John Wyndham (July 10, 1903 – March 11, 1969) was the pen name used by the often post-apocalyptic British science fiction writer John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris. July 10 is the 191st day of the year (192nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1900 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (71st in leap years). ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... Apocalyptic science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization, through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...

In his earlier writings, Wyndham used various combinations of his names, such as John Beynon or Lucas Parkes. For one of his books, The Outward Urge, he actually used both the names "John Wyndham" and "Lucas Parkes", pretending to be two collaborating authors. The Outward Urge (published 1959) is a science fiction book by John Wyndham. ...

Biography

Life

John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was born in the village of Knowle in Warwickshire, England, but lived in Edgbaston in Birmingham until he was 8-years-old. At this point his parents - George Beynon Harris and Gertrude Parkes - separated. He and his brother, the writer Vivian Beynon Harris, had no settled home after this time. He was unhappy being shuttled through a series of English boarding schools, including Blundell's School in Devon during the First World War. His longest and final stay was at Bedales (1918-1921), which he left at the age of 18, where he blossomed and was happy. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the Queen England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 967 AD  Area  -  Total 130,395 km²  50,346 sq mi  Population  -  2007 estimate 50... Edgbaston constituency shown within Birmingham Edgbaston is an area and ward in the city of Birmingham in England. ... Birmingham (pron. ... Blundells School is a British public school, located in Tiverton in the county of Devon. ... Bedales School is a public school with a progressive ethos located in the village of Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ...

After leaving school Wyndham studied farming for a while, changed his mind about going to Oxford University and tried several ways of earning a living, but mostly relied on an allowance from his family. He eventually turned to writing for money in 1925, but before he decided on this occupation, he had also tried a number of other careers, such as law, commercial art and advertising. Throughout the 1930s he wrote many stories, mainly for American periodicals. He wrote some detective stories as well as science fiction. Face The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ...

Between 1940 and 1943 Wyndham was a government official, working in the wartime censorship system. He then went into the army, serving as a corporal cipher operator in the Royal Corps of Signals, and participated in the Normandy landings. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... It has been suggested that Northern France Campaign (1944) be merged into this article or section. ...

He was inspired by the success of his brother (who had published four novels before Wyndham found fame) and altered his writing style for his book The Day of the Triffids. The book proved to be an enormous success and established Wyndham as an important exponent of science fiction. The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic 1951 novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. ...

In 1963 Wyndham married Grace Wilson, whom he had known for more than 20 years. He moved out of the Penn Club in London, and the couple lived near Petersfield, Hampshire, just outside the grounds of Bedales School. Petersfield is a market town in the English county of Hampshire, situated on the northern border of the South Downs. ... Bedales School is a public school with a progressive ethos located in the village of Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England. ...

Major works

• The Day of the Triffids is his most famous book and gave the word "triffid" - a mobile, hunting plant with a lethal sting - to the English language. Although he had already written published fiction, this was the first time he used the name "John Wyndham", and at the time he was widely believed to be a new writer.
• The Kraken Wakes was published in the United States as Out of the Deeps.
• The Chrysalids was published in the United States as Re-Birth, and was adapted as a BBC Radio 4 play in the early 1980s.
• The Midwich Cuckoos has been filmed twice as Village of the Damned.
• Trouble with Lichen
• Chocky has been adapted as a Thames Television serial.
• Web is a short novel that, although less well known, includes all his major themes.

The first four novels, written over a fairly short period in the 1950s, are widely regarded as the peak of his achievement. The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic 1951 novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Penguin Books cover for The Kraken Wakes The Kraken Wakes is an 1953 apocalyptic science fiction novel by John Wyndham, originally published by Michael Joseph in the UK and first published in the US in the same year by Ballantine Books under the title Out of the Deeps as a... The Chrysalids (U.S. title: Re-Birth) is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, first published in 1955. ... BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of chiefly spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... This article cites very few or no references or sources. ... The Midwich Cuckoos The Midwich Cuckoos is a science fiction novel written by John Wyndham in 1957. ... Village of the Damned may refer to: The 1960 movie Village of the Damned (1960 movie) The 1995 remake, Village of the Damned (1995 movie) The John Wyndham novel The Midwich Cuckoos, on which the movies are based. ... Trouble With Lichen (published 1960) is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham. ... Chocky is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, author of The Day of the Triffids. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Web is a science fiction novel written by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ...

He also wrote several short stories of variable content and quality, ranging from hard science fiction to the whimsical. Of particular note are Consider Her Ways, The Wheel, Pillar to Post, and Random Quest. Consider Her Ways is a science fiction short story (possibly a novella) by John Wyndham, regarded by some as his best short story. ... Random Quest is a science fiction short story by John Wyndham. ...

Style

Most of Wyndham's novels have a 1950s English middle-class setting, which today gives them an old-fashioned sense, and implies a proper sense of rationality. Brian Aldiss, another British science fiction writer, has disparagingly labelled some of them as "cosy catastrophes", especially his novel The Day of the Triffids. The critic L. J. Hurst dismissed Aldiss's accusations, pointing out that in that book the main character witnesses several murders, suicides, and misadventures, and is frequently in mortal danger himself.^[1] Brian Wilson Aldiss, OBE, (born August 18, 1925 in East Dereham, Norfolk) is a prolific English author of both general fiction and science fiction. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction. ... The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic 1951 novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. ...

This approach by Wyndham (itself more than a little reminiscent of that taken by H. G. Wells in The War of the Worlds, etc.) was a reaction against what he described as the "galactic gangsters in space opera" style of much science fiction up to then. In his longer tales he is more concerned with character development than many science fiction writers. Wyndham's science fiction may be considered trendsetting in its insistence that interplanetary catastrophes do not just happen to "other people" (e.g. those best-equipped to face them) and would in fact be extremely difficult for our delicate and highly interconnected civilisation to deal with. Similarly ahead of its time is the emphasis that Wyndham put on disruptions to the biosphere as a whole, as when the aliens in The Kraken Wakes begin to engineer our planet for their own purposes without asking us first. He consistently views man as part of the biosphere, and nature as "red in tooth and claw" (as Tennyson put it). Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... The War of the Worlds (1898), by H. G. Wells, is an early science fiction novel (or novella) which describes an invasion of England by aliens from Mars. ... Penguin Books cover for The Kraken Wakes The Kraken Wakes is an 1953 apocalyptic science fiction novel by John Wyndham, originally published by Michael Joseph in the UK and first published in the US in the same year by Ballantine Books under the title Out of the Deeps as a... Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (August 6, 1809 - October 6, 1892) is generally regarded as one of the greatest English poets. ...

Perhaps a reflection of his ideas are the similar characters he uses throughout his main novels. For example, in Midwich Cuckoos, Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes, the main characters are a sensible man and woman. The similarities of these characters between the novels are great; a self-made educated man, a successful woman who is headstrong yet quite dependent on the man at times. These are a reflection of Wyndham's self-described style - that of "logical science fiction". In Triffids, Kraken, and Midwich Cuckoos, the characters and settings are all very reasonable, sensible, and in some sense, properly English. This is the theme at the heart of these works: take the "sensible" and rational society we have now, and introduce one (or in the case of Triffids, two) extraordinary factors. The works then take a very analytical approach to our reactions to these situations. The results are always grim, as we rational beings, most notably in Kraken, at every step attempt to rationalize extraordinary situations into our present day view of our planet. In this sense Wyndham exposes our rationality as purely protective, and, in the end, detrimental. Only when no hope is left can we actually face facts - this is just when hope presents itself as one last flicker of the human potential.

When one considers the era in which John Wyndham was writing, he is remarkably pro-feminist, with much discussion within "Trouble with Lichen" of the effect of a prolonged lifespan on the gender roles. In most of his books women play a key intellectual and problem solving role, often being more practically minded than the men. Trouble With Lichen (published 1960) is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham. ...

Bibliography

Novels

• Foul Play Suspected (1935)
• The Secret People (1935)
• Planet Plane (also known as Stowaway to Mars, 1936)
• The Day of the Triffids (also known as Revolt of the Triffids, 1951)
• The Kraken Wakes (also known as Out of the Deeps, 1953)
• The Chrysalids (also known as Re-Birth, 1955)
• The Midwich Cuckoos (1957)
• The Outward Urge (1959)
• Trouble with Lichen (1960)
• Chocky (1968, made into an ITV television mini-series for children in 1985)

The Secret People (1935) is an early novel by John Wyndham set in 1964 in which a British couple find themselves held captive by ancient pygmies beneath the Sahara desert. ... The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic 1951 novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. ... Penguin Books cover for The Kraken Wakes The Kraken Wakes is an 1953 apocalyptic science fiction novel by John Wyndham, originally published by Michael Joseph in the UK and first published in the US in the same year by Ballantine Books under the title Out of the Deeps as a... The Chrysalids (U.S. title: Re-Birth) is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, first published in 1955. ... The Midwich Cuckoos The Midwich Cuckoos is a science fiction novel written by John Wyndham in 1957. ... The Outward Urge (published 1959) is a science fiction book by John Wyndham. ... Trouble With Lichen (published 1960) is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham. ... Chocky is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, author of The Day of the Triffids. ... It has been suggested that Channel 3 (UK) be merged into this article or section. ...

Posthumous novel

• Web (1979 – published by the executors of his estate)

Web is a science fiction novel written by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. ...

Collections

• Jizzle (1954)
• The Seeds of Time (1956)
• Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter (1956)
• Consider Her Ways and Others (1961)
• The Infinite Moment (1961)

Jizzle (ISBN 450022501) is a collection of science fiction short stories by John Wyndham, published in 1954. ... The Seeds of Time is a collection of science fiction short stories by John Wyndham, published in 1956. ... Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter is a collection of science fiction short stories by John Wyndham, published in 1956. ... Consider Her Ways is a science fiction short story (possibly a novella) by John Wyndham, regarded by some as his best short story. ... The Infinite Moment is a science fiction short story collection by John Wyndham, published in Ballantine Books in 1961. ...

Posthumous collections

• Sleepers of Mars (1973)
• The Best of John Wyndham (1973)
• Wanderers of Time (1973)
• Exiles on Asperus (1979)
• No Place like Earth (2003)

Sleepers of Mars (ISBN 0340173262) is a collection of short stories by John Wyndham, published after his death. ... The Best of John Wyndham is a collection of science fiction short stories by John Wyndham, published after his death. ... Wanderers Of Time is a science fiction short story collection by John Wyndham writing as John Beynon Harris, published in Coronet Books in 1973. ... Exiles on Asperus (ISBN 0340240466) is a collection of science fiction short stories by John Wyndham, writing as John Benyon, published after his death. ... No Place like Earth (ISBN 0-9740589-0-4) is a collection of science fiction short stories by John Wyndham, published in July 2003 by Darkside Press. ...

External links

• The John Wyndham Archive – Official Archive at the University of Liverpool
• Guardian article on John Wyndham
• "Vivisection": Schoolboy "John Wyndham's" First Publication?
• Read "Consider her Ways" online.
• Archive BBC TV interview of John Wyndham in 1960 Requires Realplayer
• John Wyndham at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• John Wyndham bibliography of first editions

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database is a database of bibliographic information on science fiction and related genres such as fantasy fiction and horror fiction. ...