The Pi Man

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"The Pi Man" is a science fiction short story by American writer Alfred Bester. It was first published in Fantasy and Science Fiction , in 1959. Bester subsequently revised it extensively for his 1976 collection Star Light, Star Bright , changing the characters' names, "develop(ing) minor scenes", modifying the typographical "word pictures", and deleting several "stale references to beatnik culture". [1]

Contents

Synopsis

Peter Marko's superhuman abilities of pattern recognition have allowed him to make a fortune in forex arbitrage; however, they also compel him to balance out the behaviors of the rest of the world by constantly performing seemingly-random acts of good and evil. This draws him into conflict, first with his secretary, and then with the FBI.

Reception

"The Pi Man" was a finalist for the 1960 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. [2]

Kirkus Reviews considered it to be a "chilling masterpiece", [3] and John Hertz has lauded it as "coruscating, gripping, (and) strange". [4]

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has posited that Marko's abilities were the basis for the similar abilities of the protagonist in Bester's 1981 novel The Deceivers , [5] while James Nicoll has noted that the story would work just as well if one assumes that Marko's "justifications for atrocity are insane delusions". [6]

David N. Samuelson, writing in Science Fiction Studies , analyzed the story as hard science fiction, and observed that it is based on "mathematical oddities" and "lacks a clear empirical base". [7]

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References

  1. Alfred Bester by Jad Smith, published December 1 2016 by University of Illinois Press
  2. 1960 Hugo Awards, at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved May 6, 2018
  3. VIRTUAL UNREALITIES: THE SHORT FICTION OF ALFRED BESTER, reviewed at Kirkus Reviews ; published November 14, 1997; retrieved May 6, 2018
  4. Hertz: Time for Tea, by John Hertz, at File 770; published December 20, 2013; retrieved May 6, 2018
  5. BESTER, ALFRED, by Peter Nicholls; at The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight. London: Gollancz, updated 16 January 2018; retrieved 6 May 2018
  6. Before he was a Psi-cop - Starlight: The Great Short Fiction of Alfred Bester, reviewed by James Nicoll, at James Nicoll Reviews; published April 6, 2015; retrieved May 8, 2018
  7. A Softening of the Hard-Sf Concept , by David N. Samuelson, published in Science Fiction Studies #64 = Volume 21, Part 3 = November 1994; archived at DePauw University