"The Stars my Destination", Chapter 1. by Alfred Bester (story reading)

The Best SF novel ever written - according to some experts. There's not much doubt it's the Best Space Opera of all time. Yet many SF enthusiasts have never heard of it. It made a great impression on me when I first read it - more than any other novel. It starts by quoting Tom O'Bedlam's Song - not a coincidence.

It's a tour-de-force, a work of creative genius, daring to take liberties that no novel had ever taken before. It was also printed with the title, "Tiger!, Tiger!". Nothing like it had ever been written before. The story has been compared with The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
You can download the whole book as a pdf here:
http://www.filestube.com/e6adb6ec28bce02403e9/go.html

A movie of the same name is scheduled for release in 2012.

Bester used to write comics (now called Graphic Novels) as well as TV shows such as The Green Lantern. It has enough plot for five novels - Bester never seems to run out if outrageous ideas. The science is dubious and often plain wrong - for instance he says that food cannot be kept in tin cans because tin crumbles to dust in the absolute zero of space - but of course tin cans are steel, not tin. Somebody called it "A work of art made out of junk" One quirk is that he took the names of many characters from British Towns.

It was written in about 1953 before Star Trek, before any Space Exporation, before SF became respectable. At that time SF was considered "far-fetched" and restricted to pulp magazines - traditionally adorned with pictures of girls in bra and panties being attacked by bug-eyed monsters.
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/starsmy.htm

Harlan Ellison tells a story of finding Bester dying in hospital, and convincing the staff to treat him as an honoured guest and a legend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Bester

Anecdote: Isaac Asimov had a reputation for groping young women. Alfie used to greet him by sneaking up behind him and grabbing a handful of his ass.

Quotation from Bester: And the bar tender says to Rene Descartes, "Another beer?" And Descartes says, "I think not," and disappears

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

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• Destination
• Alfred
• Bester

[MrTerrycampbell]

I really like your voice. It makes it easy to understand. Have you recorded the whole book.

[SpokenVerse]

@MrTerrycampbell No, I just read this part. The book contains some creative typography that couldn't be read aloud. It was once called "a work of art made from junk". It's a monimental work of science fiction. 

[SpokenVerse]

@MrTerrycampbell Oh, I forgot to say that a movie will be released soon. It's hard to see how they can do it justice - but we can hope for the best.

[MrTerrycampbell]

I love this reading. I want to heard the whole book read by Alfred Bester. I looked all over but can't find it on a tape or cd. Is the whole story out there some where read by Bester.

[SpokenVerse]

@MrTerrycampbell This isn't Bester reading, it's me. I don't know of any readings by Bester. I'd like to hear some samples of his voice too - please let me know if you find any.

[Hiraghm]

I hope and pray the movie makers don't screw this book up with sensationalism like they did Starship Troopers, or make it all PC and thereby give the opposite message.

[SpokenVerse]

@Hiraghm Starship Troopers was disturbingly fascist. Heinlein was an entertaining writer but he bothered me with his predilection for writing as a cute young female. His later writing became more and more transvestite, dwelling on details of female dress. Then came a hero/heroine who actually switched from a male to a female body. He lost me then, I couldn't read that one.

[CustardGanet]

Fantastic reading,very enjoyable thank you,with regards to the movie (i never could figure out why it was not filmed before) i cant seem to find much information on it,has it been canned do you know? have you heard who the supposed director or stars of the picture are going to be? any info would be much appreciated.

[paintitswe]

This was sooooo good!

[tekentakio]

Can you publish more chapters of this great work? I loved this job. This is the best book I've read in my life, I have never tired of reading it. Thank you for this chapter friend!

[GlendaCockran]

Great book, revenge is a very powerful motivation indeed. Very influential as well, saw a great many (future) Sci-Fi movie scenes while I was reading this too, I would highly recommend it to anyone intrested in S/F.

[paulpellicci]

that was good. it reminds me of something else...but...very good indeed

[EmpLaun]

I'm not talking about youtube but... I have made it my pledge that while discussing sci-fi literature (if this event were to happen) have made this solomn vow... If during conversation regarding 'The Stars My Destination' someone should "shit" on it, if logical humane debate methods fail me, I'll straight go "Gully Foyle" on that ass, slow down time for myself, and fuck you up (brutally)... I'm just sayin'... this book is my all time favorite

[youshouldneverthrowa]

Hey, This is an odd request! I am writing a music piece that requires some voice recordings. I'm looking for volunteers. The piece is based on the novel "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester. I need people to record and post/PM an audio recording of them saying the phrases. ""Who are you?" "Where are you from?" "Where are you now?" "Where are you going?" Any voice types (male/female, young/old) will suit, just speak the words in an emotion/demeanor of your choosing!

[theBeorn]

this book has done so much for me. i only read it this year but it changed everything, recommended for everyone.