- J. G. Ballard, Introduction by Ali Smith

Super-Cannes

By J. G. Ballard, Introduction by Ali Smith

A high-tech business park on the Mediterranean is the setting for a most disturbing crime in this reissue featuring a new introduction by Ali Smith.

A disturbing mystery awaits Paul and Jane Sinclair when they arrive in Eden-Olympia, a high-tech business park in the hills above Cannes. Jane is to work as a doctor for those who live in this ultra-modern workers’ paradise. But what caused her predecessor to go on a shooting spree that made headlines around the world? As Paul investigates, he begins to uncover a thriving subculture of crime that is spiralling out of control.

Both novel of ideas and complex thriller, ‘Super-Cannes’ is an extraordinary satire from the author of ‘Empire of the Sun’, ‘The Drowned World’ and ‘Crash’.

This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard’s works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Robert Macfarlane, Hari Kunzru, James Lever and Zadie Smith) and brand-new cover designs from the artist Stanley Donwood.

Author: J. G. Ballard
Format: Paperback
Release Date: 28 Aug 2014
Pages: 416
ISBN: 978-0-00-655160-7
J. G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai. After internment in a civilian prison camp, his family returned to England in 1946. His 1984 bestseller ‘Empire of the Sun’ won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His controversial novel ‘Crash’ was made into a film by David Cronenberg. His autobiography ‘Miracles of Life’ was published in 2008, and a collection of interviews with the author, ‘Extreme Metaphors’, was published in 2012. J. G. Ballard passed away in 2009.

”'Sublime…An elegant, elaborate trap of a novel, which reads as a companion piece to 'Cocaine Nights' but takes ideas from that novel and runs further. The first essential novel of the 21st century” - Independent

”'Possibly his greatest book. 'Super-Cannes' is both a novel of ideas and a compelling thriller that will keep you turning the pages to the shocking denouement. Only Ballard could have produced it” - Sunday Express

”'In this tautly paced thriller he brilliantly details how man’s darker side derails a vast experiment in living, and shows the dangers of a near-future in which going mad is the only way of staying sane” - Daily Mail

”'Vintage Ballard, a gripping blend of stylised thriller and fantastic imaginings” - Guardian