Mike Bonsall
LightNews LightNews
banner
mbonsall.bsky.social
Mike Bonsall
@mbonsall.bsky.social
660 followers 1.2K following 160 posts
Ballardian | digitizer | concordancer | code art
https://fentonville.co.uk/digital-ballard/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
mbonsall.bsky.social
Mike Bonsall @mbonsall.bsky.social · Apr 11
So this is my first, and possibly last, real book! Available on Amazon now and good booksellers soon

Inspired by JG Ballard's endlessly faceted works I've been trying for decades to make new ways of understanding them, with some interesting results

Many thanks to Rick McGrath for making it happen
cover of Ballardian Diversions by Mike Bonsall showing painting of 1920's British biplane. Back cover has author photo and text: After unsuccessfully studying psychology, medicine, art and information systems, Mike Bonsall finally gave in to his obsession with the work of JG Ballard, whose writing seems to hint at another world, just out of sight, that might somehow be reached by an ever-more intense interrogation of the text. After all, he reasoned, Ballard himself encouraged this experimental approach: "It's a little as if I were leading the reader to a deserted laboratory, and that I put a collection of specimens and all the necessary equipment at his disposal. It's his job then to relate these elements together and create reactions from them." This volume contains some of the more interesting results of his experiments.
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
johncoulthart.com
I think that if it's valid to read Marienbad as science fiction (as JG Ballard sometimes liked to suggest) then it's equally valid to read it as a dream or earlier life of the vampire Countess.

See also: Gigi is a vampire film because Louis Jordan is Dracula.
November 22, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
helenm40.bsky.social
Thirty Books in 30 Days challenge.

3. Classic Sci Fi

The Drowned World, by JG Ballard

#30booksin30days #BookSky
Book cover: The Drowned World by JG Ballard
November 23, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
rupertg.bsky.social
J G Ballard on the South Bsnk Show , twenty years ago. I first found his work in the SF section of the local library when /i was ten or so, and and got hooked on the atmospherics of the first three novels. Later, called by the vast temporal resonances of the far night sky... youtu.be/8LosxrbL3sU?...
J G Ballard Documentary
YouTube video by matley virgo
youtu.be
November 28, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
harikunzru.bsky.social
Remembering the time I was in Türkiye and the hotel welcomed me with an effusive press release and one of the all time great pull quotes
New Article Page 5 A Literary Luminary at Swissotel Büvik Efes izmir: Welcoming Hari Kunzru At Swissotel Büyük Efes izmir, we are proud to host extraordinary individuals whose talents and achievements inspire the world. Today, we shine the spotlight on one such remarkable guest: Hari Kunzru, literary icon, journalist and champion of artistic freedom What if the reasonable reaction to the world is endless horrified screaming?
November 27, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
paulclammer.bsky.social
A friend just returned from Antarctica, including a trip to Damoy Hut, a former British Antarctic Survey shelter that's preserved as a heritage site. And what were polar scientists reading in the 80s to pass time during a blizzard? Why, the Thrill Power of @2000ad.bsky.social of course!
A pile of 1980s magazines and comics, with a circle around an issue of 2000AD Table covered with magazines, plus snowhoes propped against a wooden wall. Exterior of Damoy Hut on the Antarctic Peninsula, in the snow Cover of 200AD prog 544, with cover art by Steve Dillon.
November 27, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
babylonsalon.bsky.social
"SKY DADDY, @katefolk.bsky.social's debut novel, takes forbidden romance to new heights," says Angela Hui. Check out Kate's interview below--a whole craft lesson on novel writing--then come hear Kate read at Babylon TOMORROW! Sat, 6/14 at The Sycamore! 5:30pm. Free!

#writing #books #writer #reading
Finally, a Novel That Understands the Raw Sex Appeal of Airplanes - Electric Literature
In "Sky Daddy," Kate Folk takes forbidden romance to new heights
electricliterature.com
June 13, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
archivetvmusings.bsky.social
The Prisoner - Checkmate by Gerald Kelsey (24th November 1967). Peter Wyngarde guests as the new Number Two.
November 24, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
dharlanwilson.bsky.social
In issue 66.3 of EXTRAPOLATION, I review two new installments in Palgrave’s book series SFF A New Canon: J.G. BALLARD’S CRASH by Paul March-Russell and WILLIAM GIBSON’S NEUROMANCER by Graham J. Murphy. Both highly recommended.

liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/toc/extr/66/3

@livunipress.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
adamroberts.bsky.social
At the end of the semi-autobiographical EMPIRE OF THE SUN, Jim sees, on the horizon, the flash of the atomic detonation at Nagasaki (he thinks it's the departing soul of a dead woman). I wondered if this was possible? Shanghai to Nagasaki seems to be 500 miles, so presumably not.
November 23, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
johncoulthart.com
This is the poster for the 1966 screening of Alphaville and La Jetée at which JG Ballard first saw two films he would often mention as SF favourites. He reviewed La Jetée in New Worlds shortly after. John Brunner (at the same screening) reviewed Alphaville in the following issue. He hated it.
A cinema poster by Peter Strausfeld for a screening of Alphaville and La Jetée at Academy Cinema One, London, in 1966. Two-colour graphics (black and pink) with a linocut showing Anna Karina peering through a window patterned with reflected lights.
November 22, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
lrb.co.uk
‘Crumb is both an observant satirist and a self-aware student of his own drives. His grasp of American vernacular and his sardonic humour suggest a comparison with Mark Twain.’

@jhoberman.bsky.social on the acrtoonist.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
J. Hoberman · Desperate Character: Rambunctious R. Crumb
Rambunctious and often offensive, R. Crumb draws freely on pre-existing racial and gender stereotypes, and always draws...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
sfencyclopedia.bsky.social
JG Ballard sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ballar... was born on this day, so here are some of his book covers (artist: Chris Foss, Wojtek Siudmak, Carlos Ochagavia and James Marsh):
November 15, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
panchoballard.bsky.social
Oh God, the ideas keep coming. JG Ballard sticker set. Easily a million seller.
November 16, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
mitpress.bsky.social
"Blacklock hopes to 'illuminate the full range of Ballard’s activities as a reviewer, ... memoirist, provocateur, compiler of lists, and talking head.' He achieves this handsomely." — @thetls.bsky.social

"Selected Nonfiction, 1962–2007" is now in paperback: mitpress.mit.edu/978026204832...
Hands holding a copy of "Selected Nonfiction, 1962–2007" by J. G. Ballard, edited by Mark Blacklock. The cover features a sepia-toned photo portrait of Ballard.
October 18, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
belfastnomad.bsky.social
In one of his lesser known dystopias, J. G. Ballard subjected America to a massive ecological disaster following an energy crisis, which has turned the country into a desert. The leftover nuclear weapons are in Las Vegas.
A brilliant book.
I also love Bill Botten's original cover.
October 30, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
schoolreadinglist.bsky.social
Catch up with J. G Ballard : books & guides: schoolreadinglist.co.uk/tag/j-g-ball...
Children's books by J.G Ballard
J.G Ballard is a featured author on the School Reading List and appears in the following recommended reading lists for children.
schoolreadinglist.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
jeremymillar.bsky.social
oh wow
November 11, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
brendancbyrne.bsky.social
!!!!!!!
November 11, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
therafischwartz.bsky.social
SMASHING my fingers clean through the keyboard to hit the "pre-order" button on this
November 11, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
wavenode.bsky.social
I can’t wait for this. Nina’s most recent novel combines documentary, imagination and autofiction. Her use of complex, reflexive structure is hypnotic.
November 11, 2025 at 4:12 PM
mbonsall.bsky.social
The Illuminated Man: Life, Death and the Worlds of J. G. Ballard

a major biography

by Christopher Priest and Nina Allan

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/illuminat...
The Illuminated Man
This book is about J. G. Ballard. This book is also about death, love and time travel.In 2024, Nina Allan's husband, the novelist Christopher Priest died. He ha…
www.bloomsbury.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
johncoulthart.com
BBC Future has used one of my popular Frankenstein illustrations (with my permission) in this web feature about the Mer de Glace:

www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
'The most desolate place in the world': The sea of ice that inspired Frankenstein
This French glacier has given rise to countless works of art in the past 200 years. Paintings, photos and satellites reveal how the site has dramatically transformed.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
danwhitehead.net
BBC Archive just uploaded The Lonely Shore (1962), a surreal 15-minute short that takes the form of a scientific report from an abandoned and desolate future Britain. Written by Jacquetta Hawkes, an actual archaeologist, and directed by Ken Russell, an actual madman.
1962: An Expedition to Post-Apocalyptic Britain | Monitor: The Lonely Shore | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
www.youtube.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:49 AM
mbonsall.bsky.social
London Review of Books

Fiction and the Fantastic: J.G. Ballard and Angela Carter

Ballard’s The Atrocity Exhibition and The Passion of New Eve, considered together here, are vivid, fearless, still shocking novels of ideas ...

www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...
Podcast: Marina Warner and Chloe Aridjis · Fiction and the Fantastic: J.G. Ballard and Angela Carter
www.lrb.co.uk
October 22, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Reposted by Mike Bonsall
dbellingradt.bsky.social
Say hi. This is an example of how human labor will be remembered when all books are digitized and we all work with digital copies only. And maybe, hand on heart, this hand was intentionally raised to greet us from the past. #skystorians #bookhistory #digitalhumanities
A hand soaked with sweat, in a plastic glove, caught in the act while doing a digital scan of a broadside for a Munich based library. Source: https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10811151?page=6,7
March 21, 2025 at 7:10 AM