I just finished the book today. It deserves all the criticism it got (bad writing, hollow characters, etc.), but at the same time it's a book you just keep on reading, because there are ideas that are just great, some great written scenes and locations. I read it because of PKD's namechecking Van Vogt and yes, his influence is undeniable.
Van Vogt is a terrible writer... totally ignorant of science...wooden characters, indecipherable plots... deus ex machina used to get him out every time he writes himself into a corner....totally unreadable.... to compare him to Phil Dick is an insult to Phil.
@dreamstwice "On the other hand, when science fiction author Philip K. Dick was asked [11] which science fiction writers had influenced his work the most, he replied:
I started reading sf when I was about twelve and I read all I could, so any author who was writing about that time, I read. But there's no doubt who got me off originally and that was A.E. van Vogt ...." from a "Phil" interview ...please know your SF better before saying stuff ...read more on wiki ...
A. E. Van Vogt is my favourite author. I'd definitely say he was a genius and this is definitely one of his better novels. I liked the review (but that's probably because you said nice things about it).
My favourites are "The Voyage of the Space Beagle" which is the inspiration for "Star Trek" and the film "Alien", "The Weapon Shops of Isher / The Weapon Makers" which is about immortality, totalitarianism and super-intelligence and "Slan" which is about mutation, human evolution and more super-intelligence. Van Vogt was a very creative and innovative guy. I can see why P.K. Dick was influenced by him. I think Van Vogt is a lot more optimistic in his vision than Dick though.
We both may be right here - the book was originally three stories published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1945, which he later rewrote into the novel, published in 1948. I say 'written' in 1947, but perhaps I should have stuck to 'published' instead. In either case, i suppose naming a specific year rather than saying something like "in the late 1940's" for this novel is simply an invitation to debate. Thanks for viewing and commenting!
If you get through those, take a look at "The Silkie", "The Proxy Intelligence / Supermind", "The Universe Maker", "The Players of Null A", "Empire of the Atom / The Wizard of Linn" and "The Best of A.E. Van Vogt".. Van Vogt was a very methodical guy. He used to go to sleep and wake himself up after one sleep cycle, write down what he dreamt about, think about what he'd written and go back to sleep, then repeated the cycle throughout the night and by the morning he had a few pages of his story.
I just finished the book today. It deserves all the criticism it got (bad writing, hollow characters, etc.), but at the same time it's a book you just keep on reading, because there are ideas that are just great, some great written scenes and locations. I read it because of PKD's namechecking Van Vogt and yes, his influence is undeniable.
drainfunk 9 months ago
Van Vogt is a terrible writer... totally ignorant of science...wooden characters, indecipherable plots... deus ex machina used to get him out every time he writes himself into a corner....totally unreadable.... to compare him to Phil Dick is an insult to Phil.
dreamstwice 1 year ago
@dreamstwice "On the other hand, when science fiction author Philip K. Dick was asked [11] which science fiction writers had influenced his work the most, he replied:
I started reading sf when I was about twelve and I read all I could, so any author who was writing about that time, I read. But there's no doubt who got me off originally and that was A.E. van Vogt ...." from a "Phil" interview ...please know your SF better before saying stuff ...read more on wiki ...
crossblk 11 months ago
i love van vogt, one of the best scifi author
but he is megaloman sometimes :)
gombabacsi 1 year ago
A. E. Van Vogt is my favourite author. I'd definitely say he was a genius and this is definitely one of his better novels. I liked the review (but that's probably because you said nice things about it).
Mucalytic 3 years ago
van vogt was definitely ahead of his time, at least with this book. I haven't read too much of his other work, yet - what would you suggest?
CrashSolo 3 years ago
My favourites are "The Voyage of the Space Beagle" which is the inspiration for "Star Trek" and the film "Alien", "The Weapon Shops of Isher / The Weapon Makers" which is about immortality, totalitarianism and super-intelligence and "Slan" which is about mutation, human evolution and more super-intelligence. Van Vogt was a very creative and innovative guy. I can see why P.K. Dick was influenced by him. I think Van Vogt is a lot more optimistic in his vision than Dick though.
Mucalytic 3 years ago
great book with a great and surprise ending.
drkthms1 3 years ago
It was written in 1945, not 1947.
denberg2 3 years ago
We both may be right here - the book was originally three stories published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1945, which he later rewrote into the novel, published in 1948. I say 'written' in 1947, but perhaps I should have stuck to 'published' instead. In either case, i suppose naming a specific year rather than saying something like "in the late 1940's" for this novel is simply an invitation to debate. Thanks for viewing and commenting!
CrashSolo 3 years ago
If you get through those, take a look at "The Silkie", "The Proxy Intelligence / Supermind", "The Universe Maker", "The Players of Null A", "Empire of the Atom / The Wizard of Linn" and "The Best of A.E. Van Vogt".. Van Vogt was a very methodical guy. He used to go to sleep and wake himself up after one sleep cycle, write down what he dreamt about, think about what he'd written and go back to sleep, then repeated the cycle throughout the night and by the morning he had a few pages of his story.
Mucalytic 3 years ago