Alfred Bester

Alfred Bester (1913–1987) wrote comparatively little SF but hit like lightning. The Demolished Man won the very first Hugo for Best Novel; The Stars My Destination, a furious tale of vengeance and human transcendence, is routinely named among the greatest SF novels ever written. His pyrotechnic prose, typographic experiments and pace made him a hero to the New Wave and a clear ancestor of cyberpunk. He was also a busy comics and radio scriptwriter.