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J G BALLARD: A COLLECTORS’ GUIDE

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Ballard became prose editor at Ambit in the mid-1960s, and over the following twenty years published a considerable number of his writings in that magazine: short stories, extracts from novels, and a number of other items that are difficult to classify. This page details every appearance, so that the nature of each piece is clear. Unless otherwise noted, all appearances are first publications.


THE DRAINING LAKE: Ambit, #23, Spring 1965. Extract from The Drought.


YOU: COMA MARILYN MONROE: Ambit,  #27, Spring 1966. A short story.


TERMINAL DOCUMENTS: Ambit,  # 27, Spring 1966. An article on William Burroughs.


THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY CONSIDERED AS A DOWNHILL MOTOR RACE: Ambit, #29, Autumn 1966. A short story.


PLAN FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF JACQUELINE KENNEDY: Ambit, #31, Spring 1967. A short story.


HOMAGE TO CLAIRE CHURCHILL: Ambit, #32, Summer 1967. The first of a series of what Ballard termed advertiser's announcements.


DOES THE ANGLE BETWEEN TWO WALLS HAVE A HAPPY ENDING?: Ambit, #33, Autumn 1967. The second 'advertiser's announcement', which re-appeared in Ambit #60 some years later .


THE GREAT AMERICAN NUDE: Ambit, #36, Summer 1968. A short story.


A NEURAL INTERVAL: Ambit, #36, Summer 1968. A third 'advertiser's announcement'.


J. G. BALLARD'S COURT CIRCULAR / LOVE: A PRINT-OUT FOR CLAIRE CHURCHILL: Ambit, #37, Autumn 1968. This issue of Ambit was in a newspaper format; its 'Court Circular' was a collage, which included the concrete poem Love: A Printout for Claire Churchill, some 'found' artwork, and a series of drawings by Bruce Mclean.


MAE WEST'S REDUCTION MAMMOPLASTY: Ambit, #44, Summer 1970. A short story and one of Ballard's 'surgical fictions'. This issue of Ambit also contains six of Michael Foreman's illustrations for the pulped Doubleday edition of The Atrocity Exhibition.  


PLACENTAL INSUFFICIENCY: Ambit, #45, Autumn 1970. Another 'advertiser's announcement'.


VENUS SMILES: Ambit, #46, Winter 1970/1971. The final 'advertiser's announcement'.


THE SIDE-EFFECTS OF ORTHONOVIN G.: Ambit, #50, Spring 1972. A set of 'found texts' - short biographies written by American women who had taken Orthonovin G., a birth control pill.


THE GREATEST TELEVISION SHOW ON EARTH: Ambit, #53, Winter 1972/1973. A short story.


CRASH: Ambit, #55, Summer 1973. An extract from the novel Crash.


MY DREAM OF FLYING TO WAKE ISLAND: Ambit, #60, Autumn 1974. A short story.


DOES THE ANGLE BETWEEN TWO WALLS HAVE A HAPPY ENDING?: Ambit, #60, Autumn 1974. One of Ballard's 'advertiser's announcement', which had been first published in Ambit #33.


CRITICAL MASS: Ambit, #63, Summer 1975. An extract from the novel High Rise.


THE LIFE AND DEATH OF GOD: Ambit, #66, Spring 1976. A short story.


THE INVISIBLE YEARSAmbit, #66 (Spring 1976) to #79 (Summer 1979). The Invisible Years was a series of texts to accompany drawings by Ronald Sandford, written by Ballard, Martin Bax and various others. The series ran for fourteen issues of Ambit, #66 to #79. The credits for all fourteen of the individual texts refer to both Ballard and Bax, although David Pringle attributes just six of these texts directly to Ballard, mainly on grounds of style: these are the texts in issues #67, #69, #72, #73, #75, and #78.


THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT: Ambit, #71, Summer 1977. A short story.


ZODIAC 2000: Ambit, #75, Summer 1978. A short story.


FROM THE UNLIMITED DREAM COMPANY: Ambit, #80, Autumn 1979. An extract from the novel The Unlimited Dream Company.


LANDFALL AT LAST: Ambit, #85, Spring 1981. An extract from the novel Hello America.


NEWS FROM THE SUN: Ambit, #87, Autumn 1981. A short story.


THE SECRET AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF J.G.B******: Ambit, #96, Spring 1984. A short story, which first appeared in French in Etoile Mecanique, July 1981-March 1982.


ANSWERS TO A QUESTIONNAIRE: Ambit, #100, Spring 1985. A short story.


THE SECRET HISTORY OF WORLD WAR 3: Ambit, #114, Autumn 1988. A short story.

BALLARD IN AMBIT