Without stars.

I was telling my mom earlier about Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man. The first time I read it, I was absolutely chilled by That Scene at the end. You know the one -- where Ben Reich cannot see the stars anymore. All the stars are gone.

And no one knows what he's talking about. Stars and starlight don't exist. There are no lights in the sky.

(Speaking of which, Deanna Hoak mentioned this on Twitter, and oh! has it ever got lovely pictures of the Milky Way...)

What would it be like? To be in a world where you remembered something that had always existed, something that no one else could remember, something that was inexplicably gone.

I love Bester's short fiction; he was a marvel. But his novels... well, The Demolished Man is a brilliant classic, pure and simple. But a creepy story. I was foolish enough to re-read it, and it's a once-read only.

Jo Walton is right on the money when she says "It’s a great idea book, but it’s also tense all the way through and none of the characters are people I care to spend time with."

Admittedly, I am a huge fan of Babylon 5 (and their Alfred Bester), so I really had to read this book. :D