The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

The Stars My Destination

Alfred Bester

An acknowledged SF masterpiece from the 50s, now reissued, this demands more from the reader than most, but the hero's journey to redemption invokes some echoes of the trials of Christ. A multi-layered read.

Extract
Captain Peter Y'ang-Yeovil of Central Intelligence was a lineal descendant of the learned Mencius and belonged to the Intelligence Tong of the Inner Planets Armed Forces. For two hundred years the IPAF had entrusted its intelligence work to the Chinese who, with a five thousand year history of cultivated subtlety behind them, had achieved wonders. Captain Y'ang-Yeovil was a member of the dreaded Society of Paper Men, an adept of the Tientsin Image Makers, a Master of Superstition, and fluent in the Secret Speech. He did not look Chinese.
Parallels
  • Neuromancer by William Gibson
  • Babylon 5 - TV series