Rumor has it that many of the editors of the competition were already familiar with Bester’s work and set up the competition to propel his career. His submission was entitled “The Broken Axiom,” which was a short story that he wrote over several months. It was during this time that he met Rolly Goulko, who would, later on, become his wife for many years.īester’s start was when he enrolled in the 1939 amateur story competition sponsored by “Thrilling Wonder Stories” magazine. He then studied protozoology at the University of New York but quit both colleges without graduating. Upon graduation, he became a member of the Philomathean Society, which happens to be one of the oldest literary societies in the US.Īfter he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in 1935, he enrolled at Columbia University as a postgraduate student of law. He remembers that his family has a very liberal attitude towards society and religion when he was growing up.Įven though he was born a Jew, the Laissez-faire attitudes of his family meant he got to pick his own faith and he went with Natural Law.Īs a teenager, Bester went to the Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania. He was born in 1913 to a middle-class and very hardworking shoe salesman that provided a modest living for his family. Nature's Warnings: Classic Stories of Eco-Science FictionĪlfred Bester was a comic and graphic novel, mystery and thriller, science fiction, and fantasy novelist from New York City. The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction Laughing Space: An Anthology of Science Fiction Humor

The Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction

The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: 20th SeriesĬosmic Laughter Science Fiction for the Fun of It Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space

Kaplan! Kaplan! by Alfred Bester