Virtual Unrealities: The Short Fiction of Alfred Bester"Dazzlement and enchantment are Bester's methods. His stories never stand still a moment." —Damon Knight, author of Why Do Birds Alfred Bester took science fiction into hyperdrive, endowing it with a wit, speed, and narrative inventiveness that have inspired two generations of writers. And nowhere is Bester funnier, speedier, or more audacious than in these seventeen short stories—two of them previously unpublished—that have now been brought together in a single volume for the first time. Read about the sweet-natured young man whose phenomenal good luck turns out to be disastrous for the rest of humanity. Find out why tourists are flocking to a hellish little town in a post-nuclear Kansas. Meet a warlock who practices on Park Avenue and whose potions comply with the Pure Food and Drug Act. Make a deal with the Devil—but not without calling your agent. Dazzling, effervescent, sexy, and sardonic, Virtual Unrealities is a historic collection from one of science fiction's true pathbreakers. "Alfred Bester was one of the handful of writers who invented modern science fiction. " —Harry Harrison |
From inside the book
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Page 28
... Bellanby shook his head . " Too farfetched . " " I've worked it out empirically , " Migg continued . " It's something like this . The future is a choice of mutually exclusively possibilities , one or another of which must be realized in ...
... Bellanby shook his head . " Too farfetched . " " I've worked it out empirically , " Migg continued . " It's something like this . The future is a choice of mutually exclusively possibilities , one or another of which must be realized in ...
Page 33
... Bellanby inquired . " What part do you play ? " " Now ? None , " Migg snarled . “ I have no charm , gentlemen . I come later . When he outgrows his respect for you , he'll begin to ac- quire respect for me . " All of which was ...
... Bellanby inquired . " What part do you play ? " " Now ? None , " Migg snarled . “ I have no charm , gentlemen . I come later . When he outgrows his respect for you , he'll begin to ac- quire respect for me . " All of which was ...
Page 36
... Bellanby said . " His Id wanted the war , Bellanby . It was the quickest route to what his Id desires ... to be Lord of the Universe and loved by the Universe ... and his Id controls the Power . All of us have that self- ish ...
... Bellanby said . " His Id wanted the war , Bellanby . It was the quickest route to what his Id desires ... to be Lord of the Universe and loved by the Universe ... and his Id controls the Power . All of us have that self- ish ...
Contents
Disappearing Act | 3 |
Oddy and Id | 22 |
Star Light Star Bright | 38 |
Copyright | |
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Virtual Unrealities: The Short Fiction of Alfred Bester Alfred Bester,Roger Zelazny Limited preview - 1997 |
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