Cult author JG Ballard dies at 78

More than any other, it was Ballard who showed me that SF could be more than just genre fiction. That his death happened without being screamed from the rooftops is a shame for both fans of SF and literature.

The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness.

His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill 'for several years' and had died on Sunday morning.

Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Jim Ballard said his books were instead 'picturing the psychology of the future'.

His most acclaimed novel was Empire of the Sun, based on his childhood in a Japanese prison camp in China.