Star Light, Star Bright

by Alfred Bester

• Word count: 5664

• Page count: 16

Star Light, Star Bright is a classic science fiction short story first published in 1953 by Alfred Bester, the author of the very first Hugo award winning novel. It is the story of a boy who has some amazing knowledge, and the people who are searching for him. It you like classic science fiction and pulp stories (Like Isaac Asimov or Philip K. Dick) then you will probably like this story too. I consider it to be a great story that makes you think about what could happen if this were really true.

He drove up Post Avenue, stopped at No. 17, and parked. He consulted the phone book, then got out of the car and entered the house. He examined the mailboxes and then ran up the stairs to apartment 2-F. He rang the bell. While he waited for an answer, he got out a small black notebook and a superior silver pencil that wrote in four colors.

The door opened. To a nondescript middle-aged lady, the man said, "Good evening. Mrs. Buchanan?"

Star Light, Star Bright appeared in the 1958 book Starburst.^† It was also included in The Dark Side of the Earth (1964) and Star Light, Star Bright (1976).

However, you can read it online for free at the old Sci Fiction site.

If you like this story you can learn more about Alfred Bester on Wikipedia.

† - This is an affiliate link.  Learn more on my Privacy & Disclosure page.

(This is a revised version of a post which was originally published on BestScienceFictionStories.com on Dec 23rd, 2007.)