With two novels and a handful of short stories, most of them written in a short burst in the 1950s, Alfred Bester opened out the possibilities of the sf field both as vehicle for story-telling and as a way of looking darkly at the world and human psychology. The Demolished Man is a psychological thriller in which a tycoon decides to kill a rival and get away with it in an era in which telepathic cops catch every serious criminal; both in its sparkling portrayal of multi-person mind-to-mind dialogue, and in its narrative trickery, the story of Ben Reich and his nemesis Lincoln Powell is one of sf's most effective contributions to the noir thriller. The other is Tiger,Tiger (aka The Stars My Destination); if The Demolished Man is Crime and Punishment with telepaths, Tiger,Tiger is The Count of Monte Cristo with teleportation and interplanetary war. Left to die in a shattered spaceship, illiterate spacehand Gully Foyle swears vengeance and remakes himself as master criminal and dilettante socialite, and changes the worlds around him in the process. Tiger, Tiger is also an inventive working through of a conceit from bastardized Freudianism--Foyle is at one level a symbol for the unbridled id. Bester's later novels are considerably less important--with these two books, he helped shape both the New Wave and cyberpunk.
Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery
Novels
The Demolished Man (1951)
Who He? (1953)
aka The Rat Race
The Stars, My Destination (1956)
aka Tiger! Tiger!
The Computer Connection (1975)
aka Extro
Golem 100 (1980)
The Deceivers (1981)
Tender Loving Rage (1991)
Psychoshop (1998) (with Roger Zelazny)
Who He? (1953)
aka The Rat Race
The Stars, My Destination (1956)
aka Tiger! Tiger!
The Computer Connection (1975)
aka Extro
Golem 100 (1980)
The Deceivers (1981)
Tender Loving Rage (1991)
Psychoshop (1998) (with Roger Zelazny)
Collections
Starburst (1958)
The Dark Side Of The Earth (1964)
The Light Fantastic Volume 2 (1976)
Star Light, Star Bright (1976)
The Light Fantastic Volume 1 (1977)
Starlight (1977)
Virtual Unrealities (1997)
Redemolished (2000)
The Dark Side Of The Earth (1964)
The Light Fantastic Volume 2 (1976)
Star Light, Star Bright (1976)
The Light Fantastic Volume 1 (1977)
Starlight (1977)
Virtual Unrealities (1997)
Redemolished (2000)
Novellas and Short Stories
Adam and No Eve (1941)
The Push of a Finger (1942)
Hobson's Choice (1952)
The Roller Coaster (1953)
The Pi Man (1959)
Will You Wait? (1959)
The Flowered Thundermug (2009)
The Starcomber (2013)
The Push of a Finger (1942)
Hobson's Choice (1952)
The Roller Coaster (1953)
The Pi Man (1959)
Will You Wait? (1959)
The Flowered Thundermug (2009)
The Starcomber (2013)
Non fiction
The Life and Death of A Satellite (1966)
Experiment Perilous (1983) (with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Norman Spinrad)
Experiment Perilous (1983) (with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Norman Spinrad)
Omnibus editions
Series contributed to
Anthologies containing stories by Alfred Bester
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 4th Series (1955)
Best SF 2 (1956)
A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, Volume 2 (1959)
A Decade of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1960)
Spectrum 3 (1963)
Venture Science Fiction 1 (1963)
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 13th Series (1964)
Robert Silverberg's Worlds of Wonder (1969)
Astounding (1973)
aka The John W Campbell Memorial Anthology
The Golden Road (1973)
Science Fiction - The Great Years: Volume Two (1974)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 3 (1974)
Modern Science Fiction (1974)
The Best Science Fiction Stories (1977)
100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories (1978)
The Best of Analog (1978)
The End of Summer (1979)
Science Fiction of the Fifties (1979)
The Great SF Stories 3 (1980)
The Great SF Stories 4 (1980)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 9 (1980)
Magic for Sale (1983)
Top Science Fiction (1984)
Machines That Kill (1984)
Great Science Fiction of the 20th Century (1987)
The Ascent of Wonder (1994)
Science Fiction, Science Fact, and You (1995)
The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume 2 (1996)
Cyber-Killers (1997)
Best SF 2 (1956)
A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, Volume 2 (1959)
A Decade of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1960)
Spectrum 3 (1963)
Venture Science Fiction 1 (1963)
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 13th Series (1964)
Robert Silverberg's Worlds of Wonder (1969)
Astounding (1973)
aka The John W Campbell Memorial Anthology
The Golden Road (1973)
Science Fiction - The Great Years: Volume Two (1974)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 3 (1974)
Modern Science Fiction (1974)
The Best Science Fiction Stories (1977)
100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories (1978)
The Best of Analog (1978)
The End of Summer (1979)
Science Fiction of the Fifties (1979)
The Great SF Stories 3 (1980)
The Great SF Stories 4 (1980)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 9 (1980)
Magic for Sale (1983)
Top Science Fiction (1984)
Machines That Kill (1984)
Great Science Fiction of the 20th Century (1987)
The Ascent of Wonder (1994)
Science Fiction, Science Fact, and You (1995)
The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume 2 (1996)
Cyber-Killers (1997)
Short stories
The Die-Hard | |||
The Four Hour Fugue | |||
Hell Is Forever | |||
Ms. Found In A Champagne Bottle | |||
Oddie And Id | |||
Out Of This World | |||
The Starcomber | |||
Travel Diary | |||
Of Time and Third Avenue (1951) | |||
Disappearing Act (1953) | |||
Star Light, Star Bright [short story] (1953) | |||
Time Is the Traitor (1953) | |||
5,271,009 (1954) | |||
Fondly Fahrenheit (1954) | |||
The Stars My Destination (1956) | |||
The Men Who Murdered Mohammed (1958) | Hugo (nominee) | ||
They Don't Make Life Like They Used To (1963) | |||
The Flowered Thundermug [short story] (1964) | |||
Something Up There Likes Me (1973) | |||
The Four-Hour Fugue (1974) | Hugo (nominee) | ||
Galatea Galante (1979) | |||
3 1/2 to Go (1997) | |||
The Devil Without Glasses (1997) |
Awards
|
Alfred Bester recommends

A for Anything (1959)
Damon Knight
"A brilliant craftsman who can handle any story form with crisp finesse."
Visitors also looked at these authors