Flights of Fantasy discussion

Have you all read this mind blowing story by Alfred Bester? It's an amazing story, possibly my favorite scifi short story ever.

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It's a classic. I was wondering what you all thought of it and I figured I'd share it for anyone who hasn't read it.

Read further down the thread for suggestions of how to get this awesome story, The Men Who Murdered Mohammed by Alfred Bester

I think the central premise is interesting, albeit implausible. If it were published today it would be very controversial by virtue of the title alone.

For those unfamiliar with the story, it's no anti-Muslim diatribe-- rather it's a time-travel story with a twist.

Bester deserves more recognition today. His classic novels The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man are some of the best the genre has to offer.

Agreed. I feel like he's sort of been forgotten, but he's one of the best ever as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, it's unfortunate in some ways he chose that for the title, but it could really be Mohammad, Jesus, Moses, or any major cultural figure.

Bester is considered one of the greatest SF authors of all time, by other SF authors. Barry N. Malzberg (a pretty good SF author himself) has long touted Bester as his favorite, and this story is one Barry has anthologized as the best SF story of the 1950's. Bester's short stories have been collected - probably out of print, but a search on Amazon or one of the used book sites like Abebooks.com should yield something.

If you like this story, try to find "5,271,009", "Fondley Fahrenheit" and "They Don't Make Life Like They Used To." Mind-blowing indeed, terrifying, heartbreaking, and often weirdly funny.

Cool, thanks Alan. I'll have to check those out when I get the chance.