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Brian Wilson Aldiss (1925-2017), born in Norfolk, England, was not only a prolific writer of science fiction short stories and novels, but also anthologized science fiction and studied the history of the genre as well. Much of the background material in his works stemmed from his military service from 1943 through World War II in the Royal Corps of Signals in India, Burma, and Sumatra. Aldiss was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004. He was for many years happily married to Margaret Aldiss, an editor and bibliographer who produced three bibliographies of Aldiss s works. This archive is unique in that it represents a consistent and intensely personal correspondence over two years between close friends. The letters, eloquently written more often than not, reveal a wealth of details about Aldiss s personality, emphasizing his worldliness, his productivity, the way he feels about the act of writing, the love he has for his family, and the way he views such things as life, death, and his own age progression. Included in the archive are the following: Xerox copy on a sheet of paper [8 ½" by 11"] reproducing two articles published by The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News (Sunday, March 3, 1985) regarding the speaking appearance of Brian Aldiss in Patrick Eddington s home town, Salt Lake City, Utah. TLS. Letter on a sheet of paper [8 ¼" by 11 ½"], dated 28.x.89, on Aldiss s letterhead with the Boars Hill, Oxford address. The author begins by describing an imaginary planet that his friend the late astronomer Peter Cattermole has designed for him. Aldiss writes, "Reading his notes, gazing at his map, I feel like Keats On [sic] First Looking Into [sic] Chapman s Homer. So I m slowly getting my stuff together to write a novel about this planet. This ll be a short one; I m now too old and lazy to undertake another bloody great 3-volume operation." Signed by Aldiss at the close. Typed letter, most likely written by Margaret Aldiss, typed on both sides of a sheet of paper [8 ¼" x 10"]. Dated the 5th of November (year not given). This letter was written at the time that their children were in their teen-age years. In this bit of correspondence, Margaret mentions how busy Brian is with his writing career. She writes, "I am kept busy with my word processor, putting all Brian s stories through it, and looking after this house." TLS. Typed on 2 sheets of paper [8 ¼" x 11 ¾"], dated 21.xi.92, on letterhead with the author s Boars Hill, Oxford address. In this long letter to Patrick, Aldiss writes quite a bit about his own writing, bringing up his recently published book, "Home Life with Cats," a copy of which he has enclosed for Pat. He also writes that it has been an indifferent publishing year for him, listing what he has produced, and claiming, " I do turn em out." He goes on to mention that his chief preoccupation is with his "slow-growing" novel, "Burnell s Travels." As he states, "BURNELL started as a couple of short stories; then I realized what I had a hold of. I began thinking about the novel last year, when Margaret and I were holidaying in an idyllic spot in France, lost in the green depths of the Perigord. "While we were there, in that pleasant little farmhouse, I finished REMEMBRANCE DAY… I then had about two days of real holiday in which to relax. But already thoughts of Burnell were bubbling. Ah, how pleasantly idle was I in the early seventies. Since I ve grown old, I have lost the gift of idleness. I can t stop writing- notes, poems, whatever. Partly this is the hope to leave something- a name as well as money- to my darling wife and four dear children. But in the main it s just something of which you know, difficult to articulate, the drive to translate the world, or more modestly one s own umwelt, into words and pictures. Right?" Aldiss has signed at the foot. TLS. Letter typed on a sheet of paper [8 ¼" x 11 ¾"] with the author s letterhead bearing his Oxford address, dated Tuesday, 1st of June (year not sp. Seller Inventory # 53909
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