Ninety-Nine Novels: Life in the West by Brian Aldiss

In 1984, Anthony Burgess published Ninety-Nine Novels, a selection of his favourite novels in English since 1939. The list is typically idiosyncratic, and shows the breadth of Burgess's interest in fiction. This podcast, by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, explores the novels on Burgess's list with the help of writers, critics and other special guests.

In this episode, we’re joined by novelist Adam Roberts, who introduces us to Life in the West by Brian Aldiss.

Life in the West tells the story of Thomas Squire, a filmmaker who is attending an academic conference to introduce his new documentary, Frankenstein in the Arts. At the conference he engages in conversations with the other attendees while dealing with the dissolution of his marriage, the trauma of his childhood and the violent years he spent in Yugoslavia as a member of British intelligence. Anthony Burgess calls the novel ‘a rich book, not afraid of thought.’

Brain Aldiss was born in 1925. After serving in Burma during World War II he worked as a bookseller in Oxford, which was the inspiration for his first novel The Brightfount Diaries, published in 1955. He went on to become one of the most respected British science fiction writers, writing 41 novels, 26 collections of short stories, 8 volumes of poetry, 5 volumes of autobiography and many more works of literary criticism, drama and edited anthologies. He died in 2017 at the age of 92.

Adam Roberts is a writer and an academic at Royal Holloway, University of London. His most recent novel, Lake of Darkness is available now. A History of Fantasy is forthcoming from Bloomsbury (2025).

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BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

By Brian Aldiss:

Hothouse (1962)

Greybeard (1964)

Billion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (1973)

Frankenstein Unbound (1973)

Helliconia Trilogy (1982-85)

Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (1986)

Forgotten Life (1988)

Bury My Heart at W.H. Smith's: A Writing Life (1990)

Remembrance Day (1993)

Twinkling of an Eye, or My Life as an Englishman (1998)

Somewhere East of Life (1994)

'Supertoys Last All Summer Long' in The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s Part 2 (2015)

By others:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1955)

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)

Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess (1980)

The Names by Don DeLillo (1982)

Small World by David Lodge (1984)

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LINKS

Lake of Darkness by Adam Roberts (affiliate link)

Fantasy: A Short History by Adam Roberts (forthcoming)

Adam Roberts's blog at Medium

International Anthony Burgess Foundation

Burgess Foundation's newsletter at Substack

The theme music for the Ninety-Nine Novels podcast is Anthony Burgess’s Concerto for Flute, Strings and Piano in D Minor, performed by No Dice Collective.

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