John Wyndham

[AE35Unit]

Any readers of this classic British SF author? I've read a few of his books(Day of the Triffids,The Kraken Wakes,The Midwich Cuckoos) and have the Outward Urge on my TBR pile. I don't think he was overly prolific novel wize but it seems he wrote a LOT of short stories! While he's classed as SF a lot of his works seem almost like fantasy,kind of a mix of Aldiss and Ballard or Bradbury. Aldiss criticized him for the ending of Triffids but I enjoyed it and didn't get what Aldiss meant. Kraken Wakes was hugely disappointing! It promised so much but delivered so little as he chose to write it like it was a journal and I found it quite boring! Midwich was good,if the ending was a little vague,and it was filmed as Village of the Damned in the 70s I think(never seen it in full)
What do others think of this author?

 

[dask]

Really liked THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS. Read a story in an old sf magazine under his John Beynon Harris byline, don't remember which one but enjoyed it too. Seems to be a solid, dependable writer.

 

[AE35Unit]

Hmmm funny,I didnt realise it when I made my post but I just noticed that this year marks the 40th anniversary of his death!
3 cheers for Mr Wyndham!

 

[mosaix]

Always had great respect for the guy. First read him when my English literature teacher recommended him in the early 60's.

Seems along time ago now.

He was the first writer who introduced me to the concept that science fiction doesn't have to be about science. He uses science to put his characters into situations that he couldn't otherwise and then see how they react.

 

[Snowdog]

Try The Chrysalids, it's my favourite after Day of the Triffids. I'm also not a fan of The Kraken Wakes.

I think The Outward Urge is a tremendous book, but the Star Wars generation may find it a bit prosaic. But it was written before we went to the moon and might yet be a closer account of our first few steps into space than many. I found it (and still find it) extremely moving.

For short stories, some of his best are collected in The Seeds of Time.

 

[Fried Egg]

I've only read "The Midwich Cuckoos" but really liked it. I have "The Chrysalids" to read next.

 

[AE35Unit]

Try The Chrysalids, it's my favourite after Day of the Triffids. I'm also not a fan of The Kraken Wakes.

I think The Outward Urge is a tremendous book, but the Star Wars generation may find it a bit prosaic. But it was written before we went to the moon and might yet be a closer account of our first few steps into space than many. I found it (and still find it) extremely moving.

For short stories, some of his best are collected in The Seeds of Time.

Thanks for the recommendations! Will look out for those two. I used to have two collections of stories,one was called Consider Her Ways but they're long since lost.

 

[Dave]

I first read all his books in my early teens. 'The Chrysalids' is the only book I've read more than twice. I'd say that 'The Chrysalids', 'The Midwich Cuckoos' and 'The Day of the Triffids' were his best work. I also didn't think much of 'The Kraken Wakes' or 'Trouble with Lichen'. You missed some BBC programmes on earlier this year to celebrate the 40 years.

 

[j d worthington]

I'd have to agree with Dave and Snowdog (though I do think there is much to like in The Kraken, as a whole it simply doesn't hold up). The Chrysalids remains one of my favorite books, despite some wobbles about 3/4 of the way through (minor points, but things I find a bit irritating). I've ended up reading that one (my first Wyndham, by the way, read at age 12 originally) many times over now....

 

[AE35Unit]

Could you maybe elaborate on those Wobbles JD? If you feel that such elaboration would make a spoiler then PM me. By the time i've got round to reading it it won't matter!

 

[WizardofOwls]

I used to have a copy of Rebirth (AKA The Chrysalids) but I have somehow lost it. I wont buy another copy until I can find one that has the cover I love- two people riding in a saddle basket on either side of a huge bird.

 

[chrispenycate]

The Outward Urge? Wasn't he collaborating with himself on that one (I believe he was also Lucas Parkes – ah Fantastic fiction says he wrote it as, not with, but I'm sure my copy was with.)

Met him in 1966 - oh, I already wrote that in another thread.

I might still have a copy of 'Jizzle' in my bookshelves; I know I picked up a copy second hand out of nostalgia.

 

[blacknorth]

The Outward Urge? Wasn't he collaborating with himself on that one (I believe he was also Lucas Parkes – ah Fantastic fiction says he wrote it as, not with, but I'm sure my copy was with.)

Most amusing, like Lester Del Rey and Eric Van Lihn... I think my copy says 'with' or 'and' - don't have to hand at the moment.

I love Wyndham's work, I think he's a great originator of startling images placed within a prose style which seems determined to arrest those images of their shock value, but which has the opposite effect over the course of a complete narrative.

Personal favourites are The Midwich Cuckoo's (filmed in 1960 as Village of the Damned), Chrysalids, Triffids, and some perfect short stories - Dumb Martian, for example.

 

[AE35Unit]

Chris,you met him? What was he like in person?

 

[chrispenycate]

Somewhat inebriated. Well, so was I. It was H G Well's hundredth birthday party, and we found ourselves on the same side in a – heated discussion?– with Kingsley Amis and Brian Aldiss opposing. I was just as definitive back then; we got a good audience.

But I liked the guy; had a lot of information at his fingertips, no need for notes.

 

[AE35Unit]

Chris i envy you. You've met all these great writers! The only famous person I've met is Jim Davidson the stand up comic and he was NOT happy!

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

Read both Day Of the Triffids and Out Of the Deeps aka Kraken Wakes. They're both damn good I thought. Except for Deeps though. I felt the ending left me hanging. Triffids was better. I have his other ones:

The Midwich Cuckoos
The Secret People (as John Beynon Harris)
The Chrysalids
Trouble With Lichen
Chocky

I've yet to nab his other ones. Oh yeah, with Aldiss calling Wyndham's books "cozy catastrophes", I'd tell him he's full of it. Getting trapped inside a farmhouse, surrounded by death stinging Triffids is not my idea of "cozy."

 

[j d worthington]

Could you maybe elaborate on those Wobbles JD? If you feel that such elaboration would make a spoiler then PM me. By the time i've got round to reading it it won't matter!

Not much of a spoiler, no. It was just the sudden shift once the new society was encountered left a bit to be desired here and there -- needed more fleshing out, I've always felt, and so came across as a bit anticlimactic. But, overall, this is a minor quibble in an otherwise quite wonderful (and often troubling -- especially to someone who has known more than a few people like those the narrator grew up with) book.

Oh yeah, with Aldiss calling Wyndham's books "cozy catastrophes", I'd tell him he's full of it. Getting trapped inside a farmhouse, surrounded by death stinging Triffids is not my idea of "cozy."

Well, you have to take into consideration both the context and the entire phrase. It isn't that what happens to the characters is "cozy"... it is the resolution of the "catastrophe" into a nice, neat bow at the end which makes it so. Even if everything isn't "hunky-dory", the ending of his books do tend to take a very positive, "humanity always triumphs" sort of view -- a reassuring sort of message which can be (and often is) a cheat artistically speaking, as it frequently doesn't deal honestly with the impact and final outcome of such a situation.

As a (slightly modified) contrast, try Earth Abides: After all that has happened, even though "mankind triumphs" (in a sense), it isn't a comfortable sort of resolution for either Ish or the reader (who has had Ish as a point of sympathy), as the society emerging is likely to be totally alien to what either would either want or find at all comfortable....

Earth Abides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Ian Whates]

It isn't that what happens to the characters is "cozy"... it is the resolution of the "catastrophe" into a nice, neat bow at the end which makes it so. Even if everything isn't "hunky-dory", the ending of his books do tend to take a very positive, "humanity always triumphs" sort of view

Exactly right, jd. I know Brian isn't impressed with the ending to Day of the Triffids for example: "The Isle of Wight for God's sake?!?"

As an aside, a friend of mine, Andy Sawyer, has been instrumental in bringing to light a new Wyndham novel. Written at around the same time as Triffids, I understand Plan for Chaos reached the advanced draft stage but never progressed to a fully polished novel. Fitting that this should appear now, 40 years after the author's death, though I'm amazed that no major publisher has picked up on this. The book has had to be published via Liverpool University Press and so is prohibitively expensive.

 

[AE35Unit]

Thanks JD. And I'll look into that Earth Abides.

Ian I remember part of an interview Aldiss gave on a program about SF and his comment on the ending of Triffids-the Isle of Wight for god's sake comment. And a new unpublished book eh! Wonder how long before it becomes public domain,i.e. public libraries.