The Stars My Destination

Tiger! Tiger!
1956 British first edition
AuthorAlfred Bester
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherSidgwick and Jackson
Publication date
June 14, 1956[1]
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typeprint (hardback)
Pages232
The Stars My Destination
1957 edition (final/revised text)
AuthorAlfred Bester
Cover artistRichard M. Powers
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherSignet Books
Publication date
March 21, 1957[2]
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeprint (paperback)
Pages197
The first installment of The Stars My Destination was cover-featured on the October 1956 issue of Galaxy.

The Stars My Destination is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester. Its first publication was in book form in June 1956 in the United Kingdom, where it was titled Tiger! Tiger!, named after William Blake's 1794 poem "The Tyger", the first verse of which is printed as the first page of the novel.[3] The book 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.[4] A working title was Hell's My Destination;[5] the book was also associated with the name The Burning Spear. It would prove to be Bester's last novel for 19 years.

The novel was both widely criticized and praised when it first appeared, but now is appreciated as a classic work in its own right, and as a prescient forerunner of the cyberpunk literary genre.

  1. ^ Whitaker's Cumulative Book List: 62. 1956.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  2. ^ "Books Published Today". The New York Times: 28. March 21, 1957.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference sfm99 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference continuum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference kelleghan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).