 1964 issues)
• Dune Limbo (from New Worlds SF, March 1965)
• Plan for the Assassination of Jacqueline Kennedy [a.p.a. Plan for Assassination of Jacqueline Kennedy] (from Ambit. #31, 1966)
• You and Me and the Continuum (from Impulse, March 1966)
• The Assassination Weapon (from New Worlds, April 1966)
• You:  Coma:  Marilyn Monroe (from New Worlds, June 1966)
• The Atrocity Exhibition (from New Worlds SF, September 1966)
• Notes Toward a Mental Breakdown [a.p.a. The Death Module] (from New Worlds Speculative Fiction, July 1967; this is not the same story published under this title in 1976 as noted above)
• Love and Napalm: Export U.S.A. (from Ballard's collection The Atrocity Exhibition, 1970)
• The Great American Nude (from Ballard's collection The Atrocity Exhibition, 1970)
• The University of Death (from Ballard's collection The Atrocity Exhibition, 1970)
• Crash! (from Ballard's collection The Atrocity Exhibition, 1970)
• The Summer Cannibals (from New Worlds, January 1969)
• How Dr Christopher Evans Landed on the Moon (from New Worlds, February 1969)
• Tolerances of the Human Face (from Ballard's collection The Atrocity Exhibition, 1970)
• Mae West's Reduction Mammoplasty (from Ballard's collection The Atrocity Exhibition, 1990 edition)
• Coitus 80 (from New Worlds, January 1970)
• Journey Across a Crater (from New Worlds, February 1970)
• Princess Margaret's Facelift (from New Worlds, March 1970)
• Queen Elizabeth's Rhinoplasty (from Ballard's collection The Atrocity Exhibition
• Running Wild (novella published as a separate book, 1988)
• Jane Fonda's Augmentation Mammoplasty (from Semiotext[e] SF, edited by Rudy Rucker, Peter Lamborn Wilson, & Robert Anton Wilson, 1989)
• Neil Armstrong Remembers His Journey to the Moon (from Interzone, November 1991)