For four decades Aldous Huxley was a major figure in the literary mainstream, yet he is now chiefly remembered for a novel that is, by any definition, science fiction. In this respect his position is similar to that of H. G. Wells, who wrote much else besides science fiction but whose reputation has endured as the great pattern-setter for twentieth-century science fiction. Similarly, Huxley's novel Brave New World (1932) created a thematic pattern for many subsequent works. Moreover, Brave New World was not Huxley's only foray into the futuristic or the fantastic.

Aldous Leonard Huxley, born on 26 July 1894 in Surrey, had a family background that predestined him for a distinguished career in the world of science or the world of letters. His father, Leonard Huxley, a classics master at Charterhouse and later editor of the Cornhill Magazine, was the son of T. H. Huxley, the famous biologist and expounder...