A. E. van Vogt (1912–2000)
Author of Slan
About the Author
A. E. Van Vogt was born on April 26, 1912 in Manitoba, Canada. He graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1928. His first story sales were to true story confession magazines in the early 1930s while he was working as a census clerk and representative of Maclean Trade Papers. He wrote plays for show more Canadian radio and in 1939, he began submitting stories and serials to Astounding Science Fiction. He wrote more than 35 novels during his lifetime including Slan, The Weapon Shops of Isher, The World of Null-A, The Pawns of Null-A, The Weapons Makers, The Violent Man, The Silkie, The Battle of Forever, and The House That Stood Still. He died on January 26, 2000 at the age of 87. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
born Alfred Elton Van Vogt
A Variant Title of the work The Rogue Ship is The Twisted Men. The Twisted Men is also the title of a Collection containing the above.
Many works by van Vogt were published with Variant Titles:
Abdication=The Invisibility Gambit
The Pawns of Null-A=The Players of Null-A
The Voyage of the Space Beagle=Mission: Interplanetary
The Weapon Makers=One Against Eternity
The Book of Ptath=200 Million A. D.
The House That Stood Still=The Mating Cry=The Undercover Aliens
The Mixed Men=Mission to the Stars
The Beast=The Moonbeast
Future Glitter= Tyranopolis
The Secret Galactics=Earth Factor X
Computerworld=Computer Eye=La Machine Ultime
Out of the Unknown=The Sea Thing and Other Stories
Monsters=Science Fiction Monsters=The Blal
The Book of van Vogt=Lost: Fifty Suns
Many short fiction and omnibus works were also published with Variant Titles. Please see listing in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database for more details.
Series
Works by A. E. van Vogt
Masters of Time 175 copies
Triad: Three Complete Science Fiction Novels (The World of Null-A, The Voyage of the Space Beagle, Slan) (1960) 126 copies, 1 review
The Other Side of Here / One Against Eternity (The Weapon Makers) (Ace Double D-94) (1955) — Author — 30 copies
Reflections of A. E. Van Vogt: The Autobiography of a Science Fiction Giant: With a Complete Bibliography. (1979) 9 copies, 3 reviews
Jubiläums-Bibliothek: Der Meister der Zukunft - Seine großen Romane und seine besten Erzählungen (1991) 8 copies
La città immortale 7 copies
The Cataaaa 5 copies
Process 5 copies
Himmelstorm : noveller av James Blish, Robert A. Heinlein og A. E. van Vogt ; presentert av Jon Bing og Tor Åge Bringsværd (1974) — Author — 5 copies
The Rat And The Snake 4 copies
The Star-saint 4 copies
Juggernaut 3 copies
Complete Short Fiction 3 copies
The Ghost 3 copies
A Astronave Pirata 3 copies
The Barbarian 3 copies
Fulfillment [short story] 3 copies
Not Only Dead Men 3 copies
A Van Vogt Omnibus: 'Planets for Sale' (with E. Mayne Hull): 'The Beast: ' 'The Book of Ptath' (1967) 3 copies
Dormant 3 copies
Os Filhos do Futuro Volume 2 3 copies
The Problem Professor 3 copies
The Witch 3 copies
Primul Martian 2 copies
Os filhos do futuro 2 copies
Purpose 2 copies
Planets for Sale 2 copies
Os Filhos do Futuro (1) 2 copies
Don't Hold Your Breath 2 copies
Itself! [short story] 2 copies
Living With Jane 2 copies
I CAVALIERI DELLE STELLE 2 copies
Future Perfect 2 copies
Research Alpha — Author — 2 copies
宇宙船ビーグル号の冒険 (1964年) (創元推理文庫) 2 copies
Das Absolutum 2 copies
Lo stagno di Matlin e altri racconti 2 copies
The Rulers 2 copies
A Can Of Paint 2 copies
Los Monstruos del espacio 2 copies
Soarele Subteran 2 copies
Il villaggio incantato 2 copies
Figli del domani 2 copies
Rogue Ship [short story] 2 copies
Sklepy z bronią na Isher 1 copy
Incontri nel Cosmo 1 copy
Los monstruos del espacio 1 copy
Diamondia 1 copy
Bd. 89. Welt der Null-A 1 copy
Pianeti da vendere 1 copy
Sfarsitul non-A 1 copy
Kampf um die Ewigkeit 1 copy
Diamondia 1 copy
The Cataaaa 1 copy
Bestia 1 copy
Invadatorii 1 copy
Universo trappola 1 copy
I polimorfi e altri racconti 1 copy
Bis in die Unendlichkeit 1 copy
Im Reich der Vogelmenschen 1 copy
The Witness for the Defence 1 copy
Mann der tausend Namen 1 copy
Die Zeit der Androiden 1 copy
Kosmischer Schachzug 1 copy
Der Zeitspieler 1 copy
LE MONDE DESW Ā 1 copy
Carthng {short story} 1 copy
Invasione di immortali 1 copy
Incontro con l'infinito 1 copy
Dittatura 2200 1 copy
Ricerca del futuro 1 copy
Foresta elettrica 1 copy
The Male Condition 1 copy
Science Fiction Voices 1 copy
Slan Hunter, Part 1 of 3 1 copy
Slan Hunter, Part 2 of 3 1 copy
Slan Hunter, Part 3 of 3 1 copy
The Dream of the Sorceress 1 copy
Defense 1 copy
Slan 2 [Short Story] 1 copy
The Ultra Man 1 copy
The Earth Killers 1 copy
Home Of The Gods 1 copy
Final Command 1 copy
Players Of A 4 1 copy
Players Of A 2 1 copy
Not The First 1 copy
The Replicators 1 copy
Urania 0010 - ANNO 2650 1 copy
L'era della follia 1 copy
L'uomo dai mille nomi 1 copy
Le Monde Des Ä 1 copy
Empire Of The Sun 1 copy
The darkness on Diamondia 1 copy
Super-cérebro 1 copy
Créateur D' Univers 1 copy
Les Fabricants D' Armes 1 copy
Une Belle Brûte 1 copy
Los monstruos del mar 1 copy
Os filhos do futuro - 2 1 copy
Monstret från rymden 1 copy
Mardrömmen ur djupet 1 copy
Casa Veșniciei 1 copy
Createur d'univers 1 copy
Kosmischer Anzug 1 copy
Os filhos do futuro - 1 1 copy
Éxodo Estelar 1 copy
A guerra contra o Rull 1 copy
Exodo estelar 1 copy
Haus der Unsterblichen 1 copy
LOST:FIFTY SUNS 1 copy
Short Stories 1 copy
O mundo de Zero-A 1 copy
Missão nas estrelas 1 copy
Os super-homens 1 copy
A guerra dos deuses 1 copy
Associated Works
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One: The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time (1970) — Contributor — 2,111 copies, 34 reviews
Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds of Fantasy, Volume 2: Witches (1984) — Contributor — 155 copies, 1 review
Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction, Volume 3: Supermen (1984) — Contributor — 129 copies, 1 review
Analog Anthology #1: Fifty Years of the Best Science Fiction From Analog (1980) — Contributor — 118 copies, 1 review
The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume 3: Lester Del Rey, Frederik Pohl, Damon Knight, A. E. van Vogt, and Jack Vance (2001) — Contributor — 109 copies, 3 reviews
Isaac Asimov Presents : The Golden Years of Science Fiction, 5th Series (1985) — Contributor — 103 copies
The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2000) — Contributor — 101 copies, 2 reviews
Ackermanthology: 65 Astonishing, Rediscovered Sci-Fi Shorts (1997) — Contributor — 98 copies, 1 review
Weird Vampire Tales: 30 Blood-Chilling Stories from the Weird Fiction Pulps (1992) — Contributor — 98 copies, 3 reviews
Nebula Awards 31: SFWA's Choices For The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The Year (Nebula Awards Showcase) (1997) — Contributor — 97 copies
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year First Annual Collection (1972) — Contributor — 89 copies, 2 reviews
Bug-Eyed Monsters: 13 Stories of Dripping, Creeping, Gurgling, Purling, Trilling, Oozing, Seeping, Gushing Deadly Monsters (1980) — Contributor — 79 copies, 2 reviews
Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction, Volume 8: Monsters (1988) — Author — 77 copies, 2 reviews
Isaac Asimov Presents : The Golden Years of Science Fiction, 3rd Series (1984) — Contributor — 61 copies
Thieves' World® Volume One: Thieves' World, Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn, and Shadows of Sanctuary (2020) — Contributor — 52 copies, 4 reviews
Menace of the Monster: Classic Tales of Creatures from Beyond (2019) — Contributor — 44 copies, 2 reviews
Pulsar: An Original Anthology of Science Fiction and Science Futures: No. 1 (1978) — Contributor — 27 copies
Shape Shifters: Fantasy and Science Fiction Tales About Humans Who Can Change Their Shapes (1978) — Contributor — 20 copies, 1 review
Van Jules Verne tot Isaac Asimov de vijftig beste science fiction verhalen (1981) — Contributor — 17 copies, 1 review
Den elektriske myre og andre science fiction-fortællinger (1984) — Author, some editions — 2 copies, 1 review
Μεγάλη Ανθολογία Ε.Φ. 1. (1934 - 1950) — Contributor — 1 copy
Weird Tales Volume 49 Number 2, Winter 1985 — Contributor — 1 copy
Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 32 (April 1953) — Author — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- van Vogt, A. E.
- Legal name
- van Vogt, Alfred Elton
- Other names
- Vogt, Alfred (birth)
- Birthdate
- 1912-04-26
- Date of death
- 2000-01-26
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Ottawa (BA|1928)
- Organizations
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Canadian Department of National Defence - Awards and honors
- SFWA Grand Master (1995)
Prix Aurora Award (Lifetime Achievement, 1980)
SF Hall Of Fame (Living Inductee, 1996) - Relationships
- Hull, E. Mayne (wife)
Van Vogt, Lydia (wife) - Short biography
- Alfred Elton van Vogt was a Canadian born American science fiction writer of the mid 20th century. He's most famous for his Voyage of the Space Beagle, Null-A and Slan novels, as well as a number of short stories.
- Cause of death
- Alzheimer's disease
- Nationality
- Canada (birth)
USA (naturalized 1945) - Birthplace
- Gretna, Manitoba, Canada
- Places of residence
- Los Angeles, California, USA
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (birth) - Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Disambiguation notice
- born Alfred Elton Van Vogt
A Variant Title of the work The Rogue Ship is The Twisted Men. The Twisted Men is also the title of a Collection containing the above.
Many works by van Vogt were published with Variant Titles:
Abdication=The Invisibility Gambit
The Pawns of Null-A=The Players of Null-A
The Voyage of the Space Beagle=Mission: Interplanetary
The Weapon Makers=One Against Eternity
The Book of Ptath=200 Million A. D.
The House That Stood Still=The Mating Cry=The Undercover Aliens
The Mixed Men=Mission to the Stars
The Beast=The Moonbeast
Future Glitter= Tyranopolis
The Secret Galactics=Earth Factor X
Computerworld=Computer Eye=La Machine Ultime
Out of the Unknown=The Sea Thing and Other Stories
Monsters=Science Fiction Monsters=The Blal
The Book of van Vogt=Lost: Fifty Suns
Many short fiction and omnibus works were also published with Variant Titles. Please see listing in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database for more details. - Associated Place (for map)
- Manitoba, Canada
Members
Discussions
Duck, Duck, Space Goose in Good Show Sir! — bad science fiction and fantasy covers (November 2024)
A.E vanVogt - Yay or nay? in Science Fiction Fans (November 2015)
Renaissance, Van Gogt; jimroberts' review in Reviews reviewed (October 2010)
Reviews
This was a reread, although I forget when I originally read it, probably in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I’d always wanted to finish the trilogy – of which this is the first book – and last year stumbled across copies of The World of Null-A and The Players of Null-A at Fantasticon in Copenhagen and bought them (they were very very cheap, very very very cheap). I have all three books – in the nice NEL editions from the 1970s – and have had them for many years, but they’re in show more storage at present. Having found cheap copies of the first two, I thought it worth giving them a go. That was a mistake. I mean, I know what van Vogt’s fiction is like. I have, after all, read enough of it. Admittedly, that was back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when I was a teenager. But every book I’ve read by him since I turned, say, thirty, has been awful – except perhaps rereads of the handful of his books I continue to think are not absolutely awful, such as The Undercover Aliens. Gilbert Gosseyn is in the city to take part in the Games, in which thousands participate, all overseen by a giant computer brain. Players are given jobs depending on how far they reach in the Games. But it turns out Gosseyn’s life is a complete lie – someone has implanted memories in him that are simply not true. And given that on the night before the Games start all laws in the city are temporarily rescinded and people lock themselves away in groups for safety… but Gosseyn’s identity can’t be established so he’s forced out onto the streets, where he meets a young woman and the two look out for each other… But it turns out she’s the daughter of the president, and it’s all a plot as the president is trying to destroy the giant computer brain, because there’s some secret galactic empire that wants to invade the earth… And Gosseyn was more or less grown to order to foil the secret galactic empire’s plans because… he has two brains! Or is it minds? I forget. And all this is wrapped around some guff about non-Aristotelian, or “null-A”, logic, which seems to be basically non-binary logic, or fuzzy logic. But, of course, binary logic is for computers, not people, so it’s not entirely clear what van Vogt is going on about. But then, that’s true of a lot of Golden Age science fiction: it’s complete bollocks, written by people who had no idea what the fuck they were wittering on about, but it managed to impress the shit out of poorly-socialised thirteen year old boys. And from such was a genre born. The really scary part of all this is not that the writers actually believed the shit they were peddling, or even that some were quite cynical about it – hello Elron and that evil “religion” you invented! – but that many adult fans were just as impressionable as those thirteen year olds. Van Vogt famously based his writing on the advice given by a how to write book – and there’s another genre entirely dependent on gullibility – chief among which was that scenes should be 800 words long and end on a cliff-hanger. Van Vogt took this advice, well, literally. And reading his books is like watching a magician pull a series of increasingly unlikely series of creatures out of a hat when you actually turned up to see a drag queen lipsynch the hits of Rihanna. I connected with a few of van Vogt’s novels as a young teenager, which mistakenly led me to believe he was an author whose oeuvre I should explore. And during the 1970s and 1980s, I bought and read his books. They were readily available in WH Smith during that period. But reading his books now, nearly forty years later… I’m slightly embarrassed at having been taken in all those years ago. He was an appalling writer, and the level of his success is mystifying. That people continue to champion him tells you more about them than, well, you really want to know. He’s a lot like Asimov in that respect. The World of Null-A is typical van Vogt and really quite bad. This is not surprising. One for fans of van Vogt, I suspect. And if you’re a fan of van Vogt, I can only ask… why? show less
No science fiction grandmaster divides critics more than A. E. van Vogt. There seem to be two distinct schools. In a 1945 essay, “Cosmic Jerrybuilder: A.E. van Vogt,” Damon Knight took van Vogt to task with an acerbity that reminds me of Mark Twain’s essay on James Fennimore Cooper’s “literary offenses.” Knight was especially critical of The World of Null-A, claiming that the novel suffers from lapses in logic that make it incoherent. Philip K. Dick offers a more positive view in show more a 1974 Vertex interview with Arthur Byron Cover. Dick agrees with Knight that The World of Null-A is incoherent, but he argues that the incoherency is a feature rather than a bug. He says its fuzzy logic makes the novel's world realistically messy.
The ten stories in Destination: Universe! provide a good sample of van Vogt’s magazine writing in the 1940s, which could be used to support both sides of the debate. Knight cites “A Can of Paint” for its ignorance of orbital mechanics. But in “A Pen Pal,” in which an alien with plans to conquer Earth transfers his consciousness into someone who will not live long enough for it to succeed, the coincidences in the plot might support PKD’s view.
“Far Centaurus,” the first story in Destination, has more drama than its plot plausibly can hold. A slower-than-light spacecraft with its crew in cryogenic stasis suffers a mechanical failure that kills one of the crew. Another may have gone homicidally insane. When they get to Centaurus, they find it already inhabited by people who arrived via FTL, which was invented while they were underway. They are told they won’t be happy colonists because nobody on Centaurus will be able to stand their old-school body odor. Sadly, van Vogt does not treat this event for humor. Then, by a lucky piece of timing, a wormhole opens that will take them back to Earth before they left. Whew. All problems solved. Bad writing or the weirdness of reality? You decide, but I am with Damon on this one. show less
The ten stories in Destination: Universe! provide a good sample of van Vogt’s magazine writing in the 1940s, which could be used to support both sides of the debate. Knight cites “A Can of Paint” for its ignorance of orbital mechanics. But in “A Pen Pal,” in which an alien with plans to conquer Earth transfers his consciousness into someone who will not live long enough for it to succeed, the coincidences in the plot might support PKD’s view.
“Far Centaurus,” the first story in Destination, has more drama than its plot plausibly can hold. A slower-than-light spacecraft with its crew in cryogenic stasis suffers a mechanical failure that kills one of the crew. Another may have gone homicidally insane. When they get to Centaurus, they find it already inhabited by people who arrived via FTL, which was invented while they were underway. They are told they won’t be happy colonists because nobody on Centaurus will be able to stand their old-school body odor. Sadly, van Vogt does not treat this event for humor. Then, by a lucky piece of timing, a wormhole opens that will take them back to Earth before they left. Whew. All problems solved. Bad writing or the weirdness of reality? You decide, but I am with Damon on this one. show less
There’s a Brian Aldiss story called ‘Confluence’ which is little more than amusing dictionary definitions of phrases from an alien language. One phrase is defined as “in which everything in a book is understandable except the author’s purpose in writing it”, and its converse, of course, is “in which nothing in a book is understandable except the author’s purpose in writing it”. The Pawns of Null-A fails both definitions. I have no idea what van Vogt thought he was writing show more about and nothing in the novel makes the slightest bit of sense. It is nominally a sequel to The World of Null-A. Gilbert Gosseyn prevented the conquest of Earth by the Greatest Empire in that novel, but in this one he finds himself bouncing around the heads of various characters in the Greatest Empire in an effort to either stop it or prevent it from defeating the League of Galactic Worlds. Gosseyn finds himself caught in a trap and transported into the brain of the heir to the Greatest Empire’s leader. He surmises some other powerful player is doing this in order to hone Gosseyn as a weapon, but the reader is bounced from one unexplained situation to another, with a remarkable level of faith in the reader’s attention, certainly to a greater extent than any modern-day author would be able to get away with. Gosseyn stumbles across a planet of “Predictors”, who seem to be chiefly responsible for the Greatest Empire’s victories, but since Gosseyn – and by extension van Vogt – seem to have little idea what’s going on, there’s little point in the reader trying to figure it out. Damon Knight famously performed a hatchet job on this novel’s prequel, The World of Null-A, but later retracted it when he learnt van Vogt documented his dreams and used them as plots. That’s not an excuse. It’s an explanation, certainly, but “oh he plotted while he was asleep” does not suddenly make a book no longer open to criticism for shit plotting. I loved van Vogt’s novels as a teenager, but virtually none have survived adult rereads. And with good reason: he was a fucking shit writer. Damon Knight was right. He just wasn’t honest enough – something which has plagued the genre since its beginnings. The Pawns of Null-A is badly-written, has no real plot to speak of, and its past popularity should be considered an accurate indictment of past sf fans’ taste… show less
Rule #2 in Kurt Vonnegut’s famous 8 Rules for Writing is “Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.” Boy, did Van Vogt miss the boat on that one.
The protagonist, the person we are supposed to be rooting for, is mildly racist, definitely a misogynist, and a self-proclaimed paranoid with psychotic tendencies. And, particularly for that last trait, we are supposed to side with him in his convoluted travel through time to achieve, I guess, immortality. And to be, in a show more way, a savior of time and multiple universes.
When they are handing out mortality, I hope he misses the announcement.
[Warning: spoilers follow. But to be honest, they aren’t that big a deal. You’re worried? Read the book first. (Although, as you will see, I’m not sure I’d recommend you do that.)]
I instantly questioned the mindset of the author in the second paragraph when the author (not in the voice of the protagonist) says “…he watched the other with the curious, speculative intentness of the Latin.” Wow! Okay. Casual racism of the 40s. Let’s try to move on.
Our protagonist is introduced as a womanizing conniver who is not above using anyone to further his professorial ambitions. We do not like him. He fails, but it is not his fault; it is always everyone else’s fault. And he then becomes enmeshed between two factions of time travelers.
But that only scratches the misogyny surface. Throughout the novel there are constant references to his need for women – where he will find them and how he can get any woman he wants. As an example of his mindset, one of his biggest concerns in the future is that his foul order drives women away. If I may repeat myself, a misogynist and a conniving paranoid. (As is constantly pointed out throughout the book. Hang onto that thought.)
Bouncing back and forth in time, he is thrown into the past (17th Century Western America) with a scientist and his daughter. He assumes he will be the hunter and provider, and that the woman will take care of the house. He is taken aback when she starts hunting, supplying, and cooking. Yeah, once a misogynist, always a misogynist.
The happy ending of the book (remember, I warned of spoilers) is when he gets together with the woman, not because he has seen the error of his ways but, apparently, because she has seen the error of her own ways. She has become the demure mate he expected all along.
And, about that happy ending. We find out that all the time travel paraphernalia (and it gets a bit confusing; I won't go into it all here) has come about because of him. Yes, he is the hero of the story. And that future was only able to come about because of his paranoia and psychosis. (Told you that was going to come back to haunt us.)
Now there’s a happy ending for you.
I mentioned that the details get a little confusing. Part of this may be because the novel is cobbled together from three of the author’s stories. And the plot is just as convoluted. Again, probably the same cause. The protagonist gets thrown between times at the author’s whim. Deus ex machina seems to be working overtime here.
Yes, there are a lot of interesting ideas thrown into the story. But they die behind the personalities of the people involved and convolutions in the story that seem more related to the author being paid per word than actually moving the plot along.
Look, A. E Van Vogt is an icon of the “golden age” of science fiction. He has written some classics. And I have enjoyed some of his work. But this is not one of them. The casual racism, the misogyny, and a protagonist for which I found myself rooting against wreak havoc on this book.
Turn away. Find others of Van Vogt’s works. And within them find the enjoyment I expected in this novel. show less
The protagonist, the person we are supposed to be rooting for, is mildly racist, definitely a misogynist, and a self-proclaimed paranoid with psychotic tendencies. And, particularly for that last trait, we are supposed to side with him in his convoluted travel through time to achieve, I guess, immortality. And to be, in a show more way, a savior of time and multiple universes.
When they are handing out mortality, I hope he misses the announcement.
[Warning: spoilers follow. But to be honest, they aren’t that big a deal. You’re worried? Read the book first. (Although, as you will see, I’m not sure I’d recommend you do that.)]
I instantly questioned the mindset of the author in the second paragraph when the author (not in the voice of the protagonist) says “…he watched the other with the curious, speculative intentness of the Latin.” Wow! Okay. Casual racism of the 40s. Let’s try to move on.
Our protagonist is introduced as a womanizing conniver who is not above using anyone to further his professorial ambitions. We do not like him. He fails, but it is not his fault; it is always everyone else’s fault. And he then becomes enmeshed between two factions of time travelers.
But that only scratches the misogyny surface. Throughout the novel there are constant references to his need for women – where he will find them and how he can get any woman he wants. As an example of his mindset, one of his biggest concerns in the future is that his foul order drives women away. If I may repeat myself, a misogynist and a conniving paranoid. (As is constantly pointed out throughout the book. Hang onto that thought.)
Bouncing back and forth in time, he is thrown into the past (17th Century Western America) with a scientist and his daughter. He assumes he will be the hunter and provider, and that the woman will take care of the house. He is taken aback when she starts hunting, supplying, and cooking. Yeah, once a misogynist, always a misogynist.
The happy ending of the book (remember, I warned of spoilers) is when he gets together with the woman, not because he has seen the error of his ways but, apparently, because she has seen the error of her own ways. She has become the demure mate he expected all along.
And, about that happy ending. We find out that all the time travel paraphernalia (and it gets a bit confusing; I won't go into it all here) has come about because of him. Yes, he is the hero of the story. And that future was only able to come about because of his paranoia and psychosis. (Told you that was going to come back to haunt us.)
Now there’s a happy ending for you.
I mentioned that the details get a little confusing. Part of this may be because the novel is cobbled together from three of the author’s stories. And the plot is just as convoluted. Again, probably the same cause. The protagonist gets thrown between times at the author’s whim. Deus ex machina seems to be working overtime here.
Yes, there are a lot of interesting ideas thrown into the story. But they die behind the personalities of the people involved and convolutions in the story that seem more related to the author being paid per word than actually moving the plot along.
Look, A. E Van Vogt is an icon of the “golden age” of science fiction. He has written some classics. And I have enjoyed some of his work. But this is not one of them. The casual racism, the misogyny, and a protagonist for which I found myself rooting against wreak havoc on this book.
Turn away. Find others of Van Vogt’s works. And within them find the enjoyment I expected in this novel. show less
Lists
Which house? (1)
1970 Club (3)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 336
- Also by
- 162
- Members
- 22,511
- Popularity
- #943
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 314
- ISBNs
- 578
- Languages
- 15
- Favorited
- 53
