A B O U T J I M G O D D A R D

Jim Goddard has had an interest in science fiction since the age of 12. In the early 1970s he published the fanzine Cypher, attracting contributions from many well-known writers including Brian Aldiss, Kingsley Amis, J. G. Ballard and James Blish. Cypher was the first fanzine to receive an element of Arts Council funding, via Southern Arts. He also published the first attempt at a J. G. Ballard bibliography, called, oddly enough, J. G. Ballard: a Bibliography. In the mid 1970s he collaborated with Interzone editor David Pringle in editing the Ballard festschrift J. G. Ballard: the First 20 Years (Brans Head Books, 1976). In 1977 he contributed three of the major articles to The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction edited by Brian Ash (Pan Books, 1977 in paperback, Triune Books, 1978 in hardcover). He was a regular contributor of articles, reviews and interviews to the magazine Science Fiction Monthly and was also instrumental in acquiring several works of fiction for that magazine. During the late 1970s and early 1980s he was a science fiction advisor to and reader for Fontana Paperbacks. In the mid 1980s he was one of the prime movers (and major shareholder) in the establishment of Britain's first SF small press, the now defunct Kerosina Publications. He was secretary of the UK chapter of World SF for several years during the same period and also edited the World SF Newsletter. Over the years he has published some forgettable fiction and poetry in obscure places. He currently earns a precarious living as a freelance writer, principally of advertising and corporate copy, maintains The Official Brian W. Aldiss Web Site as well as this Ballard site and is in the early stages of work on two small scale SF related publishing projects. He is an avid collector of science fiction first editions by a select group of authors.