A.E. van Vogt Books In Order

Publication Order of The Empire of Isher Books

Publication Order of Null-A Series Books

Publication Order of The Mutant Mage Books

Publication Order of Slan Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Alfred Elton van Vogt was a bestselling science fiction author from Canada who is best known for his bizarre fragmented narrative style. One of the most influential and popular practitioners of the Golden Age of science fiction, his writing was also one of the most complex. A.E. van Vogt was born in 1912 in Manitoba, and grew up in a small Russian Mennonite community. He was the third child of Heinrich and Aganetha Vogt, both of whom were born in Manitoba and spoke Dutch at home. His father was a lawyer and moved the family around several times while the young Vogt was a child. They lived in a variety of places from Neville and Morden before they finally settled down in Winnipeg. Vogt found these moves difficult as he would assert that he felt like a ship without an anchor. Because of the 1930s depression in North America, his family could not afford to take him to college and as a teen he worked as a truck driver and farmhand before he found a job at the Canadian Census Bureau. He would go to the University of Ottawa during this time and graduated in 1928. He began writing in the true confession style in the 1930s while working at the census office, during which he also worked for the Maclean Trade Papers. While doing his confession style writing, he happened on “The Only Two Ways To Write a Short Story” by John W. Gallishaw, which significantly impacted and honed his unique writing style.

During the 1930s, he wrote a ton of plays for Canadian radio and soon rediscovered his love for pulp science fiction writing. In 1939 he began writing and submitting serials and stories to “Astounding Science Fiction.” During this time, he wrote thirty-eight novels starting with “Slan” that was about a persecuted race of human bred mutants and the attempts to foster peace between the normal and their mental and physical superiors. He also did write the classic fix up series “The Weapons of Isher” that combined galactic scale space opera with immortality and future politics. “The Null-A” series which is one of his most popular series was an introduction to the general semantics system by Alfred Korzybski. The system worked on the theory that higher levels of consciousness could be tapped into through non-Aristotelian thinking hence the term (null-A). The series of novels in null-A is set in a galaxy full of political intrigue. He would then write “The Voyage Of The Space Beagle” about Elliot Grosvenor, a nexialist scientist who together with his crew fought and made alliances with various space races to fight off a series of alien attacks. The latter would be the inspiration for “Alien” the movie which was made about three decades after its publication.

During the 1950s, Vogt was not as prolific as he was during his earlier years as an author. He began retrospectively patching many of his previously published short narratives into novels. He would add a little more information to bridge the gaps in the stories. Vogt called his new creations fix ups, a term that would soon enter the lexicon of science fiction. One of his best-known fix-ups was “The Voyage of the Space Beagle” that was a combination of four stories made into one novel that he published in 1950. In the ten years between 1951 and 1961 he did not write any new books. He instead concentrated on his collections of previously published short stories which he combined or expanded into new novels. The Weapons of Isher which Vogt published in 1951 is one of his most popular works though he would also publish other works during the same period. His other fix ups included the likes of “The War Against the Rull” and “The Mixed Men.” He also published “The Wizard of Linn” and “Empire of Atom” that was inspired by the Roman imperial history just like Asimov’s “Foundation” series.

A.E. van Vogt’s “The World of Null-A” is a classic fantasy tale about the use of general semantics that posits that the human nervous system can identify and alter reality. The lead in the novel is Gilbert Gosseyn, a man that can teleport short distances as long as he has his locations memorized and is precise enough. He lives in a world that for those with superior understanding, is a utopia of sorts. Gilbert has the mental control to rule his fellow human beings but he first needs to be approved by a giant testing machine to prove that he indeed possesses such powers. He soon learns that his memories are not as accurate as he thought they were and when he goes on a quest to discover his identity learns that he actually has extra bodies. Given his several bodies, he is immortal as they can be activated when he dies. He also learns that a large Galactic empire is planning to conquer Venus and Earth and that a huge human civilization exists outside the Solar system. The good news is that he possesses extra brain matter and with proper training he can move mass with only his mind.

The 1956 published “The Pawns of Null-A” was originally published as “The Players of Null-A” in “Astounding Stories.” It builds on the concepts from the first novel of the series and is a continuation of the story of the lead character Gilbert Gosseyn. In this novel, Venus is in peril as an evil galactic tyrant is on a campaign to conquer half of a galaxy that he is yet to control. His secret weapon is that he has on his side people with skills seminar to those Gosseyn possesses. However, they may be better given that they can also see through time. The latter ability is not that strong but it can give them the edge they need to win the battles in space. The Null-Aer’s also have to deal with a shadowy and mysterious creature known as “the Follower” that has the power to port Gosseyn out of his body and into another. The Follower ports his body into that of an incompetent Prince who is under the control of the galactic tyrant. This means that as long as Gosseyn is in the body of the Prince, he does not have access to the second brain and his most effective powers.

A.E. van Vogt’s “Null-A Three” continues the adventures of Gilbert Gosseyn who just saved the Solar system from disaster. But he is now facing his biggest challenge ever as he fights with the earliest civilization ever on the cosmos. He woke up to find that his body can communicate with another of his other bodies that were activated by the threat of an attack of an immense space fleet. The attacking fleet is made up of primordial ancestors of the human race from another Galaxy that has been fighting mutants just as old for eons. The leader of the space fleet is an unhinged youth that has several of the same powers that Gosseyn possesses. He needs to school the young man on how to behave in a Null-A fashion if they are to save the Earth from a cabal of businessmen and gangsters that are determined to ensure the Games Machine never regains control of their world. They also need to find the reasons for the endless wars and stop the political intrigues stoked by Enro the Red who is greedy for power.

One Response to “A.E. van Vogt”

1. Mminerva: 3 years ago

   I think ‘Voyage of the Space Beagle’ inspired the entire Star Trek series/movies and the character Spock.

   Reply