''The Deceivers'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by American writer

Alfred Bester Alfred Bester (December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987) was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books. He is best remembered for his science fiction, inclu ...

. It was first published in 1981 by Wallaby Books/

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

Synopsis

Rogue Winter has superhuman powers of

pattern recognition Pattern recognition is the automated recognition of patterns and regularities in data. It has applications in statistical data analysis, signal processing, image analysis, information retrieval, bioinformatics, data compression, computer graphi ...

, which he uses to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend and save the solar system.

Reception

''The Deceivers'' received little attention from critics; ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...

'' later posited that this was the result of a desire to spare Bester's feelings, as the novel "is not good."Alfred Bester
by Peter Nicholls; earliest version published October 13, 2011; retrieved May 23, 2019 Science fiction scholar Jad Smith has described it as a "busy, overwritten

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

" of Bester's 1956 ''

The Stars My Destination ''The Stars My Destination'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester. Set in the 24th or 25th century, which varies between editions of the book, when humans have colonized the Solar System, it tells the story of Gully ull ...

''.Alfred Bester
by Jad Smith, published December 1 2016 by

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic project ...

David Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for most ...

called it "mildly good fun" and praised Bester's "colourful imagination and general wildness", but declared it substandard for Bester (while still superior to his other then-recent work), describing its characters as "dilettantes" who "never reach (the) sheer peaks of obsessiveness that powered (Bester's) early novels", and noting in particular the presence of "a narrator who removes all possible suspense" by telling readers the ending in advance."Zapping Uri Geller
by

; originally published in ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'', July 1983; archived in ''Complete Critical Assembly: The Collected White Dwarf (And Gm, and Gmi) Sf Review Columns'', published October 1, 2002, by

Wildside Press Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland, United States. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade ...

References

External links

* {{authority control 1981 American novels American science fiction novels Novels by Alfred Bester 1981 science fiction novels Books with cover art by Michael Whelan