JG Ballard RIP

[Rob McCow]

JG Ballard, author of Empire of The Sun (adapted into a Spielberg movie), Crash (adapted, but definitely not a Spielberg movie) and High Rise (adapted into a Season 24 classic, Paradise Towers) has died at 78.

The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness.

His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill "for several years" and had died on Sunday morning.

Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Jim Ballard said his books were instead "picturing the psychology of the future".

[Captain Tancredi]

I think that's a fair self-description - the only one of his novels I've read is Millennium People, part of which is based on the idea that one of the greatest threats to Western society is simply that educated middle-class people stop caring. Not a million miles away from the likes of Nigel Kneale in his understanding that the world will probably end with a whimper but only after things get imperceptibly worse over a long period of time.

[Alex]

Aww, that's a great shame. I thought he was a fascinating author, and whilst I've only read two of his novels so far, Crash and Cocaine Nights, I certainly plan to read more. RIP Mr Ballard.