Alfred Bester

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Alfred Bester bigraphy, stories - American science fiction writer, TV and radio scriptwriter

Alfred Bester : biography

December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987

Alfred Bester (December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987) was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books. Though successful in all these fields, he is probably best remembered today for his science fiction, including The Demolished Man, winner of the inaugural Hugo Award in 1953.

Science fiction author Harry Harrison wrote, "Alfred Bester was one of the handful of writers who invented modern science fiction."

Shortly before his death, the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) named Bester its ninth Grand Master, presented posthumously in 1988. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 2001.

Notes

Awards

The Science Fiction Writers of America made Bester its 9th SFWA Grand Master in 1988 (announced before his 1987 death) and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 2001, its sixth class of two deceased and two living writers.

Beside winning the inaugural Hugo Award he was one of the runners-up for several annual literary awards.

Hugo Award:

  • The Demolished Man – 1953 novel

Hugo nominations:

  • "Star Light, Star Bright" – 1954 short story (retro Hugo)
  • "The Men Who Murdered Mohammed" – 1959 short story
  • "The Pi Man" – 1960 short story
  • "The Four-Hour Fugue" – 1975 short story
  • The Computer Connection – 1976 novel

In the Best Novel categories, The Computer Connection was a finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula Awards and third place for the Locus Award.

Biography

Alfred Bester was born in Manhattan, New York City, on December 18, 1913. His father James J. Bester owned a shoe store and was a first-generation American whose parents were both Austrian. Alfred’s mother, Belle (née Silverman), was born in Russia and spoke Yiddish as her first language before coming to America as a youth. Alfred was James and Belle’s second and final child, and only son. (Their first child, Rita, was born in 1908.) Though his father was of Jewish background, and his mother became a Christian Scientist, Alfred Bester himself was not raised within any religious traditions; he wrote that "his home life was completely liberal and iconoclastic."Bester, p. 220.

Bester attended the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Philomathean Society. He played on the football team in 1935 and, by his own account, was "the most successful member of the fencing team."Bester, p. 221. He went on to Columbia Law School, but tired of it and dropped out.

Bester and Rolly Goulko married in 1936. Rolly Bester had a successful career as a Broadway, radio and television actress before changing careers to become an advertising executive during the 1960s. The Besters remained married for 48 years until her death on January 12, 1984. Bester was very nearly a lifelong New Yorker, although he lived in Europe for a little over a year in the mid-1950s and moved to Pennsylvania with Rolly in the early 1980s. Once settled there, they lived on Geigel Hill Road in Ottsville, Pennsylvania.

Writing career

Early SF career, comic books, radio (1939–50)

After his university career, 25-year-old Alfred Bester was working in public relations when he turned to writing science fiction. Bester’s first published short story was the "The Broken Axiom", which appeared in the April 1939 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories after winning an amateur story competition. Bester recalled, "Two editors on the staff, Mort Weisinger and Jack Schiff, took an interest in me, I suspect mostly because I’d just finished reading and annotating Joyce’s Ulysses and would preach it enthusiastically without provocation, to their great amusement. … They thought "Diaz-X" [Bester’s original title] might fill the bill if it was whipped into shape."Bester, pp. 223–24. (Robert Heinlein declined to enter the same contest.)