ISBN 978-1-916508-22-4 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-916508-21-7 (ebook)
Ansible Editions, May 2024
Cover photos: Brian Aldiss, J.G. Ballard, John Brunner, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Silverberg and James White, all from New Worlds profiles.
The trade paperback New Worlds Profiles is published in May 2024, with a simultaneous ebook. 9" x 6" with glossy cover; 126 pages; roughly 33,000 words. All proceeds from book sales go to the TransAtlantic Fan Fund.
Order the print edition Reviews and comments Free ebook download About the compilerDavid Langford, compiler of this book, explains in his introduction: “For a little over a decade while John Carnell was editor of New Worlds Science Fiction, there was a tradition of running author and artist profiles on the magazine’s inside front cover. These appeared from the eighteenth issue in November 1952 to the 134th in September 1963 [...and] often contain opinions and scraps of personal information not elsewhere available. Which seemed a good reason for compiling this collection.”
There are 120 profile features in all, some covering more than one person. Authors represented, often in their own words and many with multiple appearances, include Brian Aldiss, J.G. Ballard, Alfred Bester, John Brunner, Kenneth Bulmer, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Harry Harrison, Philip E. High, Damon Knight, C.M. Kornbluth, Robert Silverberg, Theodore Sturgeon, E.C. Tubb, James White and John Wyndham. Other profiles are of artists (Alan Hunter, Brian Lewis, Gerard Quinn, Sydney Jordan), editors (John Carnell himself, Groff Conklin, H.L. Gold) and even one television anthology host: Boris Karloff for Out of This World. Also included are contemporary photographs of all the profile subjects, as published in New Worlds. Many thanks to Michael Moorcock of New Worlds for giving his blessing to this collection.
John Carnell (left) accepts a Hugo from John Wyndham at the 1957 London Worldcon, whose secretary Roberta (Bobbie) Wild was “disappeared” in New Worlds. Photo by Peter West.