The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester

GWC Community GWC Book Club
#1

Since nobody else has mentioned it, let me offer this choice bit of old-school Sci-Fi.

Like many other works, you’ll have to suspend belief, but if you can get past the jaunting in the first chapter, you’ll have a theroly enjoyable time. It’s basically a retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo with ray-guns and space ships. It’s funny, exciting, and has a genuine point to make. It’s very short, and will only take a few hours to read - but it is time you’ll enjoy and remember.

Here’s the wikipedia thing on it…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stars_My_Destination

— Dismal jaunts away (poof)

#2

Ah, so THAT’S where The Tommorow People* got the term ‘jaunting’ from!

(*Brit TV show that aired here in the states in the eighties, I think on Nickelodeon. Apparently I’m the only person this side of the pond that watched it.)

#3

I loaned this to a friend and he loved it… I gotta say it’s short, but worth a read if you like classic science fiction…

— Dismal the readin’ bastard

#4

The Stars My Destination is perhaps my favorite book of all time. Bester is very good at building interesting worlds and then exploring them through the characters.

Guess its time for a re-read

#5

While we’re talking about A. Bester, there’s a collection of his short stories out there, some of which are truly, mindfrakkingly awesome.

#6

He is fairly short on deep characters, but the worlds he creates are just fantastic and they’re really what the stories are about. The characters are just there to help us explore.

He does a good job of using his puppet-characters to move through the worlds so we can really experience them and the various ramifications of whatever social construct creates.

#7

gosh, you know I wish I had his short stories here, but they’re at my parents’ house and I won’t get back there until next week, I would so love to re-read this one story that has the last man and the last woman on Earth and they’re both in a forlorn New York City and then they have a quarrel or something and I think one shoots the other…, it’s like exactly what you said, wubwub

#8

I wanna read that!?! Amazon shows several (fairly old) compilations… what’s the title of the book?

— Dismal the desperate reader

#9

That would be VIRTUAL UNREALITIES: THE SHORT FICTION OF ALFRED BESTER

http://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Unrealities-Fiction-Alfred-Bester/dp/0679767835/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201941267&sr=8-1

I just saw that they reduced the price, 11.21$ would actually seem like a small bargain (I bought it in 2004 for about 14 Euros [!]), it’s a fairly thick book compared to his novels, with a lot of very good stories and some story fragments of stuff that he never got around to finishing.

I also very fondly remember the story about the guy desperately trying to sell his soul to the Devil but running into some “legal” trouble along the way. And then of course the cute little time travel story about a bar in NY… great stuff!

I hope that was helpful.

#10

THANKS!!!

I’m going to go through the book selection list and make a big amazon shopping list. This will lead the list.

— Dismal the thankful

#11

You’re welcome. Let me know what you think about it when you’ve read it.