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PaperclipPerfector  18d ago (text post)   2256 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 1, 2024

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Finished The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1956). Cyberpunk avant la lettre - if you can have cyberpunk without computer networks. Very 50s and very pulpy - it's no surprise that Bester also wrote comics - but well written with a manic energy that's the polar opposite of the likes of Asimov. You can just imagine the author smashing the typewriter keys while chomping a cigar. Reaches for the stars and sometimes grasps them.

A fantastic book. The fact that it's pretty heavily influenced by The Count of Monte Cristo doesn't hurt.

I didn’t like it for that reason- people always claim it’s the greatest sci-fi book ever and I was thinking the whole time reading it I might as well just read the original goven how derivative it was.

I've been put off the idea of reading The Count of Monte Cristo by people complaining about how long winded it is. Maybe I should swallow my pride and try an abridged version...

I'm about 90% done with Howling Dark, the second book in The Sun Eater series. I'm giving it a 3/5, but I enjoyed it a lot more than Empire of Silence. Demon in White, the third book, is up next.

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