Review on an unfinished book | Psychoshop by Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny

Life is just too short.

Let’s be completely honest: we all pick up books for various reasons. A recommendation from a trusted friend. It was up front in the airport bookshop. Written by a favorite author. A great cover.

I picked up Psychoshop because it was written by Alfred Bester. I was at Powell’s in Portland, and it seemed like a good find. A classic author, a previously unread title, and a giant bookstore.

A win, right?

Perhaps for some. For me, time is too precious and life is too short.

Psychoshop was left unfinished by Bester on his death and was finished by Roger Zelazny, another classic science fiction writer. Comparing the work to a jazz duet, Greg Bear says in an introduction that the book is “Brisk, fast, memorable, a rare improvisational duet from two of our best[,]” but to be honest, I just couldn’t get through it. As creative as it is, and it is, I just found it schizophrenic and undefined, a story looking for a conflict to be resolved.

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