The reprinted material here is uniformally good, and much of it demonstrates why Bester is often cited as a positive influence on the cyerpunks. Bester's (191387) reputation derives from two brilliant and influential novels, The Demolished Man (1953), the first Hugo Awardwinner for Best Novel, and The Stars My. There are also two previously unpublished pieces, ""The Devil Without Glasses"" and a fragment, ""And 31/2 to Go"" both are enjoyable but minor. A major retrospective, comprising 15 tales from 194179 (mostly from the '50s and '60s), together with two previously unpublished pieces, though readers should note that the word selected'' has been omitted from the subtitle. Decandido are to be commended for making them once again available. Most of the 17 stories here have been out of print for years, so editors Robert Silverberg (who contributes an introduction, Byron Preiss and Keith R.A.
In such stories as ""The Men Who Murdered Mohammed,"" ""Hobson's Choice"" and ""Disappearing Act,"" Bester (1913-1987 The Stars My Destination The Demolished Man) handled wacky, off-center plots, a pyrotechnic writing style and cutting satire better than just about anyone else in SF. A general must discover how soldiers suffering from shell shock are escaping from and returning to a locked hospital ward. A government statistician must figure out how the nation's population can be increasing during a major war even though far more people are dying than are being born. A scientist, aiming to murder his wife, goes back in time and shoots her parents, as well as George Washington, Christopher Columbus and Mohammed, without noticeably affecting either his wife or the world at large.
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