Billenium

Published as a paperback original by Berkley Books in 1962, Billenium is J.G. Ballard’s second collection of short fiction. It gathers ten stories that establish his early preoccupation with architectural psychology and entropy. The title story, "Billennium" (1961), is a claustrophobic satire of extreme overpopulation in which the legal living allowance has shrunk to four square meters per person. Another key inclusion is "Build-Up" (1957), later retitled "The Concentration City," which features similar concerns through its depiction of a vast, inescapable city where cubic space is scarce and aggressively monetized.

Includes: "Billennium" (1961), "The Insane Ones" (1962), "Studio 5, The Stars" (1961), "The Gentle Assassin" (1961), "Build-Up" (also known as "The Concentration City," 1957), "Now: Zero" (1959), "Mobile" (1957), "Chronopolis" (1960), "Prima Belladonna" (1956), and "The Garden of Time" (1962). "Mobile" represents an early version of "Venus Smiles," later collected in Vermilion Sands.

Softcover. First Edition, Paperback Original. Berkley Medallion F667 ($0.50). Cover art by Richard Powers. New York: Berkley Medallion, 1962. #10574.
Previous owner's signature to inside cover, else near fine, unread copy with faint crease and minor rub on cover.