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J G BALLARD: A COLLECTORS’ GUIDE

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SHORT STORIES

This section of the Guide concentrates on the magazine publication of Ballard's short stories. In the early years, Ballard was published exclusively in two U.K. science fiction magazines, New Worlds and Science Fantasy, both of which were at the time edited by John Carnell. Gradually, Ballard's stories also started appearing in U.S. science fiction magazines. Then, from the mid-1960s onwards, his stories appeared in magazines of a more general literary nature, especially Ambit (edited by Ballard's friend Martin Bax), and Bananas (a literary newspaper published during the mid-1970s and initially edited by Emma Tennant, another of Ballard's friends). During the late 1960s he continued to appear in New Worlds, which under the editorship of Michael Moorcock was busy turning itself into a much more avant garde magazine.

I have concentrated on the first publication for each story, also mentioning any noteworthy subsequent appearances. In particular, I've tried to note those that might erroneously be claimed as first publications. I have not thought it worthwhile including scans of the front cover of every magazine, since most are easily identified by date and/or issue number.

It is worthwhile making a few general comments about the relative scarcity of those magazines in which Ballard appeared most frequently. Most issues of the science fiction magazines (Amazing, Fantastic, Interzone, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Science Fantasy, Worlds of If, and the early issues of New Worlds) appear frequently on Abebooks and eBay. Ambit appears occasionally at those venues, but most issues are still available from the magazine itself. Bananas was a large format magazine printed on newspaper quality paper; copies tend to be rather difficult to find and are often subject to the usual browning and brittleness that affects old newspapers. Occasional copies are to be found on Abebooks and eBay, but one suspects their large size and inferior quality paper makes them a rather unattractive storage proposition to booksellers.

New Worlds has a complex publishing history, for which see the magazine's entry at the website of the Visual Index of Science Fiction Cover Art (Visco). Issues up to and including #172 tend to be readily available, as for other science fiction magazines. Starting with issue #173, New Worlds was published as a large format glossy magazine, and became less an SF publication and more a magazine for imaginative and avant garde literature. From this point, the magazine also had significant distribution difficulties, which affected some issues more than others. These later issues are occasionally seen on Abebooks and eBay; they can also be obtained from John Davey, who holds a substantial amount of Moorcock-related publications for sale and is contactable at jaydedesign@compuserve.com.

THE VIOLENT NOON: Varsity, 26 May 1951

The Violent Noon was written when Ballard was aged 20 for a short story competition in the Cambridge University magazine Varsity. The story is set in Malaysia in the late 1940s, a period when British colonials were fighting infiltration by Marxist guerrillas. Needless to say, it is not easy to locate an original copy of the story's one and only publication (indeed, outside of libraries it may well be impossible), although scans of the story do exist.


PRIMA BELLADONNA: Science Fantasy, #20, December 1956

The science fiction editor John Carnell had been impressed by the stories that Ballard had submitted, and published two of them in separate magazines in December 1956. It appears that this was the first one in print, since the December issue of New Worlds contains a brief profile of Ballard, which includes the statement that "Mr. Ballard's debut into science fiction was made in the current Science Fantasy with Prima Belladonna."

ESCAPEMENT: New Worlds, #54, December 1956

New Worlds, #54

BUILD-UP: New Worlds, #55, January 1957

This story was later revised and re-titled The Concentration City. The revised version was first published in 1967 in the short story collection The Disaster Area.


MOBILE: Science Fantasy, #23, June 1957

This story was later substantially re-written as Venus Smiles. The revised version is one of several Ballard stories set in the fictional resort of Vermillion Sands, and the character and gender of the main protagonist are altered, as is the work of art at the centre of the story; the ending is also given a characteristic Ballardian twist. The first appearance as Venus Smiles was in Worlds of If, September 1967.


MANHOLE 69: New Worlds, #65, November 1957


TRACK 12: New Worlds, #70 April, 1958 


THE WAITING GROUNDS: New Worlds, #88, November 1959 


NOW: ZERO: Science Fantasy, #38, December 1959 


THE SOUND SWEEP: Science Fantasy, #39 February, 1960 


ZONE OF TERROR: New Worlds, #92, March 1960 


CHRONOPOLIS: New Worlds, #95, June 1960 


THE VOICES OF TIME: New Worlds, #99, October 1960 


THE LAST WORLD OF MR GODDARD: Science Fantasy, #43, October 1960 


STUDIO 5, THE STARS: Science Fantasy, #45, February 1961

Science Fantasy, #45

DEEP END: New Worlds, #106, May 1961


THE OVERLOADED MAN: New Worlds, #108, July 1961


MR F IS MR F: Science Fantasy, #48, August 1961


STORM-WIND (Part 1): New Worlds, #110, September 1961

An early version of the novel The Wind from Nowhere. The serialized version contains a short epilogue that is missing from the novel.


STORM-WIND (Part 2): New Worlds, #111, October 1961


BILLENIUM: New Worlds, #112, November 1961


THE GENTLE ASSASSIN: New Worlds, #113, December 1961


THE DROWNED WORLD: Science Fiction Adventures, #24, January 1962

A short version of the novel The Drowned World, which preceded its first book publication. The magazine Science Fiction Adventures was from the same stable as New Worlds and Science Fantasy.

SF Adventures, #24

THE INSANE ONES: Amazing Stories, January 1962

First publication of a Ballard story in a U.S. magazine.


THE GARDEN OF TIME: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1962

Care is needed with issues of the The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from the early 1960s. Between December 1959 and June 1964, a U.K. edition was published with contents that were mostly taken from a U.S. issue published three or four months earlier. For example, most of the contents of the U.S. issue for February 1962, which included The Garden of Time, also appeared in the U.K. issue for June 1962. The last U.S. edition to be reprised as a U.K. edition was that for February 1964, so it appears that there is just one other Ballard story that may have appeared in a later U.K. edition: Now Wakes the Sea.


THE THOUSAND DREAMS OF STELLAVISTA: Amazing Stories, March 1962


THIRTEEN TO CENTAURUS: Amazing Stories, April 1962


PASSPORT TO ETERNITY: Amazing Stories, June 1962


THE CAGE OF SAND: New Worlds, #119, June 1962


THE WATCH-TOWERS: Science Fantasy, #53, June 1962


THE SINGING STATUES: Fantastic Stories, July 1962


THE MAN ON THE 99th FLOOR: New Worlds, #120, July 1962


THE SUBLIMINAL MAN: New Worlds, #126, January 1963


THE SHERRINGTON THEORY: Amazing Stories, March 1963

This story was later retitled The Reptile Enclosure.


A QUESTION OF RE-ENTRY: Fantastic Stories, March 1963



Fantastic Stories, March 1963

THE TIME-TOMBS: Worlds of If, March 1963


NOW WAKES THE SEA: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 1963

This story may also have appeared in the U.K. edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction dated September 1963 (see comments above on the magazine's U.K. edition).


THE ENCOUNTER: Amazing Stories, June 1963

This story was later retitled The Venus Hunters.


END-GAME: New Worlds, #131, June 1963

 

MINUS ONE: Science Fantasy, #59, June 1963


THE SUDDEN AFTERNOON: Fantastic Stories, September 1963


THE SCREEN GAME: Fantastic Stories, October 1963


TIME OF PASSAGE: Science Fantasy, #63, February 1964


PRISONER OF THE CORAL DEEP: Argosy, March 1964

This is the U.K. magazine Argosy, not the U.S. magazine with the same title.

Argosy, March 1964

THE LOST LEONARDO: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 1964


THE TERMINAL BEACH: New Worlds, #140, March 1964


THE ILLUMINATED MAN: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 1964

This story was later re-written as Equinox, which in turn was expanded into the novel The Crystal World.


EQUINOX (Part 1): New Worlds, #142, May/June 1964

Later expanded into the novel The Crystal World.

This was the first issue of New Worlds to be edited by Michael Moorcock, with a new publisher and a somewhat smaller, paperback-sized format. There appear to have been a few distribution problems with this first issue, as it is more difficult to find than other digest or paperback sized issues of the magazine.

New Worlds, #142

EQUINOX (Part 2): New Worlds, #143 July/August 1964


THE DELTA AT SUNSET: in The Terminal Beach, Gollancz, June 1964

The U.K. hardback edition of The Terminal Beach contained the first publication of four of Ballard's stories. The Delta at Sunset does not appear to have had a subsequent magazine publication.


THE DROWNED GIANT: in The Terminal Beach, Gollancz, June 1964

This story also appeared in the May 1965 issue of Playboy with the alternative title of Souvenir. Most subsequent publications in short story collections have reverted to the original title.


THE GIOCONDA OF THE TWILIGHT NOON: in The Terminal Beach, Gollancz, June 1964

Apparently no magazine publication.


THE VOLCANO DANCES: in The Terminal Beach, Gollancz, June 1964

Again, this story does not appear to have appeared in a magazine.


CONFETTI ROYALE:  Rogue, February/March 1966

Pringle (1984) gives first publication of this story to the January/February issue of Rogue, a U.S. 'mens' magazine. In fact, first publication was in the issue dated February/March 1966. The confusion seems to have arisen because Rogue had a bi-monthly publication schedule, and issue #1 of volume 11 (1966) was actually dated Feb/Mar, not Jan/Feb.

This story appeared three years later in New Worlds #189 (April 1969) with the title The Beach Murders. Subsequent appearances have retained this later title.

Rogue, Feb/Mar 1966

YOU AND ME AND THE CONTINUUM: Impulse, #1, March 1966

Impulse was a new title for the magazine Science Fantasy, which was by now in the same paperback sized format as New Worlds.

Impulse, #1

THE ASSASSINATION WEAPON: New Worlds, #161, April 1966


THE DAY OF FOREVER: in The Impossible Man, Berkley, April 1966

Three of Ballard's stories found their first publication in Berkley's U.S. paperback collection The Impossible Man. This story, The Day of Forever, had a subsequent magazine publication in New Worlds #170 (January 1967).


THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN: in The Impossible Man, Berkley, April 1966

There appears to have been no magazine publication of this story.


STORM BIRD, STORM DREAMER: in The Impossible Man, Berkley, April 1966

There was a subsequent magazine appearance in New Worlds #168 (November 1966).


YOU: COMA: MARILYN MONROE: Ambit, #27, Spring 1966

Ambit, a magazine that mixed poetry, fiction, and art, was started by London paediatrician Martin Bax in 1959 - and is still going strong fifty years later. Ballard met Bax in 1963 and became prose editor of Ambit a few years later. The magazine had a quarterly publication schedule, and although only the year appears on the front cover, this issue would have been published some time in the Spring of 1966.

You: Coma: Marilyn Monroe was re-printed a few months later in New Worlds #163 (June 1966).

Ambit, #27

THE ATROCITY EXHIBITION: New Worlds, #166, September 1966

Although this was to become the title piece for one of Ballard's most famous books, it played second fiddle on its original publication to Moorcock's award-winning novella Behold the Man. This was a classic issue of New Worlds under Moorcock's editorship, as it also contained an excellent story by Brian W Aldiss, Another Little Boy, and an appreciation of Philip K. Dick written by John Brunner.

The Atrocity Exhibition also appeared in the magazine Encounter in March 1967, which is sometimes erroneously described as the story's first publication.

New Worlds, #166

TOMORROW IS A MILLION YEARS: Argosy, October 1966

This appearance in the U.K. magazine Argosy was this story's first, though it also appeared in New Worlds just a couple of months later (#169, December 1966).


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

Also published a few months later in New Worlds (#171, March 1967).


PLAN FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF JACQUELINE KENNEDY: Ambit, #31, Spring 1967

 

THE DEATH MODULE: New Worlds, #173, July 1967

This piece was retitled for inclusion in the collection The Atrocity Exhibition, appearing there as Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown. To make matters even more confusing, that later title was used again in the mid-1970s for a completely different story.

This was the first issue of New Worlds in the large magazine format. #173 is one of the scarcer issues, possibly because of distribution difficulties consequent on the changeover in formats.

New Worlds, #173

CRY HOPE, CRY FURY!: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1967


THE RECOGNITION: in Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison, Doubleday, 1967

Ballard's contribution to the famous 'new wave' anthology was actually one of his more minor stories. A first edition of Dangerous Visions in decent condition will probably cost a hundred pounds or so, rather a lot for the first publication of a single Ballard story! There are usually a number of much cheaper book club editions, with a similar dust jacket, for sale on eBay and Abebooks.

Dangerous Visions, Doubleday, 1967

WHY I WANT TO FUCK RONALD REAGAN: Unicorn Bookshop chapbook, 1968

This is the piece that led to the pulping of what would have been the first U.S. edition of The Atrocity Exhibition in 1970. Senior management at Doubleday ordered the book's destruction shortly before publication, after reading Why I Want To ...

But where had the piece first appeared? It's common to see Ronald Reagan: The Magazine of Poetry #1 (1968), edited by John Sladek and Pamela Zoline, being credited with first publication, and the piece was very possibly written with that magazine in mind. However, this appearance must have been in the second half of 1968, since an advertisement for 'Magazine of Poetry' appeared in New Worlds, but not until October. An appearance in International Times (#26, 16-29 February 1968) must surely have been earlier. But there it was noted that the piece had originally been published by 'Unicorn Books (Brighton)'. This was a chapbook limited to 250 copies, the first 50 being numbered and signed by Ballard; the publication date is given as 1968.

It was the Unicorn Bookshop edition that led to the prosecution of the publisher, Bill Butler, for obscenity, as recounted by Ballard in the annotation notes that are included in recent editions of The Atrocity Exhibition. The police raid on the bookshop's premises, in which three copies of the Why I Want To ... chapbook were seized, occurred on 16th January 1968. The book had been published that same day and the rest of the copies had already been sent to London for distribution, so that the Unicorn Bookshop publication did indeed precede that in International Times.

In 1980, when Reagan did actually run for President, the piece was circulated (without the title) at the Republican Party Convention, as a spoof report from the National Republican Congressional Committee, under the title Official Republican 1980 Presidential Survey. There is a full page reproduction of this leaflet in Re/Search 8/9: J. G. Ballard.

The Unicorn Bookshop chapbook is very rare, and even an unsigned copy will probably cost a couple of hundred pounds or more; issue 26 of International Times is seen fairly frequently on eBay, usually without the Ballard piece being mentioned, and doesn't command a premium price; Ronald Reagan: The Magazine of Poetry is occasionally seen on Abebooks and eBay and may cost around £50. As for an original of the Presidential Survey, I've really no idea.

Official Republican 1980 Presidential Survey

Unicorn Bookshop, 1968

 International Times #26, Feb 1968

 Ronald Reagan: The Magazine of Poetry #1, 1968

THE DEAD ASTRONAUT: Playboy, May 1968

This issue of Playboy is regularly seen for sale on eBay.

Playboy, May 1968

LOVE AND NAPALM: EXPORT U.S.A.: Circuit, #6, June 1968

The magazine Circuit was published by a group of students in Cambridge and London, including David Bieda and others, and ran for 12 issues between 1966 and 1969. The contents were largely about contemporary art and politics, with the aim of 'enabling the student mind to escape from the imprisonment of the narrow compass of academic degree requirements'. This is a pretty obscure publication.

First publication of Love and Napalm: Export U.S.A. is sometimes given as The Running Man (#2, July/August 1968), but the story's appearance in Circuit pre-dated it by a month. The Running Man was a literary and arts magazine that had a brief existence during the late 1960s. It was published in London by Christopher Kypreos, who had been a Contributing Editor at Penthouse magazine, but seems to have lasted only five issues before folding. As well as Love and Napalm, the second issue contained a commentary by Ballard on The Bathroom, a 'film in progress' by Steve Dwoskin. Copies of the issue containing the Ballard pieces are occasionally seen on Abebooks and eBay, at relatively modest prices.

Circuit, #6

The Running Man, #2

THE UNIVERSITY OF DEATH: Transatlantic Review, #29, Summer 1968

Transatlantic Review, #29

THE GREAT AMERICAN NUDE: Ambit, #36, Summer 1968


THE GENERATIONS OF AMERICA: New Worlds, #183, October 1968

#183 was one of the issues of New Worlds that suffered from distribution problems following the reluctance of the wholesalers to handle the magazine, and is therefore a fairly scarce issue.

New Worlds, #183

THE COMSAT ANGELS: Worlds of If, December 1968


THE SUMMER CANNIBALS: New Worlds, #186, January 1969

Another issue that was beset by New Worlds' distribution problems, this is possibly the scarcest issue to contain a story by Ballard.

New Worlds, #186

CRASH!: ICA Eventsheet, February 1969

Crash! first appeared in the 'eventsheet' of London's Institute of Contemporary Arts.

It was included in The Atrocity Exhibition collection (Cape, 1970), and also appeared in The Aspen Box #7 (Roaring Fork Press, Spring-Summer 1970) - where it is described 'an excerpt', although it appears to be almost the complete text. The Aspen Box was a 'multimedia magazine in a box' that had ten issues between 1965 and 1971. Exaggerated claims are sometimes made for this appearance, based on the mistaken belief that the Ballard piece is an early version of the novel Crash, which it predates by three years. The complete box #7 ('The British issue') is an expensive item, since it also contained items from John Lennon and Yoko Ono; sometimes individual items from the box are seen for sale separately.

ICA Eventsheet, Feb 1969

THE KILLING GROUND: New Worlds, #188, March 1969

New Worlds' distribution difficulties had now eased somewhat, so this issue and those dating from 1970 are not quite as difficult to find as some of the other large format issues.


TOLERANCES OF THE HUMAN FACE: Encounter, September 1969

Encounter, Sep 1969

A PLACE AND A TIME TO DIE: New Worlds, #194, September/October 1969


COITUS 80: A DESCRIPTION OF THE SEXUAL ACT IN 1980: New Worlds, #197, January 1970  

This was a predecessor of Ballard's 'surgical fictions', where he took actual descriptions of surgical procedures and replaced the patient description with the name of a famous personality. None of these pieces were included in the 2001 collection The Complete Short Stories.


JOURNEY ACROSS A CRATER: New Worlds, #198, February 1970

Journey Across a Crater was written in the same style as the majority of stories that made up The Atrocity Exhibition, but concerns a completely different character, a man who is apparently a returned astronaut. It also contains themes and one of the characters that were to appear in the novel Crash. The story  was reprinted in the first of the New Worlds Quarterly paperback books in 1971. However, Journey Across a Crater was omitted from The Complete Short Stories, apparently because Ballard had taken a dislike to it. It was eventually included in the Collector’s Edition of Crash, published by Fourth Estate in 2017.

New Worlds, #198

PRINCESS MARGARET'S FACELIFT: AN INTERSECTION OF FICTION AND REALITY: New Worlds, #199, March 1970

One of the 'surgical fiction' pieces. Reprinted in the Re/Search and Flamingo/HarperCollins editions of the The Atrocity Exhibition.


MAE WEST'S REDUCTION MAMMOPLASTY: Ambit, #44, Summer 1970

Another surgical fiction, which is also reprinted in the Re/Search and Flamingo/HarperCollins editions of the The Atrocity Exhibition.


SAY GOODBYE TO THE WIND: Fantastic Stories, August 1970


THE GREATEST TELEVISION SHOW ON EARTH: Ambit, #53, Winter 1972/1973


MY DREAM OF FLYING TO WAKE ISLAND: Ambit, #60, Autumn 1974


THE AIR DISASTER: Bananas, #1, January/February 1975

A number of Ballard's short stories written during the mid-1970s had their first publication in Bananas, a literary newspaper published in the U.K. and initially edited by Emma Tennant, a friend of Ballard's.

 Bananas, #1

LOW-FLYING AIRCRAFT: Bananas, #2, Early Summer 1975


THE LIFE AND DEATH OF GOD: Ambit, #66, Spring 1976

This story was originally titled (but not published as) The Rumour.


NOTES TOWARDS A MENTAL BREAKDOWN: Bananas, #4, Spring 1976

The title had originally been used as an alternative for The Death Module when it appeared in the collection The Atrocity Exhibition. But this is a completely different story.


THE 60 MINUTE ZOOM: Bananas, #5, Summer 1976


THE SMILE: Bananas, #6, Autumn/Winter 1976


THE ULTIMATE CITY: in Low-Flying Aircraft and Other Stories, Cape 1976

First published in one of Ballard's short story collections, The Ultimate City did have a subsequent magazine publication, in two parts, in CoEvolution Quarterly (#14, Summer 1977; and #15, Fall 1977), a magazine which derived from the Whole Earth Catalog project.


QUEEN ELIZABETH'S RHINOPLASTY: TriQuarterly, #35, Winter 1976

Another 'surgical fiction'. This one was included in the Re/Search annotated edition of The Atrocity Exhibition, but was omitted from the subsequent Flamingo edition in the U.K.

TriQuarterly is a U.S. literary magazine published three times a year by Northwestern University. Issue #35 consisted of two volumes contained in a rather plain cardboard slipcase. The first volume, in which Queen Elizabeth's Rhinoplasty appeared, contained a large number of very short stories, or 'minute stories'. Copies of this issue of TriQuarterly can usually be found for sale on Abebooks.

Triquarterly, 35.1

THE DEAD TIME: Bananas, #7, Spring 1977


THE INDEX: Bananas, #8, Summer 1977


THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT: Ambit, #71, Summer 1977


THEATRE OF WAR: Bananas, #9, Winter 1977


HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME: Bananas, #10, Spring 1978


ONE AFTERNOON AT UTAH BEACH: in Anticipations, ed. Christopher Priest, Faber & Faber, 1978

Ballard contributed to this collection of original stories, edited by fellow author Chris Priest.

Anticipations, Faber & Faber, 1978

ZODIAC 2000: Ambit, #75, Summer 1978

This issue also contained one of Ballard's contributions to The Invisible Years series that ran in Ambit in the late 1970s.


MOTEL ARCHITECTURE: Bananas, #12, Autumn 1978


A HOST OF FURIOUS FANCIES: Time Out, 19 December 1980

A one-off appearance in the weekly listing magazine for London.

Time Out, 19 Dec 1980

NEWS FROM THE SUN: Ambit, #87, Autumn 1981

This story was published as a chapbook in 1982 by the SF magazine Interzone. However its first publication had been in Ambit the previous year. The chapbook was limited to 750 copies: 20 lettered and signed presentation copies plus 730 numbered copies, of which the first 100 were signed.

Interzone, 1982

Ambit, #87

MEMORIES OF THE SPACE AGE: Interzone, #2, Summer 1982

A large proportion of Ballard's new stories appeared in Interzone over the course of the next ten years or so.

Interzone, #2

MYTHS OF THE NEAR FUTURE: in Myths of the Near Future, Cape, 1982

First published in the short story collection of the same name, Myths of the Near Future had a subsequent magazine publication in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (October 1982).


REPORT ON AN UNIDENTIFIED SPACE STATION: City Limits, 10-16 December 1982

An appearance in another of London's weekly listings magazines. This story was reprinted in the paperback anthology Semiotext(e) SF, edited by Rudy Rucker (1989).

City Limits, 10-16 Dec 1982

THE SECRET AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF J.G.B******: Ambit, #96, Spring 1984 (first appeared in French in Etoile Mecanique #1-3, July 1981-March 1982)

This vignette was reprinted in Interzone #106 (1996), but was not included in The Complete Short Stories until the 2009 edition from W. W. Norton, where it was re-titled The Secret Autobiography of J.G.B.

Etoile Mecanique, 1981-1982

THE OBJECT OF THE ATTACK: Interzone, #9, Autumn 1984


ANSWERS TO A QUESTIONNAIRE: Ambit, #100, Spring 1985


THE MAN WHO WALKED ON THE MOON: Interzone, #13, Autumn 1985


THE SECRET HISTORY OF WORLD WAR 3: Ambit, #114, Autumn 1988

 

LOVE IN A COLDER CLIMATE: Interview, January 1989

Interview was a U.S. magazine dealing primarily with media personalities and the like, and had originated with Andy Warhol. Love in a Colder Climate also appeared a few months later in the Observer Magazine for 16 July 1989.

Interview, Jan 1989

THE LARGEST THEME PARK IN THE WORLD: Guardian, 7 July 1989

A story published in one of the U. K.'s daily newspapers.

 Guardian, 7 July 1989, page 29

THE ENORMOUS SPACE: Interzone, #30, July/August 1989


WAR FEVER: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1989


JANE FONDA'S AUGMENTATION MAMMOPLASTY: in Semiotext(e) SF, ed. Rudy Rucker 1989

The last of Ballard's 'surgical fictions' appeared in this paperback anthology of (to quote the publishers) 'post-cyberpunk science fiction and other matter'. The book also re-printed Report on an Unidentified Space Station.

Semiotext(e) SF, 1989

DREAM CARGOES: Shincho, September 1990

First publication was a translation into Japanese by Takayuki Tatsumi in a 'Science Fiction special issue' of the literary magazine Shincho. The story also appeared in November of the same year in the collection War Fever, where no prior publication details were given, and this was therefore presumably its first publication in English.

Shincho, Sep 1990

A GUIDE TO VIRTUAL DEATH: Interzone, #56, February 1992


THE MESSAGE FROM MARS: Interzone, #58, April 1992


REPORT FROM AN OBSCURE PLANET: Leonardo, April 1992

Leonardo was a one-off magazine that was circulated with various European newspapers, including The Independent, to celebrate the start of Expo 92 in Seville. Each version contained the the same content, translated into the language of the relevant country.

Leonardo, April 1992

THE DYING FALL: Interzone, #106, April 1996

Ballard's last short story was included in a special edition of Interzone to mark his work. It did not appear in The Complete Short Stories until the 2009 edition from W. W. Norton.

Interzone, #106

THE HARDOON LABYRINTH: in Vermilion Sands, Editions Tristram, 2013 (in French as Le Labyrinthe Hardoon)

An early story, set in the fictional resort of Vermilion Sands and probably written in the mid-1950s, the manuscript of which was found in Ballard’s papers after they had been left to the British Library. The story has not yet been published in English, but a French translation by Bernard Sigaud was included in the new French edition of the short story collection Vermilion Sands published in 2013. Unfortunately there was some confusion over copyright permissions, and the Tristram edition was withdrawn and then republished the following year with the additional story omitted. “Le Labyrinthe Hardoon” therefore only appears in the 2013 edition with the yellow cover, and not in the 2014 edition with the red cover.

THE CLOUD-SCULPTORS OF CORAL D: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 1967