 In the mid 1970s, Ballard published several novels, among them the highly controversial "Crash" (1973), a story about symphorophilia and car crash fetishism, and "High-Rise" (1975), a depiction of a luxury apartment building's descent into violent chaos.While much of Ballard's fiction would prove thematically and stylistically provocative, he became best known for his relatively conventional war novel, "Empire of the Sun" (1984), a semi-autobiographical account of a young British boy's experiences in Shanghai during Japanese occupation.Described by "The Guardian" as "the best British novel about the Second World War", the story was adapted into a 1987 film by Steven Spielberg starring Christian Bale.