S P A C E L I G H T
INDEX
Name: BRUNNER, John Kilian Houston
Aged: 60
Born: September 24, 1934
Where: Preston Crowmarsh, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND
Died: August 25, 1995
Where: Glasgow, SCOTLAND
Interred: _ _ _
Married 1: Marjorie Rosamond Sauer
When: July 12, 1958 (d 1986)
Married 2: Li Yi Tan
When: September 27, 1991
Awarded: 1969 Hugo & 1970 British SF Award for
Stand on Zanzibar and the 1971 British SF Award for The
Jagged Orbit.
John Brunner
"When I was in school, and hadn't much cash to waste on things like science fiction, one of my criteria for buying or not buying a magazine was whether or not it included a Simak, a Sturgeon, an Anderson, or a Leiber. I just plain liked those four in especial."
Brunner was an officer in the Royal Air Force, 1953-55. After a few quick employments following the military, John became a professional writer in 1958, augmenting income from Science Fiction novels with song writing and poetry.
In his SF novels, Brunner liked to follow social issues and civil rights as society progressed, often writing about the environment or computers, and having definitive views about political systems (finding all flawed). One such novel, The Shockwave Rider, 1975, coined the term "worm" to describe computer viruses. Other important works included, The Squares of the City, 1969; The Crucible of Time, 1983; and, A Maze of Stars, 1991.
"Science Fiction writers don't turn out better material because they can't afford the time (versus the pay) to do a really first class job. I have written a lot of rubbish, and editors generally have recognized it as such and bounced it. I have written some rubbish which got published, usually at low rates, and wished afterwards I'd stuck a pseudonym on it. I like to think that most of what I've had published was moderately good, could be read as pleasant entertainment, and occasionally - when all factors were favourable - rated as memorable."
PEN NAMES: K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, & Keith Woodcott
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.
BIOGRAPHY: Who Was Who in America, Vol XI, p38
and Science Fiction Writers, Scribners 1982
OBITUARY: Dave Langford's or various others here.
