Monday, February 26, 2007

J G Ballard


Picked up a fistful of Ballard in Bideford at the weekend. Ah, I just love his post-apocalypseness, and he was pretty good at pre-apocalypse stuff too. Shamefully I shall be selling these, partly due to lack of shelf space and mostly due to the fact that they're 1sts.
I've always hankered for a good Mad Max 2 type scenario, I've got it all figured out, where to go, what to wear (See Below)...all I really need is a couple of reliable guns.

12 comments:

St. Anthony said...

All hail Ballard ... he saw the modern world a good 40 years ago.
The Atrocity Exhibition alone would be his ticket to heaven ...
The oiks at the Guardian getting their knickers in a twist over who the greatest living British author might be ... there's only one candidate - JGB.

Dominic Zero said...

Indeed, though I reckon China Mieville could give him a run for his money.
Martin Amis? Nah.
Will Self? Naaah.
Pair of pretentious gits.

Anonymous said...

Has that gurl on the cover of "High Rise" lost her vest in the post-apocalyptic turmoil?

El Duderino said...

There was a great 70s edition of Crash that I never bought with a porno Chris Foss cover. If you ever see a copy on your travels I want it!

St. Anthony said...

Never have, never will, seen the point of Amis. I do like Self's stuff, I must admit.
The people interviewed for the Guardian almost all revealed their Oxbridgecentric prejudices ... so middle brow, so middle-of-the-road. Pinter? Get out of here!
I loved Ballards's comments ... pouring icy cold water over the whole thing. He did something very similar a few months ago when Time Out asked a number of pundits about London ... everyone went on and on about what a wonderful, lively, vibrant multucultural city it is (I live here and that's bollocks) ... and then there was Ballard, rubbishing the whole idea as romantic tosh. Always rely on him for an oblique viewpoint.

Dominic Zero said...

Must admit to missing most of the debte, I've been reading The Mirror to keep up with Britney's shaved head / wigging out crisis.
I remember liking 'Dead Babies', but after that Amis left me pretty unamazed.

Anonymous said...

I see my comment about tits has been politely overlooked amongst this lofty discourse. I'll get me coat...

Dominic Zero said...

No, come back. Tits're good - especially post-apocalypse tits.

Anonymous said...

Yeh, post-apocalyptic tits are definitely the best - lightly dusted in brick dust with a smear of engine oil here and there - pert and proud in the chill wind of complete and utter societal breakdown - in a nightmare land that has lost all its values their comfort and succour available in exchange for a tin of cat food...

Dominic Zero said...

I'm off for an immediate wank.

St. Anthony said...

One of my guilty pleasures, when I'm not watching Tarkovsky and Paradjanov films, is the straight-to-video post-apocalypse utterly gratuitous sex'n'violence genre ... as it's probably not known.
Yes, there's something about post-apocalyptic nudity that really, erm, gets the juices flowing.

Molly Bloom said...

I reckon we've got that edition of The Drought.

I really like 'High Rise' - it's really cool. All it needs is a couple of zombies.