John Brunner (1934-1995) was one of the most successful and prominent British science fiction writers of the 20th century. He is best known for his compelling but chilling visions of 21st century civilization. Brunner’s dystopian novels began with his masterpiece Stand on Zanzibar (1968), which won a Hugo Award amongst other accolades. This was followed by Jagged Orbit (1969), The Sheep Look Up (1972) and The Shockwave Rider (1975). In these novels, Brunner portrays near-future society threatened by overpopulation, environmental degradation and corruption, although these powerful warnings are tempered with hopeful alternatives.
The dystopian novels are Brunner's most critically acclaimed works but are not representative of his career as a whole. Brunner was, in fact, an extremely prolific writer of entertaining space operas and in the early 1960s alone published an incredible 27 novels in just six years. He also wrote historical novels, film scripts and poetry.
In addition to writing, Brunner's formidable intellect found an outlet in a number of other ways. He helped to establish the Science Fiction Foundation in 1970 and became Chairman of the British Science Fiction Association in 1972. Brunner was also closely involved in the British nuclear disarmament movement and it was whilst working as a CND observer at the Moscow Peace Congress that he met the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Brunner was also actively interested in Folk music and composed his own pieces, including the CND anthem H-Bomb's Thunder, which was sung at Greenham Common.