The late John Brunner was perhaps as well known for much of his career in the US as in the UK. A leftwing activist, with particular connections to the peace movement, much of his best and most mature fiction is involved in a complex analysis of social trends and where they will take us--novels like Stand on Zanzibar which deals with overpopulation, among other things, and The Sheep Look Up, which is one of sf's most telling presentations of environmental degradation, are also technically innovative with their multiple viewpoint storylines, interspersed newspaper headlines and fragments of author characters' expository prose. The Shockwave Rider is more conventional in technique but was one of the first sf novels fully to understand the information technology revolution. Much of his early work for American publishers consisted of short, punchy space operas like The Altar on Asconel; these go down so smoothly, and show such mastery of genre tropes, that it is only in retrospect that the reader notices how suffused they are with a strong ethical content - these things do not have to be simplistic power fantasies for adolescents. A historical novel to which he gave much of his heart, The Great Steamboat Race, is delightful, and very hard to find.
Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller
Series
Empire
1. Polymath (1963)
aka Castaway's World
2. The Space-Time Juggler (1963)
3. The Altar on Asconel (1965)
1. Polymath (1963)
aka Castaway's World
2. The Space-Time Juggler (1963)
3. The Altar on Asconel (1965)
Max Curfew
1. A Plague on Both Your Causes (1969)
aka Blacklash
2. Good Men Do Nothing (1970)
3. Honky in the Woodpile (1971)
1. A Plague on Both Your Causes (1969)
aka Blacklash
2. Good Men Do Nothing (1970)
3. Honky in the Woodpile (1971)
Novels
The Brink (1959)
Catch a Falling Star (1959)
aka The Hundredth Millennium
Give Warning to the World (1959)
aka Echo in the Skull
The World Swappers (1959)
The Atlantic Abomination (1960)
Into the Slave Nebula (1960)
aka Slavers of Space
Sanctuary in the Sky (1960)
The Skynappers (1960)
I Speak for Earth (1961) (as by Keith Woodcott)
Meeting at Infinity (1961)
The Avengers of Carrig (1962)
aka Secret Agent of Terra
The Ladder in the Sky (1962) (as by Keith Woodcott)
The Stardroppers (1962)
aka Listen! The Stars!
The Super Barbarians (1962)
The Dreaming Earth (1963)
More Things in Heaven (1963)
aka The Astronauts Must Not Land
The Psionic Menace (1963) (as by Keith Woodcott)
The Rites of Ohe (1963)
The Crutch of Memory (1964)
Manshape (1964)
aka Endless Shadow
Telepathist (1964)
aka The Whole Man
To Conquer Chaos (1964)
Age of Miracles (1965)
aka The Day of the Star Cities
Enigma from Tantalus (1965)
The Long Result (1965)
The Martian Sphinx (1965) (as by Keith Woodcott)
The Repairmen of Cyclops (1965)
The Squares of the City (1965)
Wear the Butchers' Medal (1965)
A Planet of Your Own (1966)
Born Under Mars (1967)
The Productions of Time (1967)
Quicksand (1967)
Bedlam Planet (1968)
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)
Black Is the Colour (1969)
Double, Double (1969)
The Incestuous Lovers (1969) (as by Henry Crosstrees Jr)
The Jagged Orbit (1969)
Timescoop (1969)
The Devil's Work (1970)
The Gaudy Shadows (1970)
The Wrong End of Time (1971)
The Dramaturges of Yan (1972)
The Sheep Look Up (1972)
The Stone That Never Came Down (1973)
Total Eclipse (1974)
Web of Everywhere (1974)
aka Webs of Everywhere
The Shockwave Rider (1975)
The Infinitive of Go (1980)
Players at the Game of People (1980)
While There's Hope (1982)
The Great Steamboat Race (1983)
The Crucible of Time (1983)
The Tides of Time (1984)
The Shift Key (1987)
The Days of March (1988)
Children of the Thunder (1988)
A Maze of Stars (1991)
Muddle Earth (1993)
Threshold of Eternity - The Novel (2017) (with Damien Broderick)
Kingdom of the Worlds (2021) (with Damien Broderick)
Catch a Falling Star (1959)
aka The Hundredth Millennium
Give Warning to the World (1959)
aka Echo in the Skull
The World Swappers (1959)
The Atlantic Abomination (1960)
Into the Slave Nebula (1960)
aka Slavers of Space
Sanctuary in the Sky (1960)
The Skynappers (1960)
I Speak for Earth (1961) (as by Keith Woodcott)
Meeting at Infinity (1961)
The Avengers of Carrig (1962)
aka Secret Agent of Terra
The Ladder in the Sky (1962) (as by Keith Woodcott)
The Stardroppers (1962)
aka Listen! The Stars!
The Super Barbarians (1962)
The Dreaming Earth (1963)
More Things in Heaven (1963)
aka The Astronauts Must Not Land
The Psionic Menace (1963) (as by Keith Woodcott)
The Rites of Ohe (1963)
The Crutch of Memory (1964)
Manshape (1964)
aka Endless Shadow
Telepathist (1964)
aka The Whole Man
To Conquer Chaos (1964)
Age of Miracles (1965)
aka The Day of the Star Cities
Enigma from Tantalus (1965)
The Long Result (1965)
The Martian Sphinx (1965) (as by Keith Woodcott)
The Repairmen of Cyclops (1965)
The Squares of the City (1965)
Wear the Butchers' Medal (1965)
A Planet of Your Own (1966)
Born Under Mars (1967)
The Productions of Time (1967)
Quicksand (1967)
Bedlam Planet (1968)
Stand on Zanzibar (1968)
Black Is the Colour (1969)
Double, Double (1969)
The Incestuous Lovers (1969) (as by Henry Crosstrees Jr)
The Jagged Orbit (1969)
Timescoop (1969)
The Devil's Work (1970)
The Gaudy Shadows (1970)
The Wrong End of Time (1971)
The Dramaturges of Yan (1972)
The Sheep Look Up (1972)
The Stone That Never Came Down (1973)
Total Eclipse (1974)
Web of Everywhere (1974)
aka Webs of Everywhere
The Shockwave Rider (1975)
The Infinitive of Go (1980)
Players at the Game of People (1980)
While There's Hope (1982)
The Great Steamboat Race (1983)
The Crucible of Time (1983)
The Tides of Time (1984)
The Shift Key (1987)
The Days of March (1988)
Children of the Thunder (1988)
A Maze of Stars (1991)
Muddle Earth (1993)
Threshold of Eternity - The Novel (2017) (with Damien Broderick)
Kingdom of the Worlds (2021) (with Damien Broderick)
Collections
No Future in It (1962)
Now Then! (1965)
No Other Gods But Me (1966)
Out of My Mind (1967)
Father of Lies / Mirror Image (1968) (with Bruce Duncan)
Not Before Time (1968)
The Compleat Traveller in Black (1971)
aka The Traveler in Black
Entry to Elsewhen (1972)
From This Day Forward (1973)
Time-Jump (1973)
The Book of John Brunner (1976)
Tomorrow May Be Even Worse (poems) (1978)
Foreign Constellations (1980)
A New Settlement of Old Scores (1983)
The Best of John Brunner (1988)
Beyond the Gate of Worlds (1991) (with Robert Silverberg and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)
Children of the Thunder / The Tides of Time / The Crucible of Time (1995)
The Man Who Was Secrett (2013)
Now Then! (1965)
No Other Gods But Me (1966)
Out of My Mind (1967)
Father of Lies / Mirror Image (1968) (with Bruce Duncan)
Not Before Time (1968)
The Compleat Traveller in Black (1971)
aka The Traveler in Black
Entry to Elsewhen (1972)
From This Day Forward (1973)
Time-Jump (1973)
The Book of John Brunner (1976)
Tomorrow May Be Even Worse (poems) (1978)
Foreign Constellations (1980)
A New Settlement of Old Scores (1983)
The Best of John Brunner (1988)
Beyond the Gate of Worlds (1991) (with Robert Silverberg and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)
Children of the Thunder / The Tides of Time / The Crucible of Time (1995)
The Man Who Was Secrett (2013)
Chapbooks
Novellas and Short Stories
Omnibus editions
The 100th Millennium / Edge of Time (1959) (with David Grinnell (Donald A Wollheim))
Rocket to Limbo / Echo in the Skull (1959) (with Alan E Nourse)
The Evil That Men Do / The Purloined Planet (1969) (with Lin Carter)
Three Trips in Time and Space (1973) (with Larry Niven and Jack Vance)
Victims of the Nova (1974)
Interstellar Empire (1976)
Sheep Look Up / Shockwave Rider / Traveller in Black (2014)
The John Brunner Collection Volume One (2018)
The John Brunner Collection Volume Two (2018)
Rocket to Limbo / Echo in the Skull (1959) (with Alan E Nourse)
The Evil That Men Do / The Purloined Planet (1969) (with Lin Carter)
Three Trips in Time and Space (1973) (with Larry Niven and Jack Vance)
Victims of the Nova (1974)
Interstellar Empire (1976)
Sheep Look Up / Shockwave Rider / Traveller in Black (2014)
The John Brunner Collection Volume One (2018)
The John Brunner Collection Volume Two (2018)
Anthologies containing stories by John Brunner
Great Science Fiction Adventures (1956)
Spectrum 4 (1965)
Dangerous Visions 3 (1967)
New Worlds of Fantasy (1967)
aka Step Outside Your Mind
More Tales of Unease (1969)
The Witchcraft Reader (1969)
Best SF 7 (1970)
The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1973)
Fellowship of the Stars (1974)
New Terrors 2 (1980)
The Year's Best Fantasy Stories 6 (1980)
Fantasy Annual III (1981)
Top Science Fiction (1984)
The Year's Best Fantasy First Annual Collection (1988)
Fine Frights (1988)
Dark Voices 2 (1990)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Fourth Annual Collection (1991)
Dark Voices 4 (1992)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Sixth Annual Collection (1993)
The Ultimate Zombie (1993)
Best New Horror 4 (1993)
Dark Voices 6 (1994)
The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein (1994)
The Giant Book of Terror (1994)
Heaven Sent (1995)
Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears (1995)
The Best of Weird Tales (1995)
The Necronomicon (1996)
The Williamson Effect (1996)
The Horns of Elfland (1997)
Year's Best SF 2 (1997)
The Road to Science Fiction 5 (1998)
Technohorror (1999)
Spectrum 4 (1965)
Dangerous Visions 3 (1967)
New Worlds of Fantasy (1967)
aka Step Outside Your Mind
More Tales of Unease (1969)
The Witchcraft Reader (1969)
Best SF 7 (1970)
The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1973)
Fellowship of the Stars (1974)
New Terrors 2 (1980)
The Year's Best Fantasy Stories 6 (1980)
Fantasy Annual III (1981)
Top Science Fiction (1984)
The Year's Best Fantasy First Annual Collection (1988)
Fine Frights (1988)
Dark Voices 2 (1990)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Fourth Annual Collection (1991)
Dark Voices 4 (1992)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Sixth Annual Collection (1993)
The Ultimate Zombie (1993)
Best New Horror 4 (1993)
Dark Voices 6 (1994)
The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein (1994)
The Giant Book of Terror (1994)
Heaven Sent (1995)
Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears (1995)
The Best of Weird Tales (1995)
The Necronomicon (1996)
The Williamson Effect (1996)
The Horns of Elfland (1997)
Year's Best SF 2 (1997)
The Road to Science Fiction 5 (1998)
Technohorror (1999)
Short stories
A Better Mousetrap | |||
Coincidence Day | |||
Eye of the Beholder | |||
Fair Warning | |||
Imprint of Chaos | |||
In the Season of the Dressing of the Wells | |||
Prerogative | |||
Protect Me from My Friends | |||
Round Trip | |||
Seizure | |||
Singleminded | |||
Some Lapse of Time | |||
Thou Good and Faithful | |||
Treason is a Two-Edged Sword | |||
The Warp and the Woof-Woof | |||
No Future in It [short story] (1955) | |||
Fair (1956) | |||
The Windows of Heaven (1956) | |||
The Man from the Big Dark (1958) | |||
All the Devils in Hell (1960) | |||
Such Stuff (1962) | |||
The Totally Rich (1963) | |||
An Elixir for the Emperor (1964) | |||
The Last Lonely Man (1964) | |||
Galactic Consumer Report No. 1: Inexpensive Time Machines (1965) | |||
Speech is Silver (1965) | |||
Break the Door of Hell (1966) | |||
Galactic Consumer Report No. 2: Automatic Twin-Tube Wishing Machines (1966) | |||
Galactic Consumer Report No. 3: A Survey of the Membership (1967) | |||
Judas (1967) | |||
The Vitanuls (1967) | |||
Dread Empire (1971) | Hugo (nominee) | ||
What Friends Are For (1974) | |||
The Taste of the Dish and the Savor of the Day (1977) | |||
The Suicide of Man (1978) | |||
The Things That Are Gods (1979) | |||
The Man Whose Eyes Beheld the Glory (1980) | |||
The Fable of the Farmer and Fox (1987) | |||
The Clerks of Domesday (1988) | |||
Galactic Consumer Report No. 4 (1988) | |||
The Man Who Saw the Thousand-Year Reich (1988) | |||
Tracking with Close-Ups (21) and (23) (1988) | |||
X-Hero (1988) | |||
A Glimpse of Tomorrow (1989) | |||
The Last Act in the Drama of World War II (1990) | |||
Moths (1990) | |||
The Pronounced Effect (1990) | |||
Concerning the Forthcoming Inexpensive Paperback Translation of the Necronomicon of Abdul Alhazred (1992) | |||
They Take (1992) | |||
Not All the Gay Pageants (1993) | |||
Tantamount to Murder (1994) | |||
Written Backwards (1994) | |||
The Emperor Who Had Never Seen a Dragon (1995) | |||
Real Messengers (1995) | |||
The Drummer and the Skins (1996) | |||
Thinkertoy (1996) |
Awards
|
John Brunner recommends

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
(Bladerunner, book 1)
Philip K Dick
"The most consistently brilliant science fiction writer in the world."
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