SOURCE: "Last Orders and First Principles for the Interpretation of Aldiss's Enigmas," in Reflections on the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Fourth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, edited by Michael R. Collings, Greenwood Press, 1986, pp. 69-78.

In the following essay, Smith explains how Aldiss's "Enigma" stories in Last Orders provide insight into his theories of science fiction.

Brian Aldiss writes himself into the last part of "Journey to the Heartland," the concluding story in Last Orders, as the subject of the third interview with characters and author about the story. As Author, he offers a pair of alternate endings: one a "sad . . . non-sf ending," the other a happy ending appropriate to science fiction.¹ He comments, apropos of the second ending, that many science fiction stories end that way: "the screwy ideas, instead of being certifiable, turn out to mirror true reality. The hero is proved...