Science fiction Grandmaster Brian Aldiss died 2017, leaving behind hundreds of books and short stories that spanned a decades-long career.
He was also survived by his daughter, Wendy, who has put together a photo book that documents the possessions that he left behind with his death.
The project, titled My Father’s Things, is now on Kickstarter, where it’s fully funded. The 250-page book “is at once a depiction of one man’s property, a record of design across the decades and a meditation on the extraordinary nature of ordinary things.”
In the project video, Aldiss notes that she hadn’t set out to create a book: she just wanted to create a portrait of her father “in the only way that was left to me.” Following his death, she began to take pictures of his possessions, from the mundane, like shoes and ties, to the shelves of his books and magazines.
The resulting book, Aldiss says, is an attempt to cover all aspects of his life, from his work as a writer and critic, to his collections of stamps and letters, to his life as a father and human being. The book will also come with a foreword by Christopher Priest, and an essay by cultural sociologist Dr. Margaret Gibson.
The book is slated to be sent out to backers in December 2020 (as with all crowdfunding campaigns, there is the possibility that the project’s release date could shift). The book itself runs for £35 (about $45), and each of which will come with a unique bookmark that Aldiss used in one of the books in his library. (US backers should note that shipping to the United States is expensive; it runs about $40.) Other tiers include a signed copy (£40), a book and calendar with additional images (£60), two copies (£75), signed copy, print, and calendar (£100).
