Brian Wilson Aldiss, OBE (/ˈɔːldɪs/; born 18 August 1925) is an English writer and anthologies editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for occasional pseudonyms during the mid-1960s. Greatly influenced by science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells, Aldiss is a vice-president of the international H. G. Wells Society. He is also (with the late Harry Harrison) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group. Aldiss was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 2000 and inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004. He has received two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and one John W. Campbell Memorial Award. His influential works include the short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long", the basis for the Stanley Kubrick-developed Steven Spielberg film A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
Margaret Manson (m. 1965–1997), Olive Fortescue (m. 1948–1965)
Children
Caroline Wendy Aldiss, Charlotte May Aldiss, Timothy Nicholas Aldiss, Clive Aldiss
Movies
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Frankenstein Unbound, Brothers of the Head
Star Sign
Leo
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Quote
1
[on working with Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg on A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)] Kubrick was obsessed by Pinocchio. He wanted David to become a real boy. I thought that was skyfire -- I didn't think that was science-fiction. I don't know what you think of my career; I don't know what I think of it myself. But I'm certainly the only guy that sold short stories to both Kubrick and Spielberg! So that thought pleases me. Warms the dying embers.
2
My wife Margaret and I sold our house to Sir Roger Penrose and his wife. Roger Penrose is basically a mathematician. He held a position at the Mathematical Institute in Oxford, but also he's so multi-talented, so curious, such a quick brain, that he's mastered a number of other fields. Cosmology, for instance. And then this glorious subject of human consciousness. Talking to Roger, I found we both agreed that AI, as they call it, is not going to be achieved by present-day machines. "Artificial Intelligence" -- that makes it sound simple, but what you're really talking about is artificial consciousness, AC. And I don't think there's any way we can achieve artificial consciousness, at least until we've understood the sources of our own consciousness. I believe consciousness is a mind/body creation, literally interwoven with the body and the body's support systems. Well, you don't get that sort of thing with a robot.
3
Science-fiction is no more written for scientists than ghost stories are written for ghosts.
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Fact
1
Guest of honor at LUNACON science-fiction convention (New York, NY, April 18-20, 1975).
2
After being drafted by the British Army in 1943 to serve during World War II, he joined the Royal Corps of Signals. In 1944, he transferred to serve in India, Assam, Burma, Sumatra, Singapore, and Hong Kong, experiences that later provided great material for his books and stories.
3
After being decommissioned from the British Army in 1947, he began nine years' work as a bookseller when hired by Sanders & Co., in Oxford, England.
4
His son, Clive, was born in May, 1955; that same year, his first book, "The Brightfount Diaries", was published by Faber & Faber. In 1956 he quit book-selling to become a full-time writer.
5
He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to literature.
6
Guest of Honour at "Eastercon 22" British national science-fiction convention (Worcester, UK, April 9-11, 1971).
7
In his critical history of the field, "Billion Year Spree" (1973)--revised as "Trillion Year Spree" in 1986--Aldiss argued that Mary Shelley deserves to be considered the first true science-fiction writer.
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Brothers of the Head
2005
novel
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2001
short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long"
Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound
1990
novel - as Brian W. Aldiss
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Crawlspace
2009
Short
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Martians and Us
2006
TV Series documentary
Himself
Timeshift
2006
TV Series documentary
Herself
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
2001
Documentary
Himself
On the Edge of 'Blade Runner'
2000
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Natural History of an Alien
1998
TV Movie documentary
Himself
The War of the Worlds: Great Books
1994
Video documentary
Science Fiction Writer
Arena
1994
TV Series documentary
Himself - Interviewee
Drug-Taking and the Arts
1993
Documentary
Himself (author)
Brave New Worlds: The Science Fiction Phenomenon
1993
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Everyman
1986
TV Series documentary
Himself
Time Out of Mind
1979
TV Series
Himself
Omnibus
1973
TV Series documentary
Himself
Panorama
1969
TV Series documentary
Himself - Novelist & Science Fiction Writer
Let's Imagine
1962
TV Series
Himself
The Real History of Science Fiction
2014
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
The Ultimate Survivor
2011
Documentary
Himself
The Electric Dreamer: Remembering Philip K. Dick
2007
Video documentary short
Himself, author of 'Supertoys Last All Summer Long'
Sacrificial Sheep: The Novel vs. the Film
2007
Video documentary short
Himself, author of 'Supertoys Last All Summer Long'
Known for movies
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) as Writer
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001) as Himself
The Electric Dreamer: Remembering Philip K. Dick (2007) as Himself, author of 'Supertoys Last All Summer Long'
The War of the Worlds: Great Books (1994) as Science Fiction Writer
$850,000
