The Stars My Destination (S.F. MASTERWORKS): Alfred Bester

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It gets my heart pumping precisely eight times more than when I learned that Rama was in development. Regis Sheffield: A high-priced lawyer working for Presteign, he is actually an agent of the Outer Satellites coalition. In 2012, the novel was included in the Library of America two-volume boxed set American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, edited by Gary K. Wolfe. [21] Adaptations [ edit ] Comics [ edit ] This is my favorite classic science fiction novel. It is rich in incident, ambitious in conception, terse and unemotional in style, and fiercely Romantic in theme. Although it is a revenge tale based on The Count of Monte Cristo, its heart is perhaps closer to Frankenstein, but to a Frankenstein in which the monster is capable of self-redemption, of moving beyond isolation and bitterness toward an enlightened humanity. And all the things that are good about this novel are embodied in its hero—Caliban and Hamlet, Satan and Samson, Cain and Prometheus combined—the brute-genius Gully Foyle.

HE HURTLES THROUGH SPACE & TIME & MISADVENTURE, HE WEARS MANY FACES, A LOVER AND A RAPIST, THE MOST VIOLENT MAN IN THE ROOM, THE ANGRIEST BOY EVER, A HUMAN TIMEBOMB! As, for the book, it is a classic, with its dated flaws and its marvelous ideas. I would not touch it for anything, the scars must remain! Gully Foyle is also an interesting bastard of a character. He starts out as this crude and violent man fully capable of crimes like murder and rape, and his journey eventually turns him into something much more than that. Yet because it’s his unswerving desire for simple revenge driving him he’s always got that primitive core just below the surface. From Nobody to Nightmare: Gully goes from the most insignificant cog in the machine to one of the few who truly lives outside its control. Tech Marches On: Modern tattoo removal techniques are far more sophisticated and effective than what's presented in the book. The book implies that tattooing is something of a lost art on Earth, which may explain why Foyle couldn't just get laser surgery. (Not to mention that the book was published in 1957, three years before the first laser was even built!)

Greek) Alfred Bester was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books. The Shape of Things To Come Episode 8 Tiger! Tiger!". Miranda Richardson Radio Appearances. Archived from the original on December 20, 2010 . Retrieved January 2, 2009. Tiger! Tiger! was written in 1956 so how Alfred Bester could predict both the psychedelic trippiness of the 60s and the extreme facial tattooing of the 90s is beyond me. If you read it closely there's also a reference to Tip-Ex, which wouldn't be invented until 1959, and mouse pads, which didn't come in until years later. What a guy. Clareson, Thomas (1992). "Science Fiction: The 1950s". Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. p.74. ISBN 0-87249-870-0.

Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth Master of Disguise: One of the secret police characters pursuing Foyle. It helps that they have technology in the future that allows him to artificially add about 40 pounds to his weight. Sagan, Carl (May 28, 1978). "Growing up with Science Fiction". The New York Times. p.SM7. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved December 12, 2018.The Stars My Destination has often been called one of science fiction's greatest works, sometimes the greatest. Yet, the first time I read it, I didn't get the fuss.

Actually, the ending of the book is pretty special and wouldn’t work as well in text format or audiobook. Scans are the best option outside of having the physical book. Hiltzik, Michael (January 1, 2016). "A New Year's list: Five great sci-fi novels to make you forget 'Star Wars' ". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved January 26, 2016. Bester is a science fiction master unappreciated by the general reader but known as an important influence on Stephen King and the "cyberpunk" movement; The Stars My Destination frequently turns up on aficionados' lists of the greatest science fiction works of all time. Alfred Bester began his career with stories published in Thrilling Wonder Stories , Startling Stories , Astounding Science Fiction - names that have come to define that brief period known as the Golden Age of SF, when the possibilities offered by science seemed limited only by the human imagination, and the opening of the road to the stars only a couple of decades away. Less concerned with practicalities like deadly solar radiation, terminal cold or the barrier of the speed of light, writers played the game of 'what if ...' and then went on to speculate on the chages future technologies and discoveries would play on the individual psyche and on society as a whole.In the mobile game Tokyo Afterschool Summoners, the lore of the character Nomad is based on the contents of the book, as well as the poem " The Tyger". Virtual-Reality Interrogation: There is an attempt to get information from the protagonist by simulating for him a reality where he is rich and happy, and his adventures are All Just a Dream. He spots A Glitch in the Matrix (his own reflection) right before talking. (His false identity in the simulation eventually becomes the basis for the one he assumes to carry out his revenge.) The story itself is a little clunky, but fun! And Chaykin's hand at the adaptation was top-notch for the time. Many musical groups, including Stereolab, roadside picnic, NASA Space Universe and Slough Feg reference Gully Foyle and/or the title of the novel. Foyle appears on the cover of Sough Feg's Hardworlder album, along with a song entitled "Tiger! Tiger!".

The book runs at a sweat-inducing pace, dashing from development to development and only rarely stopping to catch its breath. Things happen. They happen fast and they happen big, and as the story progresses Foyle's transformation from listless bottom-of-the-heap loser to implacable, resourceful hunter and beyond is very satisfying. The end of the novel doesn’t quite hold the potential of the first part, although it is an interesting journey along the way. It is an inverse of the levels of hell; each reinvention has Gully reinventing himself to become more surfacely human, moving up the ladder of society into something that appears more socially acceptable but that remains rotten at the core. Depending on the reader's point of view, he may become more accessible, but really he is the same single-minded psychopath, single-minded in pursuit of his goal and unable to recognize or empathize with others. At one point he thinks he 'falls in love' but as with everything, he's fallen in love with an idea, an instant of emotion and not anything real. Marked Change: Gully Foyle's facial tattoos turn into this after he has them removed. Scar tissue has more capillaries than un-scarred skin, so when his heart rate rises, they fill with blood and cause the tattoo shapes to reemerge, this time in red.

Ambrose, Tom (November 14, 2008). "Asimov's The End Of Eternity Is Coming". Empire. Bauer Consumer Media . Retrieved May 14, 2011. Character Development: Gully Foyle goes through several stages of this throughout the novel, going from a blank cypher with no ambitions, desires or reasons to exist whatsoever; to a traumatised survivor; to a vicious animal filled with nothing but hate and the desire for vengeance lashing out at whoever gets in his way; to a cool-headed and sophisticated schemer and manipulator carefully targeting his enemies; to a guilt-filled atoner seeking a way to somehow atone for all the monstrous things he's done; until he finally becomes the next Messiah. Bester's initial work on the book began in England, and he took the names for his characters from a UK telephone directory. As a result, many of the characters are named after British or Irish towns or other features: [3] Gulliver Foyle (and his pseudonym, Fourmyle of Ceres), Robin Wednesbury, the Presteign clan, Regis Sheffield, Y'ang- Yeovil, Saul Dagenham, Sam Quatt, Rodger Kempsey, the Bo'ness and Uig ship underwriters. [12] Characters [ edit ] Took a Level in Badass: Goes from a living object to relentless killing machine to effectively transcendent through the course of the novel, all because some passersby decided not to rescue him. Bester also gets extra points for having written the silver age Green Lantern oath, a ditty almost as cool as the one quoted above about Gully Foyle.)