War Fever

First edition

War Fever is a collection of short stories by J. G. Ballard, first published in 1990 by Collins. It includes:

• "War Fever"
• "The Secret History of World War 3"
• "Dream Cargoes"
• "The Object of the Attack"
• "Love in a Colder Climate"
• "The Largest Theme Park in the World"
• "Answers to a Questionnaire"
• "The Air Disaster"
• "Report on an Unidentified Space Station"
• "The Man Who Walked on the Moon"
• "The Enormous Space"
• "Memories of the Space Age"
• "Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown"
• "The Index"

These pieces range from naturalistic narrative ("The Air Disaster"), through science fantasy ("Dream Cargoes"), to stories told through footnotes ("Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown"), the index of an unwritten book ("The Index") and answers to unstated questions ("Answers to a Questionnaire").

In reviewing the book for the New York Times Ursula K. Le Guin stated...

"In some of these stories the deadpan, formal narrative voice works to comic effect, but others are so schematic and intellectualized that their narration becomes mere exposition, telling without showing, a skeleton prose."