The Stars My Destination

The Stars My Destination is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester. It was first published in book form in the United Kingdom in June 1956, where it was titled Tiger! Tiger!; the novel was named after William Blake's 1794 poem "The Tyger", whose first verse is printed as the first page of the novel. The novel remains widely known under that title in the markets in which this edition was circulated. It was subsequently serialized in the American Galaxy Science Fiction magazine in four parts, beginning in October 1956. A working title was Hell's My Destination; the book was also associated with the name The Burning Spear. It was Bester's last novel for the next 19 years.

The novel was widely criticized and praised when it first appeared, but it is now appreciated as a classic work and a prescient forerunner of the cyberpunk science fiction subgenre.

In the 24th or 25th century (depending on the edition of the book), humans have colonized the Solar System and also learned to teleport (although not through outer space). It tells the story of Gulliver ("Gully") Foyle, a man driven and transformed by a thirst for vengeance.

At the time when the book is set, "jaunting"—personal teleportation—has so upset the social and economic balance that the Inner Planets are at war with the Outer Satellites. Gully Foyle of the Presteign-owned merchant spaceship Nomad—an uneducated, unskilled, unambitious man whose life is at a dead end—is marooned in space when the ship is attacked. After six months of waiting, a passing spaceship, the Vorga, also owned by the powerful Presteign industrial clan, ignores his signal and abandons him. Foyle is enraged and is transformed into a man consumed by revenge, the first of many transformations.

Foyle repairs the ship and barely survives but is found and adopted by a cargo cult in the Asteroid Belt who tattoo a hideous mask of a tiger on his face and force-marry him to one of their girls. He recovers his health, escapes and is returned to Terra. His attempt to blow up the Vorga fails, and he is captured by Presteign. Unknown to Foyle, the Nomad was carrying "PyrE", a new material which could make the difference between victory and defeat in the war. Presteign hires security agent Saul Dagenham to interrogate Foyle, to find the ship and PyrE.

Protected by his revenge fixation, Foyle cannot be broken and he is put into a jaunte-proof prison. There he meets Jisbella McQueen, who teaches him to think clearly and tells him he should find out who gave the order not to rescue him. Together they escape and get his tattoos removed—but not with total success: the subcutaneous scars become visible again whenever Foyle becomes too emotional. The pair travel to the Nomad, where they salvage not only PyrE, but also a fortune in platinum metal. Jisbella is captured by Dagenham, but Foyle escapes.

Some time later, Foyle re-emerges as "Geoffrey Fourmyle", a nouveau riche dandy. Foyle has rigorously educated himself and had his body altered to become a killing machine. Through yoga, he has achieved the emotional self-control necessary to prevent his tattooed stigmata from showing. He seeks out Robin Wednesbury, a one-way telepath, whom he had raped earlier in the novel, and persuades her to help him charm his way through high society. Foyle tracks down the crew of the Vorga to learn the identity of the ship's captain but each person he finds has been implanted with a death-reflex and dies when questioned. Each time, Foyle is tormented by the reappearance of "The Burning Man", a vision of him on fire.

At a society party, Foyle is smitten with Presteign's daughter Olivia. He also meets Jisbella again—now Dagenham's lover—who chooses not to reveal Foyle's identity, although Dagenham has realized it (Foyle's alias was implanted in his subconscious mind during Dagenham's interrogation). During a nuclear attack by the Outer Satellites, Foyle goes to Olivia to save her. She tells him that to have her, he must be as cruel and ruthless as she is. Robin, traumatized by the attacks, tries to buy her way out of her arrangement with Foyle by revealing the name of another Vorga crew member. Foyle agrees, but reneges and asks Robin to help him to earn Olivia's favours. Robin, who had feelings for Foyle all the time, gets jealous and goes to Central Intelligence to betray him.