STAFF at the Bodleian Library in Oxford have paid tribute to science fiction author Brian Aldiss, who died at the weekend aged 92.

Mr Aldiss, a former literary editor of the Oxford Mail, died during the early hours of Saturday at his home in Oxford.

The writer, whose story Supertoys Last All Summer Long inspired Steven Spielberg’s AI movie, regularly donated manuscripts to the Oxford University library.

Chris Fletcher, Keeper of Special Collections at the Bodleian, said: “Brian Aldiss was a master of prose who did much to advance science fiction as a serious genre.

“But that was not his only form of expression - he was a journalist, poet, critic and artist.

“He was endlessly inventive and surprising. Only he could write the story Better Morphosis, in which a cockroach awakens to find himself Franz Kafka.

“Oxford was his city and he was a long-time friend to and supporter of the Bodleian, to which he regularly donated his manuscripts.”

Dr Samuel Fanous, head of publishing at Bodleian Library Publishing, described the writer as a ‘truly remarkable man’.

He said: “We are all deeply saddened at this news and united in grief.

“Brian was to us an author, a friend, a colleague, and collaborator; a kindred spirit with whom we shared a common language.

“He was a truly remarkable man. A man of towering abilities and achievements.”