Erica spends some of her time cross stitching. I came across this project based on one of my favorite writers – Alfred Bester. This text is from The Demolished Man, an all time classic.
There are lots of quotable Science Fiction writers and I think Erica should make a sampler for the house with a good SF sentiment on it.
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Most people don’t even know who Alfred Bester was. It’s nice to see another fan.
Bester would have been one of the giants had he not died early.
I don’t know if you ever watched Babylon 5, but there was a recurring character named Alfred Bester.
“The Stars My Destination” is on my top ten list. It is not typical for the time as it is not so much adventure as a psychology discussion of man and his place in the universe.
Bester lived into his 70s but only produced a few spec-fic books. I looked him up on wikipedia and he wrote for TV and movies and edited Holiday magazine. His best writing was in the 1950s when Science Fiction writers could make a living at it. In later years he wrote very little SF, except now and then.
I remember the B5 character, but it didn’t click. Walter Koenig played Bester, the bad cop in B5 (I miss Bab 5!).
According to Wikipedia there was also a Firefly character named Alfred Bester.
Spider Robinson had an Alfred Bester in Callanhan’s. Stephen King has a characters say “This one’s for Alfie Bester, and if you haven’t read him, you ought to be ashamed!”. There is even a Simpson’s reference to him.
R.A. Lafferty has been rediscovered, perhaps it is time for Bester to be remembered. Currently, there is too much emphasis on PK Dick, who, although great, was flawed in many ways.