Barrington J. Bayley (9 April 1937 – 14 October 2008) was an English science fiction writer.

Biography

Bayley was born in Birmingham, England,^[1] and educated in Newport, Shropshire. He worked a number of jobs before joining the Royal Air Force during 1955; his first published story, "Combat's End", had been printed the year before in Vargo Statten Magazine.^[2]

During the late 1950s, Bayley became friends and a frequent collaborator with Michael Moorcock on features, comics and short stories, chiefly for Fleetway Publications where he was also a regular writer of text stories, such as "The Astounding Jason Hyde" (reprinted by Rebellion Developments in 2022). He later wrote sf stories for New Worlds magazine and Moorcock, who described himself as "the dumb one in the partnership".^[1][3] He, Moorcock and J.G.Ballard met regularly and their discussions and theories led to the development of science fiction's New Wave. His short stories featured regularly in New Worlds and then later in various New Worlds paperback anthologies.^[4] His first book, The Star Virus, was followed by more than a dozen other novels; his downbeat, gloomy themes have been cited as influential on the likes of M. John Harrison,^[5] William S. Burroughs, Brian Stableford, Bruce Sterling, Iain Banks and Alastair Reynolds.^[1][6]

Bayley, who came to live at Donnington, Telford,^[7] died of complications from bowel cancer on 14 October 2008.^[4] During 2001, he had written an outline for a sequel to Eye of Terror, provisionally titled An Age of Adventure.^[8] The novel was unreleased at the time of his death but rumours and listings of copies have circulated, including claims of a 2002 release date and a page count of 288. The book still makes appearances in lists of his works, including the bibliography in the ebooks of Bayley's works released by the Gollancz SF Gateway. His literary estate is managed by Michael Moorcock.

Works

Bayley used the pseudonyms S. Barrington Bayley,^[7] P.F Woods, J. Barrington Bayley, Alan Aumbry, Michael Barrington, Simon Barclay, and John Diamond.^{[citation needed]}

Novels

Collections

Short stories