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The Ambit Collection:
J.G. Ballard had a long and happy relationship with a number of magazine editors – John Carnell and Michael Moorcock at New Worlds, and later David Pringle at interzone – but his gig as Prose Editor and contributor to Ambit Magazine proved to be an artistic match perfect for Da Man during that time when his interest in experimental writing reached a peak. Ballard first surfaced in Ambit in 1965 with an extract from The Drought, and by 1967 he was the Prose Editor, hanging out with Editor Martin Bax, Art Editor Michael Foreman, and later with Corresponding Editor Eduardo Paolozzi. From 1965 to his final story in 1988 Ballard published a total of 41 wide-ranging, disparate artifacts: extracts from novels, short stories, concrete poetry, advertising posters, and a range of experimental fiction. And thanks to JGB Collector Mike Holliday for all the background comments (gleefully "borrowed" from his site) and Ambit Assistant Editor Kate Pemberton for helping me complete this collection...  The Draining Lake Ambit #23, Spring 1965. Extract from The Drought.  You : Coma : Marilyn Monroe Ambit #27, Spring 1966. Short story. Terminal Documents An article on William Burroughs.  The Assassination Of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered As A Downhill Motor Race Ambit #29, Autumn 1966. Short story.  Plan for the Assassination of Jacqueline Kennedy Ambit #31, Spring 1967. Short story.  Homage To Claire Churchill Ambit #32, Summer 1967. The first of a series of five 'Advertiser's Announcements'.  Does The Angle Between Two Walls Have a Happy Ending? Ambit #33, Autumn 1967. The second 'Advertiser's Announcement'. This poster re-appeared in Ambit #60 in 1974.  The Great American Nude Ambit #36, Summer 1968. Short story. A Neural Interval The third 'Advertiser's Announcement'.  Love: A Printout For Claire Churchill Ambit #37, Autumn 1968. Concrete poem. This issue of Ambit was published in a newspaper broadsheet format. It also contained J.G. Ballard's Court Circular, a series of drawings by Bruce Mclean.  Mae West's Reduction Mammoplasty Ambit #44, Summer 1970. 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. The fourth 'Advertiser's Announcement'.  Venus Smiles Ambit #46, Winter 1970/1971. The fifth and final 'Advertiser's Announcement'.  The Side-Effects Of Orthonovin G. Ambit #50, Spring 1972. 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. Short story.  Crash Ambit #55, Summer 1973. Extract from the novel Crash.  My Dream Of Flying To Wake Island Ambit #60, Autumn 1974. Short story. Does The Angle Between Two Walls Have a Happy Ending? Reprint of the 'Advertiser's Announcement' first published in Ambit #33.  Critical Mass Ambit #63, Summer 1975. Extract from the novel High-Rise.  The Life and Death of God Ambit #66, Spring 1976. Short story.               The Invisible Years Ambit #66 (Spring 1976) to #79 (Summer 1979). The Invisible Years is a series of texts to accompany drawings by Ronald Sandford, written variously by Ballard, Martin Bax, and others. The series ran for 14 issues of Ambit, #66 to #79. The credits for all 14 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. Short story.  Zodiac 2000 Ambit #75, Summer 1978. 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. Extract from the novel Hello America.  News From The Sun Ambit #87, Autumn 1981. Short story.  The Secret Autobiography Of J.G. B****** Ambit #96, Spring 1984. Short story first published in French in Etoile Mécanique, July 1981-March 1982.  Answers To A Questionnaire Ambit #100, Spring 1985. Short story.  The Secret History Of World War 3 Ambit #114, Autumn 1988. Short story. |
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