News From The Sun/JGB News




David Pringle has generously allowed all 25 issues of his JGB newsletter to be reprinted. They stretch from 1981 to 1996, and report on a fascinating period of JGB's career. Text transcribed by Mike Holliday and David Pringle.



News From The Sun #1
November, 1981
• New Hardcover Short Story Collection, Autumn 1982!
• Autobiographical Piece by Ballard in Foundation 24
• Major New Bibliography of All Ballard's Writings


News From The Sun #2
December 1981
• The Critical Reception of 'Hello America'
• Ronald Reagan Rides Again
• Angry Old Man
• Letters on 'Warm Leatherette', etc.


News From The Sun #3
Christmas 1981
• 'Hello America' Sells Well in USA
• Paperbacks from Granada
• New Novelette Appears
• Amis Again
• That Rock Concert
• The Critical Reception of 'Hello America', Part Two


News From The Sun #4
New Year 1981/82
• The Dragon's Dream 'Drowned World'
• A Letter From America
• Heart Searching
• Elvis, Burroughs, etc.
• Ballard in German


News From The Sun #5
February 1982
• Ballard Sells to F&SF
• New American Paperback
• Autobiographies
• Bootleg Ballard?
• Comsat Angels & Others
• Ballard in French
• Special Broken Leg Edition


News From The Sun #6
April 1982
• Imaginaton on Trial
• New JGB Novelette for 'Interzone'
• Letters on Various Subjects
• JGB's Apocalypse


News From The Sun #7
October 1982
• New Ballard Collection
• New Address
• Life at the Movies
• A Rave for 'MadMax II'
• Odd Mentions of JGB
• Ballard's Latest Work
• JGB Bibliography
• Visionary of the Apocalypse


News From The Sun #8
June 1983
• Various Updates


News From The Sun #9
December 1983
• Empire of the Sun
• Dent to Publish More Ballard
• Thatcher's Seed Corn
• Godzilla Meets the Wind from Nowhere...?
• Growing Younger?
• Letters
• Bloody Kids
• Royal College Film
• Re/Search Special Delayed
• JGB: A Primary and Secondary Biblio
• Interzone
• … Merry Christmas


News From The Sun #10
February 1984
• The Unlimited Hype Company
• Industrial Kultur
• Letters
• John Wolfers Retires
• 'Hard Copy'
• A Word from Uncle Bill
• The Algebra of News
• 'Empire of the Sun' Sold to USA
• Publisher's Musical Chairs
• Ballard in the Soviet Union
• Illustrated Book on JGB
• ...And Over in France


JGB News #11
April 1984
• Granada Re-Invest in Ballard
• A Boy's Eye View of Old Shanghai
• New Stories in 'Ambit' and 'Interzone'
• The Low-Down on 'Alien'
• A Letter from China
• Another Mention in 'The Bookseller'
• The End Starts Here
• A Prize in Spain?
• Major Interview Forthcoming in 'Paris Review'
• More from Monsieur Sigaud
• More Frenchmen...
• Shameless Autobiography
• Disclaimer
• Tailing Off


JGB News #12
July 1984
• Bibliography Out At Last!
• Heavy Publicity for 'Empire of the Sun'
• Booker Fever
• A Chicken-or-Egg Question?
• JGB in 'Literary Review'
• Letters
• Yet More Editions of 'Empire'...
• 'RE/Search' Printing in Hong Kong
• Sigaud Resurfaces
• Unpleasant Piffle
• Non-Fiction Volume to be Published
• Ambit Flier
• End-Piece


JGB News #13
September 1984
• Publicity Bandwagon Rolls On
• The Book of the Nine-Hour Interview
• Bibliographies Galore
• The Last Battle
• The Cold and Sound Barrier: News From the Sun
• The Object of the Attack
• Booker Prize, Etc.
• Early Reports
• JGB and the Surealistic Novel
• JGB News


JGB News #14
October 1984
• Ballard on Booker List
• JGB's September 1984 Media Coverage
• And Lots More To Come
• History of 'The Secret Autobiography'
• More from The French
• News in Brief
• Some Fragments from a Recent Interview
• You May Buy Your 'RE/Search' Now
• 'Golden Nugget'
• French JGB Bibliography
• The 'Hard Copy' 1984 Omnibus: Issues 1-5


JGB News #15
December 1984
• Ballard Wins 'Guardian' Prize
• Ten Weeks on Bestseller Lists
• JGB's October-November 1984 Media Coverage
• A Review of 'Empire of the Sun' by K.V. Bailey
• Letters
• Review of 'Le Dernier Combat' by Joseph Nicholas
• JGB Tops 'Observer' Non-Poll
• Big Reprint Programme from Granada
• Some Snippets


JGB News #16
January 1986
• A Bestselling Paperback
• New Year Greetings
• Interzone
• JGB's Recent Writings
• A Few Ageing Letters
• Final Snippets


JGB News #17
December 1987
• That Movie
• Ballard's Recent Writings
• Interview Fragments
• JGB in Films, TV, Radio & Theatre
• JGB's Media Coverage


JGB News #18
August 1992
• Hello, Again
• Why this Newsletter is Back
• Ballard's Recent Writings
• More Interview Fragments
• More Media Coverage
• New Book on Ballard
• Future Issues


JGB News #19
January 1993
• Images of The Future
• Ballard's Recent Writings
• JGB's Critical Coverage
• Frederick Jameson on Ballard
• Book Endorsements by Ballard
• Ballard Books Which Never Were


JGB News #20
August 1993
• Fact and Fiction in J. G. Ballard's The Kindness of Women
• Ballard's Recent Writings
• Towards a Topology of the Hermeneutics of Applied Ballardistics
• Parallels Between J. G. Ballard and Gene Wolfe


JGB News #21
December 1993
• You and Me and the Continuum: In Search of a Lost J. G. Ballard Novel
• Ballard's Recent Writings
• Letter from J. G. Ballard
• Other Readers' Letters
• Flying the Flag


JGB News #22
February 1994
• Rushing to Paradise
• Letter from J. G. Ballard on His "Lost" 1950s Novel
• JGB's Critical Coverage -- 80 Reviews
• Out-of-Date, Full of Misprints, Still Available


JGB News #23
December 1994
• Rushing to Paradise Gets a Muted Reception
• Ballard Non-Fiction Collection Scheduled at Long Last
• JGB News and Interzone Now On-Line
• Ballard's Recent Writings
• New Ballard Book in Italian
• Eleven "Books" About Ballard
• A Slightly Disappointed Reader
• The Unique and Idiosyncratic
• High-Rise Screenplay
• Crash! Bang! Cronenberg!
• Well-Read, Eh?
• Reed's Diamond Nebula
• The Cult of Self
• Origins of the 1984 Re/Search "Special"
• Delany's Review of Ballard
• Lunghua Break-Out
• The Leys School, Cambridge 
• JGB and Mr Chips
• The Imperial Imagination
• Vance's Beauty Contest
• Fame in the 20th Century
• The Lure of the Desert
• Who Are the Other Ballards?
• Moorcock Zine


JGB News #24
October 1995
• A User's Guide to the Millennium
• The Angle Between Two Walls
• Carry On Crashing
• Letter from J. G. Ballard on "Mr Chips," Peter Wyngarde, etc.
• Ballard's Recent Writings
• Small Trove of Early Ballard Non-Fiction Discovered
• A Packed-Out Event
• JGB'S Interviews and Profiles
• JGB's Critical Coverage -- Update
• A Final Letter...


JGB News #25
September 1996
• Cocaine Nights
• Letters from J. G. Ballard on Interzone, Cronenberg's Crash, etc.
• Ballard's Recent Writings
• The Dangers of Muzak
• Readers' Letters
• JGB'S Interviews and Profiles
• JGB's Critical Coverage -- Reviews