j d worthington
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- Joined
- May 9, 2006
- Messages
- 13,889
Well, yes, iansales is right -- I do uphold The Demolished Man. Having read the novel several times (and I'll admit, I didn't care that much for it the first time I read it), I'd say Bester was a lot more subtle with things in that novel than he's been given credit for. The murderer was known from the beginning... it was the motive (and the method) that were the sticking points where convicting Reich was concerned... and the fact that Powell found something about Reich that he liked made it even more difficult, considering Demolition.... But there are many other layers to that novel that one may not catch the first time around because of the visual aspects of the novel. Nonetheless, they're there, and each of them makes (no pun intended) the novel a deeper one because of its presence....
As for The Stars My Destination... I prefer that title because, in the end, it has a lot more to do with the novel as a whole than does Tiger, Tiger, it seems to me. And yes, I highly recommend the novel not only as a classic, but as one of the truly magnificent tours-de-force to come out of sf. Again, though, there are many layers to this book as well; that was one of the best things about Bester: he had this pyrotechnic approach that drew you in, but he always had stories that were working on many levels at the same time.
And GOLLUM: There was another collection issued some years later, titled Starlight: The Great Short Fiction of Alfred Bester, which included the contents of The Light Fantastic and Star Light, Star Bright:
Starlight: The Great Short Fiction of Alfred Bester by Alfred Bester
It has a lot more of his shorter works than that listed above. (I highly recommend "Fondly Fahrenheit", by the way....
As for XTRO/The Computer Connection and GOLEM 100... in both cases, I'd say that they're worth reading, but only just, and largely for the earlier parts of the books, as both fall apart rather badly toward the end. There's also The Deceivers, ditto. Some magnificent ideas in each book, and some great things along the way, but the ending in all of them is a sad disappointment coming from the man who pulled off so much wonderful work in earlier days....
As for The Stars My Destination... I prefer that title because, in the end, it has a lot more to do with the novel as a whole than does Tiger, Tiger, it seems to me. And yes, I highly recommend the novel not only as a classic, but as one of the truly magnificent tours-de-force to come out of sf. Again, though, there are many layers to this book as well; that was one of the best things about Bester: he had this pyrotechnic approach that drew you in, but he always had stories that were working on many levels at the same time.
And GOLLUM: There was another collection issued some years later, titled Starlight: The Great Short Fiction of Alfred Bester, which included the contents of The Light Fantastic and Star Light, Star Bright:
Starlight: The Great Short Fiction of Alfred Bester by Alfred Bester
It has a lot more of his shorter works than that listed above. (I highly recommend "Fondly Fahrenheit", by the way....
As for XTRO/The Computer Connection and GOLEM 100... in both cases, I'd say that they're worth reading, but only just, and largely for the earlier parts of the books, as both fall apart rather badly toward the end. There's also The Deceivers, ditto. Some magnificent ideas in each book, and some great things along the way, but the ending in all of them is a sad disappointment coming from the man who pulled off so much wonderful work in earlier days....