Destination: Universe! by A.E. van Vogt

 

(pb; 1953: science fiction story anthology)

From the back cover

“Meet a terrifying creature on a remote Pacific Island whose soul is atomic fire.

“Observe the first man on Venus encounter a can of paint—a maddening test of his capacities for survival.

“Read the bizarre correspondence between two interstellar pen pals.

“Watch an artificial, manlike monster turn against its captors and threaten a cosmic empire.

“Follow a lovely saleswoman of uncanny gadgets on a tour through new vistas of time and space.”

 

Overall review

The stories within this collection range from solid to excellent, a superior-to-other-anthologies book that’s worth owning, if you’re a science fiction and turn-on-a-sentence-or-two writing.

 

Review, story by story

“Far Centaurus”: A four-man crew on a five-hundred-year mission encounter unexpected death, and a daunting alien encounter—are they saved or doomed by their intentions, and do the aliens, as well as a fractured crewmate (Jim Renfrew) have their best interests at heart?

This is one my all-time favorite science fiction tales, with initially-solid-then-great-written characters and motives, and a memorable twist, that thrilled me not only as a reader and a writer.

 

“The Monster”: On an environmentally devastated planet, a team of dismayed alien scientists encounter a willful, wily human. Solid story.

 

“Dormant”: A resurrected “monster” awakens to find itself being investigated then attacked by militaristic humans—with serious repercussions for all involved. Good, creature-interesting read.

 

“The Enchanted Village”: The only survivor (Jenner) of a ship-crash on desolate, hot Mars stumbles onto a strangely pristine village that poses challenges and possibilities for survival for the desperate astronaut. Intriguing, fun, unpredictable tale, one of my favorites in Destination.

 

“A Can of Paint”: A thematic-and-structural-sequel-of-sorts to “The Enchanted Village”, “Can” tells of  the Venusian adventures of an astronaut (Kilgour), the first man to successfully land on Venus—not unlike Jenner’s relationship with Mars in “Enchanted”.

Kilgour finds a small cube outside his ship, and once he starts understanding it, tries to find a way out of his possibly fatal dilemma. Humorously light, tightly written and edited (while maintaining a boisterous spirit) and memorable. This, too, is one of my favorite entries in Destination.

 

“Defence”: Old machinery within a “dead planet” turns on, setting off a chain of chaotic events. Excellent, sharp two-page story.

 

“The Rulers”: At a Washington dinner party, a guest (Dr. Latham) recounts how he dealt with a thirteen-member, h-drug-pushing cabal. What is h-drug? Read and find out! Good, fun stuff.

 

“Dear Pen Pal”: A criminal alien (Skander, on planet Aurigae II) becomes pen pals with a wary Earthling—resulting in possibly twisty, dangerous communications. Solid, word-economical, fun.

 

“The Sound”: Yevds (alien spies), intent on defeating humans, kidnap and try to manipulate a boy (Diddy) into helping them with their espionage. Good, offbeat story.

 

“The Search”: Ralph Carson Drake, Quik-Rite Company stationary salesman, wakes in the hospital; it seems he has amnesia regarding his activities for the past two weeks. When he retraces his steps leading up to them, wild truths and characters gradually reveal themselves—and himself. Excellent speculative fiction piece.

Masters of Time by A.E. van Vogt

 

(pb; 1950, originally published in 1942 and 1944 by Street and Smith Publications, Inc., for Astounding Science-Fiction magazine)

From the back cover

“Norma was a helpless victim of the masters of time; Jack, who loved her, went willingly into slavery, hoping to find a way to release her from bondage. Both of them should have been destroyed, yet somehow, gaining strength from each other, they managed to retain some measure of their free will.

“But was it enough to save both of them─and, more important, to save Earth from the monstrous fate that the masters of time had decreed for it?”

 

Review

Masters, a hectic-paced science fiction novel, is a sometimes fun if chatty book. In it, two humans─Norma Matheson, an ambitious, depressed woman, and her ex-college boyfriend, Professor Jack Garson─are pressed into war service by Dr. Lell, a self-proclaimed “master of time” alien and one of the Glorious. Lell’s tentacled Observer machines take humans from Earth’s past and present eras to fight the Glorious’ future conflict for them.

This is not one of Vogt’s better works. It has his trademark, constant twists and turns as well as sudden shifts in locations and perceptions, so many that it becomes overly convoluted, talky and hard to follow at times.

Readers who are sensitive to briefly less-than-“woke” language and typically-1940s-sexist attitudes might want to skip this one. Most of the male characters, including Jack, are condescending toward Norma and her “emotional” state, even as she finds a way (with help) out of her bad situations. As for the less-than-“woke” language, one of the alien villains (Dr. Lell) is briefly described having “Chinese” and “Negro” attributes in his unsettling features. This is not a surprising element in science fiction during this time (the 1940s)─it was sometimes lazy shorthand for adding exoticism to characters─but it is surprising that Vogt, usually better than this, fell prey to the negative, lazy stereotyping of his era.

What works in Masters is Vogt’s initial set-up, editing and pacing, before it goes into the melodramatic weeds for a while. It’s best not to think too hard about the pseudo-science time-travel dialogue spouted by various characters and try to enjoy the ride (if you stick with it). Its ending is an effective, impressive bookend that almost saves the book from its other excesses and unfortunate, antiquated attitudes, but not quite. While not a terrible read, it’s one I’d only recommend to Vogt completists. If you are a first-time reader of Vogt, I’d suggest Slan (1940), The House That Stood Still (1950) and Mission to the Stars (1952, a.k.a The Mixed Men).

Quest for the Future by A.E. van Vogt

(pb; 1970)

Review

Peter Caxton, middle-man academic film supplier, investigates why the short-subject films he sends out change, boring academic science text and visuals replaced with mind-blowing scenes of outer space and alien creatures. Caxton’s investigations lead him to a time- and character-expanding adventure in time travel and its human and interplanetary limits.

Quest is a blink-and-miss-twists-and-time-jumps book, one that blasts through the usual boundaries of storytelling (and, in doing so, was hard for me to follow). Its quick-cut turn of events did not detract from my enjoyment of the book too much, I just went along for the well-written ride, figuring it was thoroughly mapped by Vogt (a consistently superb and complex author) and it would work out in the end─which it did, dovetailing in an altered and effective way.

To better keep track of the plot and character points, this is likely a read-in-a-short-span-of-time work. I read this over the course of a week when I should have read it in two days or one sitting (which would’ve been easily possible, it’s only 253 pages). Because of this, I might read it again. Either way, this a wonderful, boundary-pushing and often clever read, something I could see as a film, perhaps directed by Christopher Nolan (Inception, Tenet).

Mission to the Stars by A.E. van Vogt

(pb; 1952 – originally titled The Mixed Men)

From the back cover

“In the far distant future. . .

“The colonies of Fifty Suns have been hidden for eons from warring invaders in an ocean of stars. But now the warship St Cluster, of Imperial Earth, has found them─and prepares to conquer the colonists.

“Fifty Suns must crush the titanic Earth forces or be enslaved. But, torn by internal rebellion, it cannot mount a unified defense.

“It falls to one man, Peter Maltby, to unite the warring factions of Fifty Suns and guide them to victory.

“But first he must resolve his own crossed loyalties. For Captain Maltby is also the passionate lover of Lady Laurr, Grand Commander of the Star Cluster and a warrior of Imperial Earth.”

Review

Mission is an excellent, genre-transcendent science fiction novel that deftly moves between space war, action, political machinations, and love story, its characters largely stock, but sometimes surprising in their decisions and actions. If you’re looking for a burn-through, smart-minded and 174-page adventure-in-the-stars read, this may catch your fancy─this is not surprising, since Vogt consistently delivers on the promise of his deft, often surprising takes on stock genre tales. This is one of my favorite reads of 2020.

The Weapon Shops of Isher by A.E. van Vogt

(pb; 1951)

From the back cover

“The empire of Innelda Isher─dictatorial, proud, universal, unrivalled in power. Except for the Weapon Shops─buildings that appeared at will, urging citizens to purchase weapons that the government couldn’t defeator duplicate. And when the police, and the army, tried to stop this subversive sale they found that the Shops were impregnable fortresses open to all but soldiers and policemen.

“Into this explosive deadlock was thrust a man of the present, himself a weapon of time, threatening to end both the Weapon Shops and the Empire of Isher!”

Review

Weapon is a timely (in a potentially disturbing way), clever and fun science fiction novel with deftly stated anti-authoritarian themes and atypical characters. There’s even a worthwhile twist or two in this brainy mix of well-defined characters, lean action sequences, and often unpredictable setups. Good short read of a fragmented tale (it originally was a trilogy of linked stories*), worth reading.

[*Story titles: “The Seesaw,” “The Weapons Shop” and “The Weapon Shops of Isher,” published in Astounding Tales and Thrilling Wonder Stories. “The Seesaw” was originally published in the July 1941 issue of Astounding Tales as an anti-Nazi work.]

The House That Stood Still by A.E. van Vogt

(pb; 1950)

From the back cover

“Stephens had to solve the mystery of the centuries-old house that stood still─or Earth would be destroyed!

“At first Allison Stephens knew only that there was something strange about the house and its sinister inhabitants. Then he stumbled onto the spaceship and learned of the catastrophe that threatened to obliterate the universe from the heavens─a catastrophe that the masked immortals from the house that stood still could prevent.

“But the immortals planned instead to escape to another planet─leaving Earth to its terrible fate. Only one of them, the unearthly Mistra Lannett, agreed to help save the world. During the fateful days that followed, Stephens and Mistra met the challenge to defeat the most indestructible aliens the world had ever known!”

Review

House is an excellent, fun thriller-science-fiction-P.I.-mystery novel, its prose lean for the most part, always compelling and fast-paced, with constant twists, turns and mysterious identities. This is a hard-to-set-down genre hybrid work, one that I read in short period of time, and one that is great enough to be kept on my bookshelf (I don’t keep most books), a high bar work for the genres it straddles.

Pendulum by A.E. van Vogt

(pb; 1978: science fiction story anthology)

Overall review:

Pendulum is a good, fun story collection, one worth owning. Between the solid writing, the intriguing concepts, the humor and everything else within them, these stories are entertaining and provocative.


Stories:

1.)  "Pendulum": An oceanic endeavor to regenerate new marine life  revives mysterious beings whose presence ushers in a new age of language and time-travel (particularly for a man, John Hudman). This is a mostly fun -- if overlong -- tale.


2.)  "The Male Condition": On an anger- and crime-free planet, a psychological study on rape is scheduled for re-enactment. Of course, complications ensue. This is a biting, satirical, non-explicit and non-violent work, embodied with psychological terms and quirky aliens (Tinkers). Fun, dark-themed and sometimes silly stuff, this.


3.)  "Living with Jane": A scientist (Dan), trying to fend off an android societal takeover, discovers that his family has been taken hostage. Plot- and character-twisty, this is a provocative and entertaining tale.


4.)  "The First Rull": Excellent thriller about an alien (the Rull) whose plot to steal a scientific discovery from a human college campus encounters disruptive complications. This is one of my favorite stories in this collection.


5.)  "Footprint Farm": A farm, the site of an ancient meteorite crash, may prove to be the salvation -- or doom -- of a family on the brink of falling apart. Good story, long enough to be interesting, short enough to not overstay its welcome. 


6.)  "The Non-Aristotelian Detective": An unusual sleuth figures out a murder case. Fun story.


7.)  "The Human Operators" (written in collaboration with Harlan Ellison): Mostly good piece about a man whose entire existence revolves around spaceship maintenance -- a Ship that is his master. The concept and execution of the work is solid, though it could have been considerably shorter.


8.)  "The Launch of Apollo XVII": A science fiction writer, at the site of a NASA rocket launch, interviews other spectators from different social strati. This humorous, loose work is political, satirical and offbeat, different than the other stories in this collection. Another fun offering, this.

Slan by A.E. van Vogt

(pb; 1940, 1968)


From the back cover:

"Years ago, Mankind fought against the hated slan race in the fierce Slan Wars. The result was the extermination of almost all slans, and the establishment of a world-wide police state.

"But slan Jommy Cross had escaped extermination and was now living in constant fear in the world of cruel humans. Jommy was determined to avoid detection, track down other surviving slans, and with them, the mystery of the slans' strange existence and superiority."


Review:

Slan is an excellent mix of deft tale twists, action, interesting characters, with bits of hard science technology thrown into it. Not all of the twists are unexpected, but they all work in the service of telling this gripping, near-impossible-to-stop-reading science fiction book. One of my favorite works in this genre, Slan is worth owning -- and possibly, within a few years, worth re-relishing again. (This is not a sentiment I extend to most books.)

Own this, already.