Alfred Bester

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The Demolished Man

Kelsey Lynn

(1/63) In my Hugo Read-Through
        The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester, was originally serialized Galaxy Science Fiction in 1952. It received the very first Hugo Award for a novel in 1953. For my Hugo Award read-through, I decided to read the novels in order, with a few exceptions. So this was the first book and my introduction to the Hugo Awards.
         At its core, The Demolished Man is a film noir style murder mystery. Set in a future world but filled with fifties charm and feel. The reader knows the crime, and everything that’s happened, and reads from both the perspective of the police trying to solve the crime and the criminal trying to conceal it. The society in which this crime has been committed is one where Espers (telepaths) have become common place and are involved in almost every aspect of society. Essentially, how does one get away with a crime in an Esper heavy society.
       Where this book stands out is the author’s use of the telepath (or Esper). The telepath is commonly used in science fiction, but not often used for more than some straight forward mind reading and communication. Often an author has dialogue in the minds of its telepathic characters simply be normal dialogue in italics. But Bester really expands this concept, he took the fact that when we think, we think in more than words, we think in pictures and colors and scents, and he developed a very complex, fleshed out world in which telepaths are common day. 
         He developed Politics, jobs, anything that could benefit from a telepath he had a job for, he had ethics and codes, and he even had a dinner party of all Telepaths, all thinking to each other and how complex and interesting that party would be. Having telepaths communicate with each other and have the dialogue be broken up with things like "picture of horse laughing" changes the whole feel of the exchange. For me this couldn't be more realistic, why think everything you’d say when communicating telepathically when you literally can show things. 
         Not only did Bester successfully flesh out a believable society, but he also kept the story engaging and fun. A story where you already know the mystery can be interesting, but it also can easily be done wrong. Bester did a great job at keeping the story interesting, providing enough plot twists and consistently interesting characters. I was never bored and even though you knew the details of the crime, the mystery adapted and became something different. It became how was either the criminal going to get away with it or how was he going to be caught.
        However this book did have some shortcomings as well, some of which may be just personal to myself, or my own ignorance, but to me they were shortcomings. One downfall to such a well thought out society is that it comes naturally to the author but not always to the reader. While it was believable and I appreciated being thrown into it rather that in being explained completely to me, I still found myself lost at some times. I’m still not completely sure how to read some of the conversations, however maybe we weren’t supposed to know how. Also some actions and conclusion in this story were done with such certainty and understanding from the characters, they knew what they were doing and why, but it wasn’t always clear to me. Especially in the finale, which while exciting and well done, I’m still not completely sure the why’s of it. I struggled to fully understand the reasoning. Also while the characters were consistent and developed enough throughout the story, this book did suffer from a few weird unneeded developments. Relationships and interactions were written that honestly, didn’t need to happen, and when they did I was a little put-off by them. They weren’t… bad per se, just unnecessary. In a book that’s been very well written and with a story of this type they just stood out as a little sub-par in comparison to the rest. Unfortunately I can’t explain too much without spoiling, but I can say it has to do with relationships, and while I’m a hopeless romantic, I can’t stand when it’s forced. 
        Finally, while this is necessarily a bad thing, this book dates itself. The language of this book screams fifties, which is great to me, but might disconnect readers from it. We live in an unfortunate society where we change dates cause our children can’t connect with passed dates (I’m lookin at you Martian Chronicles) and just from interactions with non- regular readers I can tell that some people might struggle with that. They might miss some of it’s great story telling being distracted by the obvious fifties qualities. Like I said, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I love it. But, certain books feel like they could have been written at any time, I’ve found many authors can write in a way that could fool an average reader of the date it was written. This isn’t one of those books. It won’t matter if it’s the 1950s or the 205os, it’ll always feel like the 1950s.
        His writing and story changed completely how I’m going to approach the rest of the winners. While the ga,e of cat and mouse between the main characters was a very entertaining read, with satisfying twists and turns, I really recommend anyone who reads this book to really take in how much he put into developing his Espers. This to me is hands down why he won the award, and deserved it.

 In Conclusion
 The Demolished Man was a wonderful introduction to the Hugo Awards. It was a fun, quick paced murder mystery with strong and consistent characters. While the story was strong and interesting, Alfred Bester’s handling and development of the Espers in his society really made this book. He didn’t just throw some cookie cutter telepaths into his story; he subtly developed a whole functioning and believable society with them woven in. This was a simple plot with great ideas, this coupled with food writing made for a solid novel with no question to why it won the first Hugo.
 “Eight, sir; seven, sir;
Six, sir; five, sir;
Four, sir; Three, sir;
Two, sir; one!
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension,
And dissension have begun.”

Cindy Lieberman

“He’s got charm. That’s what makes him doubly dangerous. People always expect villains to look villainous”

“If Reich [read: Trump] can readjust and reorient before I reach him, he will become immune to our reality, invulnerable to our attack, and the deadly enemy of Galactic reason and reality.”

“Look at [his] position in time and space. Will not his beliefs become the world’s belief? Will not his reality become the world’s reality? Is he not, in his critical position of power, energy, and intellect, a sure road to utter destruction?”

“He was one of those rare World-Shakers whose compulsions might have torn down our society and irrevocably committed us to his own psychotic pattern..... he very nearly succeeded...These men appear every so often...links between the past and the future. If they are permitted to mature...If the link is permitted to weld...The world finds itself chained to a dreadful tomorrow.”
— The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

This classic sci-fi novel was chillingly prescient of Donald Trump whose own reality and insistence on being The Best supersedes anything like a “greater good.

In this Hugo-award-winning story, Reich is a megalomaniac who wants it all. He contacts his biggest rival about a merger in a coded message and, when the reply is negative, he hatches a plan to murder him. To do so, he must outsmart the Peepers: mind readers who know what everyone is thinking.

Shifting loyalties, deceit, and grift seem on point with the current GOP party in the US. Fortunately in real life as well as in The Demolished Man, evil at the core can be rooted (and voted) out before the world is utterly lost.

﻿#4 in the Millennium SF Masterworks series, a library of the finest science fiction ever written. The first Hugo Award winner for best novel in 1953. “One of the all-time classics of science fiction.”—Isaac Asimov “Bester's two superb books have stood the test of time. For nearly sixty years they’ve held their place on everybody’s list of the ten greatest sf novels” —Robert Silverberg In a world policed by telepaths, Ben Reich plans to commit a crime that hasn’t been heard of in 70 years: murder. That’s the only option left for Reich, whose company is losing a 10-year death struggle with rival D’Courtney Enterprises. Terrorized in his dreams by The Man With No Face and driven to the edge after D’Courtney refuses a merger offer, Reich murders his rival and bribes a high-ranking telepath to help him cover his tracks. But while police prefect Lincoln Powell knows Reich is guilty, his telepath's knowledge is a far cry from admissible evidence. Alfred Bester was among the first important authors of contemporary science fiction. His passionate novels of worldly adventure, high intellect, and tremendous verve, The Stars My Destination and the Hugo Award winning The Demolished Man, established Bester as a s.f. grandmaster, a reputation that was ratified by the Science Fiction Writers of America shortly before his death. Bester also was an acclaimed journalist for Holiday magazine, a reviewer for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and even a writer for Superman.

The Demolished Man

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