The Stars My Destination
In this pulse-quickening novel, Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people "jaunte" a thousand miles with a single thought, where the rich barricade themselves in labyrinths and protect themselves with radioactive hitmen—and where an inarticulate outcast is the most valuable and dangerous man alive. The Stars My Destination is a classic of technological prophecy and timeless narrative enchantment by an acknowledged master of science fiction.
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In a twenty-fifth century where most humans can teleport short distances by thought, Gully Foyle is left for dead in a wrecked freighter when the passing ship Vorga sees his flares and chooses to keep going. Foyle survives, escapes, and turns himself into a man with one purpose, to find Vorga.
The Stars My Destination was written by Alfred Bester and published in 1956. It is widely cited as a foundational sci-fi novel and influenced cyberpunk a generation later. It is sometimes published in the UK as Tiger! Tiger!.
Yes. Alfred Bester openly modeled the revenge plot on The Count of Monte Cristo, transposing it to a far-future setting with teleportation. The connection has been celebrated as a defining sci-fi-meets-classic mash-up.
The Stars My Destination is 1 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Stars My Destination takes most readers under an hour to finish.
The Stars My Destination is a standalone novel by Alfred Bester, not part of a series.
The Stars My Destination is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
