J.G. Ballard

Dystopian SF Author

James Graham Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai, China. His first novel was pubished in 1962. In 1984 he published Empire of the Sun, based on his childhood wartime experiences in Shanghai; this was later filmed by Steven Spielberg. His 1973 novel Crash was also adapted for cinema.

In the 2005 RE/Search publication Conversations [1] Ballard stated:

"I'm a strong opponent of all religious belief" (p. 96)

"And supposedly 95% of Americans say they believe in God - that's worrying." (p. 101)

"Religions are Trojan horses which conceal profoundly strange psychopathy strains. There's no other explanation for them. The sheer fear of death has been the main engine of religions for a very long time." (p. 101)