Today, December 18, is the birthday of Alfred Bester (1913-1987). I’ve not had a chance to read anything by him today. It has been all errands and running amuck around. Maybe sometime over the next week I can work something in.

I didn’t want the day to pass unremarked, so I’m putting up this brief post.

Alfred Bester

Alfred Bester was born on this date, December 18, 1913. He passed away in 1987.  He’s best remembered for the novels The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man.  He started out writing short fiction and for comics, and along with his novels  his short fiction is some of the most innovative the field has seen.  See my review of “Fondly Fahrenheit” for an example.

Today I want to look at “The Men who Murdered Mohammed“, a time travel tale that has had a lasting impact on the field.  Told with wit and cheek, it’s the story of a brilliant scientist who comes home to discover his wife in the arms of another man. He wants revenge, so what does he do? Tell his secretary Maria to take a letter? No. Confront them then and there? No.  He builds a time machine and goes back to kill her grandfather before he married and had children. Continue reading →