"The only real landscapes are the internal ones, or the external projections of them". I enjoyed reading these short stories, overall I preferred the Vermillion Sands stories for their inventiveness and imaginative inventions, (17.) Cloud Sculptors is my favourite short. I liked his use of art, Da Vinci, Delvaux, Chirico, Ernst, Magritte, Gustave Moreau, and Ballard introduced me to Dr E J Marey's motion photography pictures which I really enjoyed. It made me feel a lot of his stories would be good to read as graphic novels, but I have failed to find any produced. I loved the name of the fashion shop "Topless in Gaza", a subtle reference to another of my favourite authors; and one story reminded me of Scott Card (in particular a description of a character with obsessive compulsive disorder was very similar to Han Qing-jao in the Ender's Game series).
Below is a synopsis of each of the stories as they appeared in the book, mostly to remind me of what I have read:
1. Man sheltering from storm on Dorset beach discovers a large shell and a strange lady
2. Famous painting is stolen from the Louvre
3. Traven wanders through a ruined and abandoned thermonuclear test site, haunted by images of his deceased wife and son. Typical Ballard story; disturbing, aimless, hopeless.
4. The Hubble effect. A parody of inevitable death after life; a crystalline infection across the universe as stars and planets eventually succumb to the transformation into a lattice of crystalline substance that appear to alter time as well as substance.
5. Injured archaeologist lies in his tent, obsessed with watching the snakes that come out at sunset, refusing to take an interest in the archaeological site, nor to acknowledge the severity of his spreading injury.
6. An account of a human giant washed up dead on a beach, and the town's reaction.
7. Man convalescing after an eye operation has visions under his bandages.
8. Tourists stay beside an erupting volcano as the locals move out.
9. Jumbled spy thriller in which 5 out of 7 characters are murdered.
10 set in the town of Columbine Sept-Heures, where it is in constant twilight, a man tries to dream
11. 17 year old amputee is asked by the doctor to persuade the elderly population to choose transplants, as he himself gets a transplanted leg
12. Birds have mutated, grown and become aggressive towards humans. A man surveys his victory of battle against the flocks, along the shore littered with corpses, where a lone woman collects feathers.
13. A man marooned on a planet plans his total evasion from the policeman who has been pursuing him. At night, he has visions from Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, and his own wife.
14. Very short story about a downhill motor-race with JFK and Jackie in one car, Johnson in another, and Oswald with the starting gun.
15. Boats with tyres sail on sand like glass. Rays swim(fly) in the sky. A man rescued from his marooned boat joins a lady who paints, using a photosensitive paint to illustrate the objects in the room. The changing paintings depicting scenes of the story.
16. A circus sets up on the waste ground for one night only, displaying cages containing straw and a familiar smell.
17. A group of cloud sculptors are commissioned by a rich lady to sculpt her portrait during a storm.
18. written in the style of a scientific paper and catalogues an apocryphal series of bizarre experiments intended to measure the psychosexual appeal of Ronald Reagan
19. A couple travel to the now disused Cape Kennedy on the date of their former colleague's re-entry to earth, having died twenty years ago. They intend to collect his remains.
20. Where do child geniuses vanish to when they become adults?
21. Description of a war zone from some military personnel perspectives.
22. Two lone men watch across the river at the approaching army. They prepare to defend, but the masses who arrive take no interest in them.
23. A man runs a boutique shop at Vermilion Sands, where he sells electronic clothing.
24. In the future, 2001, time travel has become available to the rich. TV companies increase their revenue by filming battle scenes from history.
25. Ex-pilot/astronaut recuperating from madness discovers a wee bomber in the sand, and has plans to fly to Wake Island
26. Reporter tries to find a crashed civilian aircraft via remote village in mountains.
27. 1 in 1000 women conceive children. Judith is pregnant again, but her previous children had been born mutated.
28. Scientists become the first group to prove the existence of sentient life inside the atom. It causes a change in attitudes throughout the world.
29. Reminded me of Lem's Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. Story of an unknown man, possibly medical doctor, possibly pilot, possibly murderer.
30. Man uses cameras to voyeuristically video his wife at a holiday resort.
31. Man buys a realistic mannequin to share his dinner parties and home with, discovers it is the object of taxidermy, and his relationship with it breaks down.
32. Young man is released from Japanese POW camp after 3 years and heads off to join his parents and sister at another, but has to transport corpses en route.
33. Unusual narrative in the form of an index, we learn a lot about this highly influential man (HRH), who met with many famous people including world leaders, formed a religious group The Perfect Light Movement, was arrested, and vanished.
34. In a world where physical human contact is obsolete, the story of a man born and raised, successful job as a doctor, meets his future wife, marries, has children, all through the use of video conferences. (Very Lockdown).
35. Reports and interviews of a civil war in Britain involving the National Liberation Front who support the Union Jack, versus British and American military.
36. What begins as a holiday, a couple find themselves unable to leave in a conspiracy that the British government are exiling the unemployable to the Canary Islands.
37. Man on holiday with his wife and friend stays at Utah Beach and becomes obsessed with the history of the Normandy landings, convinced he has found a young German soldier waiting for battle.
38. Man from a mental institution spends a few days outside, experiencing terrorism, murders, pornography. The man is discovered to have his DNA spiralling to the left, and is reinstituted to the hospital where he believes he can escape through inner space.
39. Wheelchair bound man hasn't left his solarium for 10 years, spends his time watching close ups of the film Psycho. His cleaner comes once a week. He becomes convinced someone else is in his home.
40. Doctor draws young woman out of her psychosis. Very Freudian take on the Cinderella story.
41. Dr Franklin and his wife arrive in Cape Kennedy where everything is abandoned and humans suffer from a sickness that freezes them in time, caused by the space sickness astronauts brought back from space.
42. Edward Mallory and his wife arrive at Florida where everything is abandoned and humans suffer from a sickness that freezes them in time...strange having two near identical stories next to each other, like da Vinci paintings, find yourself playing spot the difference.
43. Again, same story, slightly different, crashed aircraft, abandoned town, empty swimming pool, wife, doctor, time sickness.
44. Explorers on an abandoned space-station lose track of time and space.
45. Psychiatric patient is observed after he attempted an assassination of the American president, but the doctor discovers he is actually trying to prevent the rising of an ex astronaut to religious power
46. Short story made up by the reader by piecing together the answers given to construct the possible questions. A man who was a close associate of a man who believed immortality was possible to such an extent that the population was sterilised as no further offspring was needed.
47. Story of a tramp who made money by becoming a tourist attraction himself claiming he had walked on the moon, and a journalist who decided to change his job/lifestyle having met this man.
48. Americans became obsessed by the telemetry reports of the president's health to such an extent, they failed to notice the brief news reports of a nuclear war that happened.
49. To repopulate the earth, it became compulsory for men and women over the age of 21 to attend sexual encounters 3 times a week.
50. Man decides not to leave his house.
51. Fun story of tourists who decide to stay on holiday and never return to work back home.
52. Teenage soldier questions the reasons and need for the war, decides to man a stand to go neutral. When other soldiers from both sides copy his idea, he is suddenly arrested and he learns the truth about the war.
53. The sole inhabitant of an abandoned cargo ship beaches the boat and allows it's toxic cargo to infect Puerto Rico. The new lifeforms that emerge fascinate him as he too is infected.
54. A schedule of TV programs, documenting the suggestion of reasons why life became extinct on earth.
55. Spacecraft returns from Mars, but the astronauts refuse to leave the grounded shuttle.
56. A rescue mission arrives at the planet where they received the signal from only to find it deserted. ( )

What can I say? The second half of J. G. Ballard's complete short story collection was more interesting and polished than the first half.

Of course, that could mean that I'm biased toward modern literature, I'm getting into his style of writing, or the massive weight of recurring themes served as a firm anchor for me, the reader. Who knows for certain?

I didn't love his words, but I didn't hate them either. I'll be honest. It was a long haul.

On the other hand, I'll always remember how 4 out of 5 stories had either flight or astronauts featured, often including a great time malaise. I think I enjoyed those the best out everything.

There were a few very short stories that did tickle me, though, and both happened to be about Ronald Regan. The short world war III was very funny.

His characters, for the most part, were average. The only ones that stood out strong were the psychopaths, and I'll be honest, they were pretty neat. I think I'll always enjoy the film critic and the guy who decided to stay at home.

Reading this, I've decided, has become a bragging point. Not entirely a labor of love, but still rewarding. I think I can trace a whole slew of repurposed ideas that made it into practically all of Steven Spielburg's films. I finally understand why he took Ballard's book to make Empire of the Sun. He was obviously a huge fan, and it didn't start or end with a single novel.

I don't doubt that Ballard has been a huge influence on many writers, and while it might be a monumental effort to trace back who came up with what first, I think I'll leave things as it is. Someone else can go about that task. I'll just enjoy the experience.

I want to leave everyone with just one impression, at least: The Earth is a balloon, people. Don't pop it and let all the undiluted time flow in. Okay? Okay.

( )