TIL

[james_davis_nicoll]

Apparently, there is an Alfred Bester I have never read. I thought The Deceivers was another title for The Computer Connection. But it's late Bester and late Bester is ... not good.

Comments

[heron61]

I think I read a version of this in either Analog of Galaxy many years ago, and I don't remember much about it, but around a decade ago I got it from my local library and attempted to read it, and put it down and backed away slowly when I hit the part quite early on (likely in the first chapter) which seemed an extended alleged humor sequence making deeply uncomfortable fun at a multitude of nationalities. That was the last time I attempted to read anything by Bester - I fear the suck fairy might visit any attempts to reread The Stars My Destination or The Demolished Man, and I'm fairly certain he never wrote anything else worth reading.

[grimjim]

I would have no qualms rereading TSMD, though it's far from hard science.

Curiously, a few years back in downtown Toronto I saw a shop with a Mr. Presto logo, which was a bit unsettling.

[(Anonymous)]

The short stories are very much worth reading.

Though when asked to name his favourite story for a collection, he said "none", and that they were all failures. In the collection, edited by Mills, I think, he instead gave some interesting comments on his writing process, with excerpts from his commonplace book, including material much later included in golem**100.

I believe there's also a novel based on advertising, but I've never tracked it down.

William Hyde

[estrevan]

Been a very long time since I read it but... yes. Not as good as Extro/The Computer Connection and that’s a low bar. My memories are faint but I’d expect the Racism and Homophobia fairies to have visited too.

[dormouse1953]

I have a copy on my shelves and I'm sure I read it, but it was a long time ago.

The Computer Connection was published in the UK as Extro and serialised in Analog as The Indian Giver.

Then there's The Rat Race aka Who He? which is not SF but quite funny. A friend of mine claims he read a copy in the University Library in Cambridge and had to stuff his scarf into his mouth to stop himself laughing.

Curiously, a plot point is identical to an episode of the BBC sitcom Hancock's Half Hour from the late fifties or early sixties, but I'm not sure which came first.

[connactic]

It's really bad. There are sneaky Asians.

There is also a really stupid plot point. The evil Chinese have a monopoly on the future fuel source- but there is an underground criminal organization that deals in it. Noone can figure out how they smuggle it out, since everyone working in the mines is thoroughly searched when they leave.

"Spoiler"- Bester never mentioned that there are plenty of bodies coming out of the mines due to accidents, and the criminals were killing people and stuffing their bodies full of the magic fuel. This was infuriating since it would have been a mystery to anyone in charge of the mines.