Top Minds Read Top Books: Brian W. Aldiss

@BrianAldiss

The Science Fiction Grandmaster's distinguished writing career began decades ago. In the 1960s his friend, C. S. Lewis, bought a copy of Brian's newly published Hothouse to present to J. R. R Tolkien. "Tolkien kindly wrote to me to say how much he enjoyed my novel. I was delighted. A month or two later a second letter arrived saying he had just reread Hothouse and liked it even more a second time."

Brian has many favourite writers. The author recently gave me his thoughts on the subject of books, writing and getting published. 

"Do you hope for a book that will sell hundreds of thousands? Or do you long to get your teeth into a subject and to hell with anything apart from the sheer delight of creation? I know the answer to this and am certain that you do too."

"I've always read, always written. I keep an elaborate hard-cover journal, A5, hand-written, illustrated. Pretty well covers a lifetime. It's my great work in a sense."

"At present I'm writing a series of short profiles about writers from whose work I have benefitted: Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, Solzhenitsyn, Tolstoi, Marie Bashkirtseff, Zola, Franz Kafka. All kinds of scientific books. Art books. Travel."