The Stars My Destination The Stars My Destination The Stars My Destination is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester. The novel, set in the 24th or 25th Century (this varies between editions of the book) when humans have colonized the Solar System, tells the story of Gully Foyle, a teleporter driven by a burning desire for revenge. Originally serialized in "Galaxy" magazine in four parts beginning with the October 1956 issue, it first appeared in book form in the United Kingdom as Tiger! Tiger! – after William Blake's poem "The Tyger", the first verse of which is printed as the first
Burning Bright was too long and too literary by the producers of the play led to the change to the shorter excerpt from the same poem: "Burning Bright". Friend Ed has been pointed out as one in a line of characters inspired by Steinbeck's best friend Ed Ricketts. At the time Steinbeck wrote "Burning Bright", Ricketts had recently been killed in a car accident, and as well as reflecting his friend's character in that of Friend Ed, it is thought that the settings of the circus and the sea may have had significance for Steinbeck: he had apparently been at the circus