Customer Reviews

The Computer Connection

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When this book first came out in 1975, it was Alfred Bester's first science fiction novel in twenty years. Bester's first sf novel (The Demolished Man) won the very first Hugo Award for best novel. His second (The Stars My Destination) is so dazzling it leaves TDM in the dust; it's considered by many (including me) to be the finest sf novel ever written, then or now. So you can only imagine the kind of anticipation that this novel generated. The buzz at the time was that it didn't "live up to the greatness of Bester's earlier work". I've even heard it referred to as "third-rate Bester". This is out-and-out balderdash (I'd use a stronger term, but then this review wouldn't get past the censors :-)). This novel doesn't compete with the earlier novels; it works on its own terms. It's the story of a society of immortals in a very bizarre future indeed, and their struggle against a computer which wants to take over the world. What impressed me most of all is that Bester's trademark "pyrotechnic" style hadn't been diluted at all in the twenty years since he wrote TSMD; if anything, this book is even more outlandish (a case in point: its characters speak a weird mishmash of languages of which twentieth century English, or "XX" as its known, is one of about ten). Bester's usual theme of man becoming superman is here again as well, but in a totally different setting. This story doesn't take itself as deadly seriously as TDM or TSMD, which may account for the lukewarm reception it received. Despite this, it's a thoroughly satisfying read that is miles ahead of most sf in terms of its imagination, its plot and its humanity.

Though the always over-the-top Harlan Ellison does a fantastic job in the introduction of convincing you that this boook is the equal of Bester's greats, 'The Demolished Man' and 'The Stars My Destination', it isn't quite in that class.

Don't let that put you off, however. The Computer Connection packs in more wacky offbeat ideas in a single book than most writers have in a lifetime, and it is all done at a breakneck velocity fast enough to pass the likes of Michael Marshall Smith in the slow lane (and that's no insult to Smith).

The plot revolves around a small and select group of people made immortal through a particularly traumatic death - the narrator was roasted in a volcano, for example. The immortals take identities based on historical figures, which reflect their abilities and interests - there is a Christ, an Indian rajah and so on. Bester's depiction of immortals has only been bettered by Michael Moorcock in 'Dancers at the End of Time'. In seeking to expand their number, they accidently enable a powerful computer, Extro, to take over the candidate, the brilliant Cherokee physicist, Sequoya Guess. Extro then proceeds to use Guess to carry out its plans to rid the world of humans. Not only that, but there appear to be a traitor amongst the immortals themselves.

This review can hardly do any sort of justice to the utterly bizarre world that Bester has created, a world where giant pogo-sticks appear to be a major form of transport. As Ellison says, it's like a classic Hollywood screwball commedy (only forced through a giant psychedelic sieve). The only problem with this kind of commedy is that it is difficult to sustain over novel length, and Bester doesn't quite manage it; the book runs out of steam some time before the end. Still a must-read for any fan of New Wave (or any other) SF.

This is a great piece of SF adventure. It presages cyberpunk and does a better job of creating an underground society of eccentric immortals that The Highlander ever hoped to.

The novel is fast-paced, full of satirical gems, and funny as all get-out. But at the same time, it manages to support themes about technology, human evolution, and love and loyalty that are handled with as much thought and heft as any "serious" work.

The only gripe I've ever had with this book is that it ends way too soon, and in fact is screaming out for sequels that have never come. Not that the plot isn't fully wrapped up-- it's just that you hate to leave the company of these people who are so funny, profound, and warmly human.

This is a must-have book for any SF reader.

"I tore down the Continental Shelf off the Bogue Bank while the pogo made periscope hops trying to track me. Endless plains of salt flats (music by Borodin here); mounds of salt where the new breed of prospector was sieving for rare earths; towers of venomous vapors on the eastern horizon where the pumping stations were sucking up more of the Atlantic and extracting deuterium for energy transfer. Most of the fossil fuels were gone; the sea level had been lowered by two feet; progress."

That's just the first paragraph of this completely insane book: breathless, delirious, practically collapsing from lack of oxygen in its rush to fill your head with its wild ideas. Before the first page is over, we've dove down to a secret hideaway under the salt flats to meet a time machine builder who goes by Herb Wells. Before the chapter's out, we'll have learned of Herb's doomed efforts to avert the tragic early deaths of Van Gogh, Mozart and poet Thomas Chatterton, but all that's strictly incidental to the plot. Our hero, such that he is, is Guig, the Grand Guignol, who murders men in failed attempts to make them immortal. The cast also includes Jacy, who you may better know as Christ, Jesus; and Hic-Haec-Hoc, a Neanderthal who's still kicking several millennia past his prime.

The reckless, wild, intoxicating prose, drunk on its own sheer invention, is peppered with obscure cultural references, chemical formulas, snatches of poetry and computer programming, bars of music, and letters to the editor. Any damn thing to get the point across: Bester was post-modern before anyone had a name for it.

And Bester isn't really writing science-fiction here: he's writing free-form experimental futuristic jazz, drenched in psychedelic insanity, bizarre factoids kiting on sheer imagination, riffing on his typewriter to a wild, weird beat that no one else on Earth can hear.

A lot of people dismiss this book saying it's a faint shadow of Bester's more famous novels, THE DEMOLISHED MAN and THE STARS MY DESTINATION. And frankly, they've got a point: those earlier works are more contained and controlled. This thing, frankly? It's kind of a mess. But it's a hot mess, dancing on table tops naked and ignoring all bounds of decent restraint. Later on, the lack of control would overtake the books in the shambling Frankenstein novels like GOLEM100 and THE DECEIVERS, the seams showing in the short stories and fragments Bester was stitching together, unable to maintain the jags of caffeinated energy characterizing his best books. Those later books still have moments of brilliance, but they are less than the sum of their parts. In this book, Bester is still on top of his game -- but maybe just barely.

Time has caught up to Bester's first book, the Hugo-winning THE DEMOLISHED MAN; its wild ideas have been nicked by mass market entertainment and its psychic cops have few surprises for readers. THE STARS MY DESTINATION is still ahead of the curve, and will always represent the peak of Bester's particular brand of magic. But THE COMPUTER CONNECTION is, arguably, his most wild, restless and joyous book. A lot of readers didn't know what to make of it 30+ years ago, and most won't now.

What it is isn't a novel at all, but a drug in ink form meant to be injected directly to the pineal gland.

It's a wonder nobody ever thought of filming Bester's books, for they have an effect much similar to that of a good movie - they rock you in your chair. Decades before anyone thought of the term "Cyberpunk", Bester already had his own view of the future, which happens to be very similar to the present - our present, the future present, even Bester's present. That is, of course, no accident, for Bester never forgets he's dealing with people, not machines - a fact which doesn't prevent the book from being filled with action, fun, (weird) technology, immortal people (among them an original neanderthal), an eccentric alien, and even some more conventional SF elements, such as The Mad Professor and a Time Machine.
Brilliant dialogues, thrilling action, unforgettable characters... In short - don't forget to get your hands on that one as soon as possible. I'm sure you won't forget to thank me for that advice...

Alfred Bester is perhaps the best stylist among the SF writers I've read. This work certainly benefits from that. The plot is rather thin and rather bizarre, involving a group of accidental immortals, a precocious teen, a supercomputer, and a kooky future. The grabber here is what surrounds the story: eccentric but believable characters, tongue in cheek narration, and a staricial glimpse of a future than may yet be. This book is everything that "The Demolished Man" tried not to be: silly, never taking itself seriously, sharply satirical. While many consider "Demolished" to be the classic, I found this to be the real Besterian deal.

If you're a fan of Bester, definitely try this. If you only know Bester as the guy from PsiCorps, then you owe it to yourself to see why JMs named a character for Alfred Bester. Clearly, he's one of JMS's influences.

If you like Bester, one of the all-time greats, you'll like this. As only he can, Bester creates imaginative characters in even more imaginative situations. A group of merry immortals battles an ill-tempered computer network. This book is exciting and more than a little humorous. Read it if you like Bester and you're looking for his work beyond "Stars My Destination" and the "Demolished Man". You might like the "Deceivers" too.

After reading this book, I threw in the towel as far as dreaming about becoming a SF writer. This book is Perfect, there is no way it can be beaten or even approached by any other SF writing (except, perhaps, TSMD and TDM). (Well, TSMD)
I loved mostly the cultural bits, the language, the in your face advertising (we are halfway there now) the drugs, firewater and all the inevitable extrapolations of 20th century lifestyles.
I can not really say much more without spoiling a bit. I'm going to get a copy and rerereread it now.
Oh, by the way, there IS an immortal caveman, a nicety I think few authors of 'immortal people' tales would have thought of.

if you like bester, you'll like harlan ellison's insider's introduction...this novel relaunched bester after a long hiatus from sf

Some quick facts:

This is not a "neglected, underrated gem".

This is not Alfred Bester at his best.

This is not a novel. In the technical sense of the word it is, but actually this one craves to be a comic storyline, KA-BOOM! and SPLORSH! waving to the poor reader from every page, every paragraph.

The last review on Amazon for the Computer Connection being more than 2 1/2 years ago clearly indicates this book is heading into oblivion. Let it rest there forever and if you really want to read something by Alfred Bester, try "The Stars My Destination", written in the 1950's but feeling much fresher and less dated.