"The Pi Man" is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short story by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

writer

Alfred Bester Alfred Bester (December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987) was an American science fiction author, TV and radio screenwriter, magazine Editing, editor and scriptwriter for comics. He is best remembered for his science fiction, including ''Th ...

. It was first published in ''

Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional un ...

'', in 1959. Bester subsequently revised it extensively for his 1976 collection ''

Star Light, Star Bright "Star Light, Star Bright" is an English language nursery rhyme of American origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16339. Lyrics The lyrics usually conform to the following: :Star light, star bright, :First star I see tonight; :I wish I ...

'', changing the characters' names, "develop(ing) minor scenes", modifying the typographical "word pictures", and deleting several "stale references to

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the mid-20th century, who subscribed to an anti- materialistic lifestyle. They rejected the conformity and consumerism of mainstream American culture and expressed themselves through various forms ...

culture".
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, thirty-three scholarly journals, and several electroni ...

Synopsis

Peter Marko's superhuman abilities of

pattern recognition Pattern recognition is the task of assigning a class to an observation based on patterns extracted from data. While similar, pattern recognition (PR) is not to be confused with pattern machines (PM) which may possess PR capabilities but their p ...

have allowed him to make a fortune in

forex The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralization, decentralized or Over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter (OTC) Market (economics), market for the trading of currency, currencies. This market det ...

arbitrage Arbitrage (, ) is the practice of taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more marketsstriking a combination of matching deals to capitalize on the difference, the profit being the difference between the market prices at which th ...

; 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 The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

Reception

"The Pi Man" was a finalist for the 1960

Hugo Award for Best Short Story The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction of ...

.1960 Hugo Awards
at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved May 6, 2018 ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' considered it to be a "chilling masterpiece",VIRTUAL UNREALITIES: THE SHORT FICTION OF ALFRED BESTER
reviewed at ''

''; published November 14, 1997; retrieved May 6, 2018 and John Hertz has lauded it as "coruscating, gripping, (and) strange".Hertz: Time for Tea
by John Hertz, at

File 770 ''File 770'' is a long-running science fiction fanzine, newszine, and blog site published and administered by Mike Glyer. It has been published every year since 1978, and has won a record eight Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine, with the first w ...

; published December 20, 2013; retrieved May 6, 2018 ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (''SFE'') is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appea ...

'' has posited that Marko's abilities were the basis for the similar abilities of the protagonist in Bester's 1981 novel '' The Deceivers'',BESTER, ALFRED
by Peter Nicholls; at ''

'' (edited by

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part ...

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

, Peter Nicholls, and

Graham Sleight Graham Sleight (born 1972) is a British writer, editor and critic, specialising in healthcare and science fiction. He is Head of Governance and Contracts at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and editor of the science fiction pee ...

. London: Gollancz, updated 16 January 2018; retrieved 6 May 2018 while

James Nicoll James Davis Nicoll (born March 18, 1961) is a Canadian freelance game and speculative fiction reviewer, former security guard and role-playing game store owner, and five-time Hugo nominee, who also works as a first reader for the Science Fi ...

has noted that the story would work just as well if one assumes that Marko's "justifications for atrocity are insane delusions".Before he was a Psi-cop - Starlight: The Great Short Fiction of Alfred Bester
reviewed by

, at James Nicoll Reviews; published April 6, 2015; retrieved May 8, 2018 David N. Samuelson, writing in ''

Science Fiction Studies ''Science Fiction Studies'' (''SFS'') is an academic journal founded in 1973 by R. D. Mullen. The journal is published three times per year at DePauw University. As Science fiction studies, the name implies, the journal publishes articles and ...

'', analyzed the story as

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

, and observed that it is based on "mathematical oddities" and "lacks a clear empirical base".A Softening of the Hard-Sf Concept
by David N. Samuelson, published in ''

'' #64 = Volume 21, Part 3 = November 1994; archived at

DePauw University DePauw University ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Greencastle, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1837 as Indiana Asbury College and changed its name to DePauw University in 1884. The college has a Methodist heritage and was ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pi Man, The Short stories by Alfred Bester Works originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction