Hello America

Description

A terrifying vision of the future from one of the twentieth century's most renowned writers - J. G. Ballard, author of 'Empire of the Sun' and 'Crash'. Following the energy crisis of the late twentieth-century America has been abandoned. Now, a century later, an expedition from Europe returns to the deserted continent. But America is unrecognisable - the Bering Strait has been dammed and the whole continent has become a desert, populated by isolated natives and the bizarre remnants of a disintegrated culture. The expedition sets off from Manhattan on a cross-continent journey, through Holiday Inns and abandoned theme parks. They will uncover a shocking new power in the heart of Las Vegas in this unique vision of our world transformed. This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard's works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Ned Beauman, Ali Smith, Neil Gaiman and Martin Amis) and brand-new cover designs.

J.G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman. After internment in a civilian prison camp, he and his family returned to England in 1946. He published his first novel, 'The Drowned World', in 1961. His 1984 bestseller 'Empire of the Sun' won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was later filmed by Steven Spielberg. His most recent novel is 'Kingdom Come', published in 2006, his autobiogaphy 'Miracles of Life' was published in 2008 to much acclaim.

'J G Ballard's talent is one of the most mysterious and distempered in modern fiction ! it is futile to have expectations of Ballard: he will inevitably subvert them' Martin Amis, Observer 'A mythically resonant epic journey ! a joy - witty, playful, moving, mythic, poetic' Literary Review 'This fable lifts a great freight of ideas effortlessly ! the story of an expedition driven on by wishes of possession and power but guided internally by myths of America whose sources lie in the late 20th century' Guardian 'Enter Mr Ballard's worlds and you become entranced in a seance difficult to break out of, so powerful is his method' The Times Praise for J G Ballard: 'A work of very powerful originality. Ballard is amongst our finest writers of fiction.' Anthony Burgess 'One of the few genuine surrealists this country has produced, the possessor of a terrifying and exhilarating imagination.' Guardian 'Ballard has issued a series of bulletins on the modern world of almost unerring prescience. Other writers describe; Ballard anticipates.' Will Self 'Britain's number one living novelist.' John Sutherland, Sunday Times