“This book is a lively, erudite, and delightfully opinionated introduction to Alfred Bester’s legendary novel, the literary Big Bang that created the universe of New Wave and cyberpunk SF.' (Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. This is a smart, engaging, and at times provocative introduction to Bester, one that will appeal to scholars and fans alike.” (Jad Smith, Professor of English, Eastern Illinois University, USA, and author of Alfred Bester (2016) Wilson never hesitates to tackle tough questions about Bester’s legacy. The Stars My Destination, aka Tiger Tiger note is a science fiction novel by Alfred Bester. Moreau, as well as shows how-and why-the novel became a touchstone for later writers on the cutting edge of the SF field. Portraying Bester as a consummate mad scientist of science fiction (SF) craft, Wilson examines parallels between The Stars My Destination and classic texts such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and H.G.

Harlan Wilson has written an indispensable guide to Alfred Bester’s most celebrated novel. With scholarly lucidity and precision, Wilson shows us that Stars pointed the way to what we have (un)become. In Wilson’s view, SF is a moribund artform, and Stars foresaw the inevitable science fictionalization of our benighted world. The book combines close-readings of the novel with broader concerns about contemporary media, technoculture, and the current state of SF itself.

Wilson’s study depicts Bester as an SF insider as much as an outlier, writing in the spirit of the genre but breaking with the fixation on hard science in favor of psychological interiority, literary experimentation, and adult themes. In Stars, Bester established himself as a son of the pulp-SF and high-modernist writers that preceded him and a forefather to the New Wave and cyberpunk movements that followed his lead. Harlan Wilson makes a case for the continued significance of Alfred Bester’s SF masterwork, exploring its distinctive style, influences, intertextuality, affect, and innovation as well as its extensive metafictional properties. In this comprehensive study of The Stars My Destination, D.

Bester the stars my destination