The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

   1957; 258 pages.  Original Title: Tiger! Tiger!  New Author? : Yes.  Genre: Classic Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Space Opera.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    It’s the 25^th century, and if you were a visitor from way back in the 20^th century, you’d be amazed, but probably not particularly surprised, by how much things have changed.

 

    The biggest difference you’ll find is a recently-discovered innate human talent called “jaunting”, which is the ability to self-teleport.  You don’t even need the old Star-Trekkian transporter; you can do it all by yourself, if you've been taught how.  It utilizes a yoga-type technique: you memorize the exact coordinates of some place you’re already familiar with, visualize it in your mind, and will yourself to teleport.  Voila!  You're there!

 

    There are some limitations.  The maximum distance you can jaunt is 1,000 miles.  A few brave people tried to disprove that, and they all disappeared.  Also, you can’t jaunte through outer space.  No one knows why, but that’s the way it is.

 

    Those limitations prevent any shenanigans like jaunting to the other side of the galaxy, but it hasn’t stopped mankind from exploring the entire Solar System over the past 400 years.  The nearby planets have been visited and colonized; so have some of the moons of the outer planets.  And like most colonies in history, those ungrateful Outer Satellite colonists have revolted against Earth and its inner planet allies.  The result is an uneasy stalemate.  The terrestrial armies could really use some new game-changing technology.  Like a way to jaunte greater distances, for example.

 

    Curiously, a lone survivor, stranded in a derelict spaceship floating somewhere between Mars and Jupiter and close to death, just might just have the answer.

 

    It’s a pity he’s such a jerk,

 

What’s To Like...

    The Stars My Destination was published in 1956, but reads like a 1980’s space opera.  Our protagonist, Gulliver “Gully” Foyle, starts out as a complete antihero, indeed, one of the females he crosses paths with describes him as a “remorseless, lecherous, treacherous, kindless villain”.  And what a temper!  Gully can carry grudges to unbelievable extremes.  Part of the fun in the book was to watch him gradually change for the better, but even at the end, he’s hardly a choirboy.

 

    As with any good space opera, there are a bunch of plot threads spun throughout the tale.  Gully is fixated on destroying the spaceship “Vorga”, after they chose not to rescue him when he was stranded in deep space, for no apparent reason.  Some well-meaning bad guys (is that an oxymoron?) are desperate to get their hands on a rare super-explosive called “PyrE”; for reasons untold.  An outlander named Robin wants Gully to help her find her mom and sisters who are hiding somewhere on Earth.  A “burning man” keeps popping up out of nowhere at the most timeliest of times.  A blind albino woman sets Gully's heart a-flutter, but does she have some ulterior motive?  And will the war between the Inner Planets and the Outer Satellites ever be resolved?

 

    I liked the numerous chemistry references, since I’m a chemist by trade.  A number of Bromide salts get mentioned, along with Citric Acid and Methylene Blue.  Erlenmeyer flasks are a chemist's stock and trade, and the lab explosion Gully causes on page 127 brought back old memories.  I was intrigued by the concept of a “telesend”, aka: a one-way telepath.  They can beam their thoughts to others, but can’t receive any.

 

    The book’s title doesn’t get explained until the second last page, and is a subtle revision of one of Gully’s little poems, and nuance I missed until Wikipedia pointed it out.  We are treated to a couple instances of French, such as “Etre entre le marteau et l’enclume”, which I had to google.  I liked the “Megal Mood”  technique and the “Sympathetic Blocks”, and loved the “Scientific People” that Gully encounters who are marooned on an asteroid.  And thanks to Wikipedia, I found out the the last names of several characters are actually cities and small towns in the UK.

 

    The ending can best be described as “2001-ish”, and for me that's a positive thing.  Gully, faced with an annihilation scenario, finds an innovative way of dealing with it.  Most of the plot threads are tied up, although room is left for a sequel dealing with the Inner/Outer Planetary dispute.  I’m not aware of any sequel though.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Charivari (n.) : a discordant mock serenade to newlyweds, made with pots, kettles, etc.

Others: Maladroits (n., plural).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 749 ratings.

    Goodreads: 4.10/5 based on 42,412 ratings and 2,742 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    He was in a bed.  The girl, Moira, was in bed with him.

    “Who you?” Foyle croaked.

    “Your wife, Nomad.”

    “What?”

    “Your wife.  You chose me, Nomad.  We are gametes.”

    “What?”

    “Scientifically mated,” Moira said proudly.  She pulled up the sleeve of her nightgown and showed him her arm.  It was disfigured by four ugly slashes.  “I have been inoculated with something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.”

    Foyle struggled out of the bed.  (pg. 30)

 

    “Been busy, haven’t you?  Either you’re the Prince of Villains or insane.”

    “I’ve been both, Mr. Sheffield.”

    “Why do you want to give yourself up?”

    “I’ve come to my senses,” Foyle answered bitterly.

    “I don’t mean that.  A criminal never surrenders while he’s ahead.  You’re obviously ahead.  What’s the reason?”

    “The most damnable thing that ever happened to a man.  I picked up a rare disease called conscience.”

    Sheffield snorted.  “That can often turn fatal.”  (pg. 220)

 

“Most respectfully I singe your snaggle teeth.”  (pg. 55)

    There’s not much to nitpick about in The Stars My Destination.  There’s a fair amount of cussing (15 instances in the first third of the book), which is highly unusual for a 1950’s sci-fi novel, but I thought of it as a glimpse of things to come in this genre.

 

    Similarly, the reference to blacks as “Negroes” chafed me a bit, yet that was the proper terminology back when this book was published.  There are also a couple instances of sex, but they are implied and occur off-screen.

 

    The Stars My Destination is one of two of Alfred Bester’s most acclaimed science fiction novels (the other being The Demolished Man), and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Science fiction has come a long way since the 1950’s, but that was what I read in my boyhood days.  I've been meaning to read something by Alfred Bester for quite some time, and I was not disappointed at all.  Alas, Bester's only penned a few full-length sci-fi novels are few and far between; he seemed to prefer writing short stories, and those are not my cup of tea.

 

     8 Stars.  The original title of this book was “Tiger! Tiger!”, which Neil Gaiman says he prefers in the book’s Introduction.  It’s worth taking time to read that 4-page section, although I’d recommend doing so after you’ve finished the book so you have a better idea of what Gaiman is talking about.