The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

I’ve long wanted to fill in some of the holes in my science fiction reading and this one was prime among them.  First published in 1956, it is often regaled as the single best sci-fi story of all time.  I’m not sure I would go that far but it does provide a substantial number of “firsts”, including what is probably the first salvo in the cyberpunk movement.  And despite the year in which it was written, it still stands up surprisingly well today.

A central concept of the novel is the idea that a couple of centuries from now, mankind has learned to use part of their brains to transport themselves over distances of 100-200 miles or so.  Speculating on how this would impact human society is the gist of great sci-fi and the author certainly provides a lot of potential scenarios.  But to properly tell a story, you need characters and here we have Gulliver “Gully” Foyle who ranks right up there with some of the best iconic sci-fi characters of the past.  His story somewhat mirrors the Count of Monte Cristo…but in a very raw form.

I will confess to probably missing some of the weird wild trippy stuff sprinkled throughout, especially at the end, but still, I found myself quite enjoying the read.  I can finally count Alfred Bester among the authors I’ve read and enjoyed and no longer just think of that name in context of Babylon 5.