The Stars My Destination

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Summary: the Stars My Destination
Review: Like many others, I read "The Stars my Destination" some 40 odd years ago as a child. Ironically it left a lasting impression, but unfortunetely I never became a science fiction buff. The other day while listening to NPR on the way home from work the host was discussing "classic" science fiction and Bester was the subject of discussion. I immediately remembered the books content (truly amazing with my memory) and and jotted down the name and author. A search at the local book store was unsuccessful however the internet search was successful as usual. Thanks for the web page. I will be obtain a copy when its re-released in print. Excellent work.

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Summary: Possibly the Best SF Written
Review: Bester's gripping, heart-pounding novel is a masterpiece of invention and form. As an avid SciFi reader when I was younger, Bester's novel (aka Tiger! Tiger!) was my first forray in SciFi in recent years, and it quickly rekindled all the old feelings of why I, and anyone, can and should love SciFi. The characterization is top notch (as real as the best in all literature) and the storyline hits one of the fundamental cores of the human condition. One aspect of this novel which makes it excellent among SciFi literature is that Bester does not bog the reader down with cumbersome science and technolgy explanations, he gives it to the reader straight out and doesn't look back. By far the absolutely most fascinating and memorable feature of the work is Bester's use of graphic design and font control to simulate an emotional/physical state where the reader can feel colors, taste words and see sounds. For those uninitiated in the use of controlled substances, this might be the closest one can get (in terms of text explaination) to experiencing the feeling of being "under the influence" - quite stunning. And like the best forms of art, The Stars My Destination can be highly recommended by anyone who has read it to anyone who has not.

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Summary: Read the book 40 years ago and still recall it vividly!
Review: Now as I think about the book up comes the "poem" after all this time has passed: Gully Foyle is my name, Terra is my nation, Deep space is my dwelling place, The stars my destination! I read the book while a sophmore in high school. I liked it so much and didn't quite understand it that I read it a second time--quite a rare event. Later on in college while reading James Joyce's A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN, to my distress, I discovered that Bester had pinched his poem from Joyce. Thus perhaps this brief review will stimulate someone to read both excellent works and see what I am talking about. Cheers!

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Summary: The Inspiration for Star Trek?
Review: This book seems to have the properties that also exist in Star Trek, jaunteing, much like transporting, Prestigns daughter sees in the same way that Jeordi LaForges visor allows him to see. The loss of punishment, replaced by treatment and penal colonies. Could it be that this book was not only a sci fi classic on its own, but also an inspiration for classics yet to come? E mail me.

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Summary: Bester does Dumas: A 4 star tale of revenge!
Review: Written in the mid-1950s, this novel remains an all-time science fiction masterpiece. I first read this from the library in an ancient edition hardback. Seeing this FINALLY back in reprint brings great joy. This paperback edition is intersting in that it has more text than the original USA release (and it's expensive for a paperback as well). The current best science fiction on TV today, Babylon 5, has definite nods to Alfred Bester. It's easy to understand why. The Stars My Destination (Tiger! Tiger! is its original U.K. release title) is one of the best science fiction novels by a certified master of the craft. Watch as Bester transforms Gully Foyle into Superman. Read how Foyle gets his revenge on those who stranded him. A superb and psychedelic novel. Ken Papai

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Summary: Reading this book was a style-defining event for me.
Review: In the early Seventies, as a young writer churning out Superman stories for a comic book company every month, I came upon Bester by accident in a doctor's office and innocently asked my editor who he was. Turned out he was the guy who had gotten my editor his job 30 years earlier, and probably the finest writer who had ever brushed by the genre at that time. Bester is tough to imitate; and I've tried very hard. He's at once quite literate -- might have written more science fiction if the field had garnered more respectability at the time -- and of the old school of pulp writers: mind-numbingly, self-consciously exciting. Remember the old pulp writer's credo? ... If the plot bogs down, then have somebody walk in with a loaded gun. In Bester's case, somebody walks in with radioactive hair. Same effect. Bester tried a lot of stuff in his life, but writing for a living seemed to be what he kept falling back on: a message from his Fates. Too bad he didn't write more books. He could have been the one who brought to the genre the kind of respectability he craved. This book is his best, and that makes it the best work of his generation of genre writers.

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Summary: Terrific entertainment
Review: I just couldn't put it down, and I'm a tough customer. Surprisingly not too dated, and it has been staying with me. His narrative has the quality of a great comic book in some ways, where the pace drives you forward and the characters are larger than life.

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Summary: Major sci-fi classic
Review: I first read The Stars My Destination when it was released as 'Tiger Tiger' some years ago and started making all my friends read it. I remain very impressed by the way Bester developed a particular psychic power (teleportation) into a commonplace activity, 'jaunting'. Read this one, and then read Demolished Man (telepathy) for a good idea of Bester at his exciting and often experimental textual style.

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Summary: This is a timeless classic - highly visual
Review: I'ts been over 25 years - I never thought I would see this book in print again. My original copies of "The worlds greatest Sci Fi" have long sence vanished. This story was and still is one of the most visualy rich and masterfully written Sci-Fi classics I've ever read. Buy it

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Summary: The greatest science fiction novel of the 1950s.
Review: An absolute classic, without question the finest science fiction novel of the 1950s and arguably the greatest SF novel, period. Bester creates an extraordinarily detailed and exotic future society in which to set the tale of Gully Foyle, a man who is driven to greatness by his passion for revenge. Above all, this novel is about the price of obsession, and the responsibility of power. It has been out of print for ages. Buy it. Read it. (NB: Bester did NOT die shortly after this book was published in the 1950s; he went on to write another classic, "The Demolished Man", in the 1960s, as well as "The Indian Giver" [1973]) and several other novels, in addition to short stories. I believe he died sometime in the mid-1980s.