John Brunner (1934-1995) was a British science fiction writer. His best-known novels include ''Literature/StandOnZanzibar'' (which won a HugoAward), ''TheShockwaveRider'' (a forerunner of {{Cyberpunk}} that predicted many aspects of the internet), ''The Sheep Look Up'', and ''The Squares of the City''. Also notable is ''The Traveller in Black'' (later further expanded as ''The Compleat Traveller in Black''), a collection of short stories.
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!!Works by John Brunner that have their own trope pages include:

* ''TheCrucibleOfTime''
* [[DangerousVisions "Judas"]]
* ''TheShockwaveRider''
* ''Literature/StandOnZanzibar''

!!Other works by John Brunner provide examples of:

* {{Aesoptinum}}: The novel ''The Stone That Never Came Down'' centers around an artificial, self-replicating protein (today, we'd call it a prion) that eliminates selective inattention - the brain ''has'' to make connections between pieces of information that it previously ignored. In addition to an intelligence boost, this bestows automatic empathy, since those infected can no longer disregard the genuine pain that others feel.
* BatheHerAndBringHerToMe: In the Traveller in Black novella "The Wager Lost by Winning", the rather unsympathetic protagonist is bathed before being claimed by Lord Fellian.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: A recurring theme in the Traveller in Black stories; those who wish carelessly and selfishly get their comeuppance, while those who wish unselfishly (whose number, in the entire series, can be counted on one hand) are rewarded.
* TheChessmaster: The chess-motif-laden novel ''The Squares of the City'' appropriately has one as the villain.
* ChessMotifs: All over the place in ''The Squares of the City''.
* FakeMemories: In the Traveller in Black novella "Imprint of Chaos", an evil magician takes a seat on the Ruling Council of a city, the better to cause the citizens to make a choice that will increase Chaos in the area. His plan includes implanting Fake Memories that he has always been a member of the Council himself in the rest of the Council members.
* {{Fiction 500}}: The central characters of "The Totally Rich" would put anybody on the Fortune 500 in the shade. They wouldn't appear on any such list themselves; part of what it means to be ''totally'' rich is that, in a world of paparazzi and celebrity profiles, they can afford true privacy -- how rich are they? They're so rich that ''you've never heard of them''.
* ForScience: The motivation of one of the villains in ''The Squares of the City''; it's all about getting to try out his techniques in real-world conditions, and never mind about fiddly ethical considerations.
* HumanChess: In ''The Squares in the City'', the leaders of the city play it.
* IHaveManyNames: The Traveller in Black is described more than once as "having many names, but only one nature".
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: "The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed" ("Lycidas", Creator/JohnMilton)
* TheMagicGoesAway: The mission of the Traveller in Black is to make this happen.
* MindOverManners: Played with in ''Telepathist''. Telepaths are prey to human failings like everyone else, but the ability to truly know what other people feel drives them to help others, as they can feel other people's pain.
* OrderVersusChaos: The overarching conflict of the "Traveller in Black" stories; the Traveller himself is an agent of Order.
* PunBasedTitle: "The Squares of the City" has chess as a strong theme throughout.
* ScarecrowSolution: Used to frighten off a god (it wasn't a very ''smart'' god) in one of the Traveller in Black stories.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: "The Totally Rich"
* SquishyWizard: In ''The Telepathist'', Howson's telepathic power is second-to-none, but he is afflicted with haemophilia and scoliosis, and never went through puberty, because the region of the brain that controls the growth of the body was overwhelmed by the area that governs telepathic ability.
* SubliminalSeduction: Used to manipulate the population in ''The Squares of the City''.
* UnfazedEveryman: In the first Traveller in Black story, a 20th-century Englishman is summoned to the magical past in which the stories are set, and reacts to every strange thing he encounters with calm rationality. (It's suggested that he was specifically chosen for that attribute, it being in notably short supply in that place at that time.)
* {{Telepathy}}: Explored in ''The Telepathist''.
* WalkingTheEarth: The title character of ''The Traveller in Black''
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