A.E. van Vogt

[gully_foyle]

Alfred Elton van Vogt was a prolific author from SF's postwar golden era.

I'm reading Slan at the moment, and I must say it moves at a cracking pace. I've also recently read Rogue Ship and Voyage of the Space Beagle, both assemblages of short stories into a novel, which shows in the narrative but they're still pretty good reads.

Slan was his first novel, and so far is seemingly earthbound. I'm enjoying it and I'm wondering which of his works my fellow chrons have either enjoyed or otherwise.

 

[clovis-man]

The Voyage of the Space Beagle was always one of my favorites. He seemed to anticipate Dan O'Bannon in his treatment of at least one of the alien nasties in the book. Slan is also good, although I didn't get around to reading it myself until a couple of years ago. I would recommend much of his early work, e.g., the "Isher" and the "Null A" series; another of my favorites was The Weapon Shops of Isher.

 

[iansales]

The makers of Alien settled out of court with van Vogt over similarities between the film and part of Voyage of the Space Beagle.

I find The Weapon Shops of Isher, and its sequel The Weapon Makers, a bit too libertarian. But Undercover Aliens (AKA The House That Stood Still) is a favourite, and I have fond memories of Mission to the Stars (AKA The Mixed Men) and The Universe Maker.

 

[HardScienceFan]

i read it,Gul.

i've always advocated a vV thread.

Quest for the future
Both Weapon shops novels
Space Beagle,of course
both Null-A novels
Empire of the atom,another classic
v vogt collated a lot of his earlier work to novels,Gul
QFTF is a good example

Man Beyond Man: The Early Stories of A.E. van Vogt

A.E. van vogt - A Writer With a Winning Formula

both of these might contain spoilers

must reads,though,these pages

i've got everything he wrote up to and including Computer world

 

[Ian Whates]

I'd echo just about everything HSF says -- he's listed most of my very favourite van Vogt's there.

Would also include The Silkie, which contains a few Slan-like echoes but is well worth reading for its own sake.

And you're right about the pace, Gully, van Vogt was famous for it. He had many critics, but I always felt his sheer inventiveness and the excitement he generated more than compensated for any minor shortcommings.

 

[HardScienceFan]

I'd echo just about everything HSF says -- he's listed most of my very favourite van Vogt's there.

Would also include The Silkie, which contains a few Slan-like echoes but is well worth reading for its own sake.

And you're right about the pace, Gully, van Vogt was famous for it. He had many critics, but I always felt his sheer inventiveness and the excitement he generated more than compensated for any minor shortcommings.

you'll love the PAnshin page,Ian
percipient,a good read
his pacing skills were
can i say unrivalled?
together with Jack Vance one of the least unputdownable writers
typical golden age writer

 

[gully_foyle]

you'll love the PAnshin page,Ian
percipient,a good read
his pacing skills were
can i say unrivalled?
together with Jack Vance one of the least unputdownable writers
typical golden age writer

I've read on wikipedia about his 800 word style, that he writes in 800 word blocks where he either introduces or resolves something.

least unputdownable?

 

[HardScienceFan]

got me there Gul
contray to what most people think,i Do slip up with the Englsih language
sometimes with disastous results
MOST unputdownable

arrgggh

 

[Fried Egg]

I've read a few A.E. van Vogt stories, the only title that I recall is Moonbeast which was quite good.

 

[yngvi]

Ditto, FE. 'Moonbeast' was the most escapist and personal tale of all the Van Vogt novels I have read, and probably my favourite.

I read 'Darkness of Diamondia' and recall this as a bit dire so I wouldn't bother with that one.

 

[Anthony G Williams]

I still have eleven of his books on my shelf, which says something considering that constant weeding due to lack of space has seen most of the books I've ever owned disposed of long since. One of the all-time classic authors.

 

[Spade]

I read and enjoyed Slan, and I have about 8 other novels by him and at least four short story collections that I haven't read yet. They're in the TBR rile somewhere though.

 

[j d worthington]

He was a unique writer, with a quite manic style and more than slightly crazed vision... often brilliant, almost never less than highly entertaining, and usually very thought-provoking.

As for The Weapon Shops... I have to agree with Boucher that that novel has what is among the best, if not the best, final lines in all imaginative fiction (and one can only get the true impact of it by reading the whole, which makes it a very finely crafted line....)

 

[Fried Egg]

I just finished "World of Null-A" and I think he was a bot over the top in this one. As usual it is all about ideas for plot (as opposed to character development and world building) but I think that the plot developments were just too crazy. Still entertaining but a somewhat confusing read...

 

[Anthony G Williams]

I still have the Null-A books on my shelf. I'm in the happy position that I read them so long ago that I no longer remember the plots, but I'm sure I'll enjoy them when I read them again!

 

[iansales]

A lot of van Vogt's novels are supremely silly - which is one of the reasons I like them. Some of them, though, are dreadful - avoid Renaissance and The Secret Galactics. I have all three of the Null A books, and I read the first many many years ago - I plan to read them soon.

 

[Fried Egg]

A lot of van Vogt's novels are supremely silly - which is one of the reasons I like them. Some of them, though, are dreadful - avoid Renaissance and The Secret Galactics. I have all three of the Null A books, and I read the first many many years ago - I plan to read them soon.

Perhaps "World of the Null-A" should have been one of your reading challenges...It would be interesting to see how much you would like it now (given how many other books you once liked but like no longer).

 

[iansales]

Well, next year's challenge I've already decided will be first books in fantasy series... which should prove interesting.

But, van Vogt... I can forgive him much because his fiction is plainly bonkers. Can't forgive him everything, tho - Renaissance really was bad. And while I had fond memories of The Universe Maker, a recent reread somewhat tarnished them - it had good bits, it had the usual insane lepaing back and forth through the plot, and it had some jaw-dropping daftness in it.

 

[GOLLUM]

So how does the novel entitled World Of Null A stack up then? I've got that one but not read it yet...

 

[iansales]

It's been so long since I read it that I don't really remember. One of his better ones, I seem to recall, although by all accounts the third book in the series, Null-A Three, is pretty poor. John C Wright recently wrote a sequel, which I'd be tempted to read if it weren't by Wright, who is a disgusting bigot.