I'm writing about this collection mainly because the other day I saw a nice copy offered on eBay for 99¢. And it didn't sell. I figure that means that (A) everybody already has a copy or (B) nobody remembers Alfred Bester and what great short stories he wrote. I remember him, and I have a copy of the book. Here's a look at the story titles:
"Disappearing Act"
"Adam and No Eve"
"Starlight, Star Bright"
"The Roller Coaster"
"Oddy and Id" (aka "The Devil’s Invention")
"The Starcomber" (aka "5, 271, 009")
"Travel Diary"
"Fondly Fahrenheit"
"Hobson’s Choice"
"The Die-Hard"
"Of Time and Third Avenue"
There are some truly wonderful stories here, including one of my all-time favorites, "Fondly Fahrenheit," permanently entrenched in my Top Ten -- "Jeet your seat!"
I guess a person could live without this book, but I don't see how anybody interested in SF or the short story can.
10 comments:
So did you buy the 99 cent copy, Bill?
Jeff
No, I've had my copy for a long, long time.
I bet if you were George Kelley you'd have bought another one.
You never know when you might need one.
Jeff
I have three or four copies of STARBURST. Wonderful collection! Bester is known for his great SF novels (THE DEMOLISHED MAN, THE STARS MY DESTINATION), but he wrote some great short stories, too. I'd put "Fondly Fahrenheit" in my Top Ten Best SF Stories, too. Still, 99 cents for STARBURST is tempting...
So if there are so many copies floating around out there, why spend 99 cents? Someone will surely send me a copy gratis......
"I guess a person could live without this book, but I don't see how anybody interested in SF or the short story can." Amen.
I've had my copy of the SFBC omnibus STARLIGHT for decades, the vast majority of my life. But it doesn't have "Travel Diary"...
"6,271,009" is my favorite here by some distance, but there's nothing unrewarding here...and, frankly, his best short fiction is better, by me, than his best novels (though I admit I've not yet read the originally, innovatively typset version of THE DEMOLISHED MAN as it was published in GALAXY magazine, rendered back into conventional typefaces in the book reprints).
I'm pretty sure the early reprints of THE DEMOLISHED MAN had the innovative type faces, or at least that's the way I remember it from the '50s. I guess I'll have to see if I can find my copy.
I've never read Bester and I think I need to.
WV: Cythallh. Chthulu's wife.
Bill--possibly in the Shasta first edition, but definitely not in the Doubleday/SFBC or Pocket editions I picked up in the latter '70s. There are little bits and pieces of it, but nothing like the elaborated typographical activity in the GALAXY serialization (I have one or two of the issues, I think, but not all).
I may be thinking about the Galaxy version. I probably read it there first.
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