The Starcomber
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
Read more from Alfred Bester
Hell's Cartographers: Inside The Minds Of Six Legendary Sci-Fi Authors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Starcomber Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Starcomber
Related ebooks
The Starcomber Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHell's Cartographers: Inside The Minds Of Six Legendary Sci-Fi Authors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Push of a Finger Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Status Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crompton Divided Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Involution Ocean Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dimension of Miracles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5City Come A-Walkin' Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gather Yourselves Together Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlice In Virtuality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStand on Zanzibar: The Hugo Award-Winning Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ware Tetralogy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Case of Conscience Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Interlibrary Loan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Look to Windward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship of the Talisman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Star Maker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Postsingular Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sundiver Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shockwave Rider Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fredric Brown MEGAPACK ®: 33 Classic Science Fiction Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Gravity Fails Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alternative Detective Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of Their Minds Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Highway of Eternity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bill, The Galactic Hero Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The World of Null-A Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Notions: Unlimited: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
General Fiction For You
The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King James Version of the Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shantaram: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything's Fine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Other Black Girl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Starcomber
3 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Starcomber - Alfred Bester
THE STARCOMBER
ALFRED BESTER
Start Publishing LLC
Copyright © 2012 by Start Publishing LLC
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
First Start Publishing eBook edition October 2012
Start Publishing is a registered trademark of Start Publishing LLC
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 978-1-62793-993-5
Take two parts of Beelzebub, two of Israfel, one of Monte Cristo, one of Cyrano, mix violently, season with mystery and you have Mr. Solon Aquila. He is tall, gaunt, sprightly in manner, bitter in expression, and when he laughs his dark eyes turn into wounds. His occupation is unknown. He is wealthy without visible means of support. He is seen everywhere and understood nowhere. There is something odd about his life.
This is what’s odd about Mr. Aquila, and you can make what you will of it. When he walks he is never forced to wait on a traffic signal. When he desires to ride there is always a vacant taxi on hand. When he bustles into his hotel an elevator always happens to be waiting. When he enters a store, a salesclerk is always free to serve him. There always happens to be a table available for Mr. Aquila in restaurants. There are always last-minute ticket returns when he craves entertainment at sold-out shows.
You can question waiters, hack drivers, elevator girls, salesmen, box-office men. There is no conspiracy. Mr. Aquila does not bribe or blackmail for these petty conveniences. In any case, it would not be possible for him to bribe or blackmail the automatic clock that governs the city traffic signal system. These things, which make life so convenient for him, simply happen. Mr. Solon Aquila is never disappointed. Presently we shall hear about his first disappointment and see what it led to.
Mr. Aquila has been seen fraternizing in low saloons, in middle saloons, in high saloons. He has been met in bagnios, at coronations, executions, circuses, magistrate’s courts and handbook offices. He has been known to buy antique cars, historic jewels, incunabula, pornography, chemicals, porro prisms, polo ponies and full-choke shotguns.
HmimelHerrGottSeiDank! I’m crazy, man, crazy. Eclectic, by God,
he told a flabbergasted department store president. The Weltmann type, nicht wahr? My ideal: Goethe. Tout le monde. God damn.
He spoke a spectacular tongue of mixed metaphors and meanings. Dozens of languages and dialects came out in machine-gun bursts. Apparently he also lied ad libitum.
Sacré bleu. Jeez!
he was heard to say once. Aquila from the Latin. Means aquiline. O tempora O mores. Speech by Cicero. My ancestor.
And another time: "My idol: Kipling. Took my name from him. Aquila, one of his heroes. God damn. Greatest Negro writer since Uncle Tom’s Cabin."
On the morning that Mr. Solon Aquila was stunned by his first disappointment, he bustled into the atelier of Lagan & Derelict, dealers in paintings, sculpture and rare objects of art. It was his intention to buy a painting. Mr. James Derelict knew Aquila as a client. Aquila had already purchased a Frederic Remington and a Winslow Homer some time ago when, by another odd coincidence, he had bounced into the Madison Avenue shop one minute after the coveted paintings went up for sale. Mr. Derelict had also seen Mr. Aquila boat a prize striper at Montauk.
Bon soir, bel esprit, God damn, Jimmy,
Mr. Aquila said. He was on first name terms with everyone. Here’s a cool day for color, oui! Cool. Slang. I have in me to buy a picture.
"Good morning,