Brunner was a science fiction writer, translator, and linguist. In 1972, he was the Chief Guest at the Eurocoon-1 science fiction convention. His writing has appeared in numerous films, TV plays, and BBC broadcasts. His short stories have also been adapted for television.
John Brunner’s writing career
John Brunner began his writing career as a traditional space opera author but soon began to experiment with the novel form. His novel Stand on Zanzibar adapted the fragmented organizational style of John Dos Passos and expanded on it by incorporating Marshall McLuhan’s theories on the power of media. In the mid-1950s, he switched to a full-time job with a publishing house. However, he continued to write on a part-time basis. His novel The Jagged Orbit depicts a dystopian future where weapons proliferation has led to a breakdown of social and ecological systems in the United States. During this period, Brunner also wrote the screenplay for the science fiction film The Terrornauts.
Despite his prolific output, Brunner received relatively little recognition during his lifetime. His novel Jagged Orbit won a 1971 British SF Award. His novel Stand On Zanzibar also won the 1973 Prix Apollo Award for French translation. Another novel, The Sheep Look Up, was nominated for a 1973 Nebula but lost to Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves. In addition to his writing career, Brunner also served as the President of the British Science Fiction Association in 1972. He later spent some time as the writer-in-residence at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
In his later writings, Brunner refined his use of the antihero and the background as characters. He delved into topics such as racism, drugs, the environment, and hi-tech warfare. In addition, Brunner and his wife, Marjorie, were active members of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
While his early novels and short stories were not very successful, his dystopian novel Stand on Zanzibar earned him his first big success. The novel spanned two continents and was written from multiple perspectives. It also became a bestseller and won a Hugo Award. Brunner also wrote some historical novels, thrillers, and mysteries.
His first novel was published at age seventeen under the pseudonym Gill Hunt. It was one of the earliest examples of cyberpunk, and he coined the word ‘worm’ to describe the computer virus. After the 1960s, his writing style became more complex and interesting. In all, Brunner wrote over 100 novels.
Brunner wrote eight novels per year. But only six of them sold. He may have been a bit left-wing because of his views. He criticized the Vietnam war and was anti-nuclear. His views didn’t sit well with many chemical company employees. Perhaps he preferred to stay away from dirty money. Or perhaps he was obsessed with his financial success.
Brunner’s early work consisted of short space operas, but his later novels are much more mature. He is a master of genre tropes, and his novels have deep ethical content. Even if the characters are aliens, the stories are not mere power fantasies for adolescents. And his books are very difficult to find.
His career as a translator
Josef Brunner, a German born translator, is widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction writers of our time. In his early career, he worked in international sales and was frequently asked to provide translation services. He studied languages including English, Russian, and Spanish, and considered himself a language expert. However, one day, he was asked to translate a text in Cyrillic script, which he couldn’t understand.
Brunner has a vast knowledge of languages and has lived in a number of different countries. He is an expert in linguistics and has taught at a number of language schools, including the prestigious Leopold Franzens University in Innsbruck. He has also worked as an interpreter at the European Union level and has attended several political summits.
His novel BRUNNER and the EUROCOON
The book is an extraordinary achievement for a novelist of the 1970s. Set on the outskirts of the Empire, bounty hunter Brunner tracks the world’s most dreaded criminals and monsters. Brunner is a morally dubious anti-hero who provides the ideal dark lens for examining the world.
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