WRITER

Brian Aldiss

1925 - 2017

Photo of Brian Aldiss

Icon of person Brian Aldiss

Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist and anthology 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 was a vice-president of the international group in Wells' honour. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Brian Aldiss has received more than 599,165 page views. His biography is available in 38 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 36 in 2019). Brian Aldiss is the 1,893rd most popular writer (down from 1,799th in 2019), the 1,447th most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 1,412th in 2019) and the 155th most popular British Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 600k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 56.57

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 38

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.33

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.73

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Non-Stop
Fiction, Discoveries in geography, Space ships
Roy Complain lives in a culturally-primitive tribe in which curiosity is discouraged and life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. With a small group, he leaves his home and ventures into uncharted territory. The consequent discoveries will change his perception of the entire universe. Complain's small tribe roam nomadically through corridors overrun by vegetation. After his wife is kidnapped, a tribal priest named Marapper encourages Complain to join a furtive expedition into the unexplored corridors. It is Marapper's belief that they are all living on board a moving spacecraft and that if they can reach the control room, they will gain command of the entire gargantuan vessel. On their journey, the group encounters other tribes of varying levels of sophistication. Complain is also briefly captured by humanoid 'Giants' of legend, who release him with no explanation. Complain's party eventually join the more sophisticated society of the 'Forwards'. Here, they learn that the space-craft is a multi-generational starship returning from the newly colonized planet of Procyon. In a previous generation, the ship's inhabitants had suffered from a pandemic because of an alien amino acid found in the waters of Procyon. Law and order began to collapse and knowledge of the ship and its purpose was eventually almost entirely lost throughout the vessel. It is now 23 generations that have passed since this 'Catastrophe'.
1958
Hothouse
evolution, Fiction in English, devolution
THE LAST DAYS OF MAN Under a dying sun, monstrous sentient plants and carnivorous insects are the predators. Man is the prey...
1962
The Malacia Tapestry
Fiction in English, English Science fiction
Jostling through the light and shadow of Malacia's streets goes a crowd of people: dukes, wealthy merchants, bankrupt families, actresses, priests, courtesans, spongers, soldiers, and down-at-heel showmen. They are seen through the eyes of Perian di Chirolo, actor and man-about-town, whose adventures take him through all strata of Malacian society and into the heart of its darkest secrets, lay and spiritual. Episodes idyllic and chilling follow each other in comic succession. In this deeply divided world of pageant and squalor, de Chirolo slays a ferocious ancestral monster and seeks the hand — and somewhat more than the hand — of Armida Iloytola, daughter of a social climber. While he roisters with his friends or indulges in the acting which is so much a part of his life, nemesis is creeping up on him in its underhand way. Behind the drama stands the attractive enigma of Malacia itself. An age-old city-state where change is forbidden, lingering under the spell of its magicians, Malacia is riddled with rival philosophies where scholars hold that humanity is descended from dinosaurs. Malacia may exist on an alternate world to ours. Or it may be its creeds that set it apart. This atmospheric novel, illustrated with drawings by the eighteenth-century painters G. B. Tiepolo, and Francesco Maggiotto, sets out in dramatic form many of the conflicts and contradictions of our own day and is the most excitingly original story yet told by an author of incomparable vitality and imagination.
1976
Barefoot in the Head
Fiction, Fiction in English, Imaginary wars and battles
1969
Dark Light Years
1964
Greybeard
Fiction, Nuclear warfare
1964

Page views of Brian Aldisses by language

Over the past year Brian Aldiss has had the most page views in the with 66,568 views, followed by Spanish (7,481), and Japanese (5,340). In terms of yearly growth of page views the top 3 wikpedia editions are Breton (249.12%), Cornish (125.53%), and Simple English (82.17%)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Brian Aldiss ranks 1,893 out of 7,302. Before him are Hierocles of Alexandria, Marko Vovchok, Ion of Chios, Handrij Zejler, Henrik Wergeland, and Uri Orlev. After him are Augustin Barruel, Valery Bryusov, Nora Ephron, Begum Rokeya, Colin Wilson, and Luis de León.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1925, Brian Aldiss ranks 126. Before him are Alexander Shulgin, Antoine Gizenga, Lino Lacedelli, Arnaldo Forlani, Serge Moscovici, and Alberto Grimaldi. After him are Manos Hatzidakis, Efim Geller, Luis Molowny, Toshio Iwatani, Shigeko Higashikuni, and Louison Bobet. Among people deceased in 2017, Brian Aldiss ranks 119. Before him are Heinz Kessler, Tom Petty, Peter Mansfield, Ángel Nieto, Jiro Taniguchi, and Azzedine Alaïa. After him are Shadia, Robert James Waller, Lubomyr Husar, Jerry Fodor, Omar Abdel-Rahman, and Tsutomu Hata.

Others Born in 1925

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Others Deceased in 2017

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Brian Aldiss ranks 1,447 out of 8,785. Before him are Jason Isaacs (1963), David Hemmings (1941), David Bradley (1942), George Arliss (1868), Reginald Doherty (1872), and Maurice Wilkes (1913). After him are Kate Sheppard (1848), Colin Wilson (1931), Joseph Addison (1672), Sophie, Countess of Wessex (1965), George Romney (1734), and Christopher Robin Milne (1920).

Others born in United Kingdom

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Among WRITERS In United Kingdom

Among writers born in United Kingdom, Brian Aldiss ranks 155. Before him are Lucinda Riley (1965), Arthur Machen (1863), Anne Perry (1938), Ted Hughes (1930), Malcolm Lowry (1909), and Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838). After him are Colin Wilson (1931), Joseph Addison (1672), Christopher Robin Milne (1920), Thomas Wyatt (1503), Edward Young (1683), and Anthony Trollope (1815).

British born Writers

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