The -- Best Sci-Fi Book in History -- My Destination

Author's Rating:

Pros: Epic plot, powerful voice, psychological story

Cons: They won't let me direct a movie version

Author's Review
This is simply the best science fiction book I have ever read.

The author's voice is powerful, immediate.

His language has the wisdom of an 400 year old woman, and the odd, fearful-excitement of a 13 year-old adolescent who just discovered masturbation.

This book's plot moves faster than most crummy 1980's action movies, yet is richer than any 1990's Sundance film.

The characters are a touch cleaner, more sterile than, say, a character in a Tobias Wolff short story, but far more accessible.

This novel transcends its genre -- Bester understands Science Fiction, and leverages its conventions (a handful of which he probably invented) to create a work whose scope and reach dips deep into our collective unconscious. I wish this were hyperbole; it's not.

What really sets Bester apart from most authors is how he injects psychology into his writing. Most writers I've read, sci fi or not, tend to under-psychologize (pardon that...).

Alfred Bester offers insight into the self-conscious psychological game that's become our lives in the past century, and simultaneously presents characters/plot from which the reader can drink their own unconscious.

<self-indulgent armchair philosophy>
I guess people think fiction should just offer a 'snap shot of life' allowing you to extract/project what you will into the dramatic space. While that's better than writing a pop-psychology based novel (for which I'm a sucker anyway -- e.g., Way of the Peaceful Warrior), I still think we could do better.
</self-indulgent armchair philosophy>

Alfred Bester does.

Get this novel right away. You will be interested after the first two paragraphs.

I gave up sleep, food, drink, sex, backrubs, oxygen on my way to finishing this novel. There are few books (none in the sci-fi genre) that I could recommend more strongly.