Classic authors who you like(d) and who have been pretty much forgotten.

[Hobbit]

.... and I do have a yellowing, battered, almost crumbly copy of this:

in this pile....

 

[ArthurFrayn]

I've got a lovely Chris Foss cover for the UK edition of that. Remember reading it because it was supposedly an inspiration for the movie Alien...

but I do have a copy of Transfinite...

I actually think it influenced everything, from Star Trek on....like I said, I think Van Vogt is one of the people who creates the original template...

 

[ArthurFrayn]

.... and I do have a yellowing, battered, almost crumbly copy of this:

in this pile....


View attachment 550

JELLYYY...!!!

 

[pogopossum]

Just re-read Voage of the Space Beagle. Actually bought a copy as the library was temporarily closed.
Black Destroyer is reprinted in practically every period collection. What I was after was the second story, Discord In Scarlet, published a few months later and of interest as I had just re-read Destroyer.
Van vogt, for me a sad talent lost to pseudo-science. Slan and the Weapon Shops books were part of my lifeline, sent to me by my siblings when living in the wasteland of Southern California with my grandparents for junior hi.

 

[Hobbit]

Black Destroyer is reprinted in practically every period collection.

Yes. Depending on who you read, that July 1939 issue is often regarded as the start of the Golden Era. The contents page is quite impressive:

For Discord in Scarlet, I've got this:

 

[Windshadow]

Mark, someone needs to give you a lesson in archival care of newsprint!
You know what is happening to them is a form of very slow burning as the residual acid in the pulp paper oxidizes the lignin.
At this stage I doubt the bindings and spine text can be helped much but someone here must know what and where you can go to arrest further degradation.
I only know the theory not the practice. What I do know is that once it gets to the point of not being able to turn the pages with out crumbling then it is too late to save that page.

 

[Hobbit]

Sadly, that was the state I got them in... almost is the key word here. They're not quite at the point of destruction yet, but I handle them very carefully.... I tend to read the digital copies mainly these days, but it is nice to hold a piece of history from time to time.

 

[Matt H.]

Arthur, you're not a huge fan of World of Null-A?

I wanted a Van Vogt in my reading/novel survey list, and without going into the details of critical receptions, etc., (to quarantine all external bias) looked like Null-A was his most well-known novel.

If you were creating a college Sci Fi survey class and got to add one Van Vogt (as a style/theme example), which one would you use? Weaponshops has also been highly recommended.

Got a thing for printed books, but I like em real cheap! Funny how sometime I'm about to add a little paperback to my cart, when I look and it's $287!! Can't get into the cool of books as rare or scarce objects. Aint' got the coin!

 

[ArthurFrayn]

Arthur, you're not a huge fan of World of Null-A?

I wanted a Van Vogt in my reading/novel survey list, and without going into the details of critical receptions, etc., (to quarantine all external bias) looked like Null-A was his most well-known novel.

If you were creating a college Sci Fi survey class and got to add one Van Vogt (as a style/theme example), which one would you use? Weaponshops has also been highly recommended.

I'd pick Voyage of the Space Beagle. Black Destroyer -the first sequence in that book is very famous. Also in terms of SF history, Slan is a good pick.
And actually no, I'm not a fan of Null A. I've always been mystified as to it's being the thing Van Vogt is most famous for. The conclusion I drew is that it functions as some sort of low level introduction to Dianetics. Van Vogt was involved with Dianetics at the start. I even think he was an auditor early on. He claimed at the time his eyesight was improved by auditing.
In any case the novels I personally like the best are:
Voyage of the Space Beagle,
The War Against the Rull,
The Clane Saga (Empire of the Atom/Wizard of Linn),
The Book of Ptath,
The Silkie
The Battle of Forever
I like those a lot.
Weapon Shop books are OK. The House That Stood Still is OK. Slan is OK. Darkness on Diamondia is almost not bad. Almost. Everything else is sub OK or really bad. This is all IMO

There are two that are so bad they're great -Renaissance, and The Secret Galactics. They are absolutely wonderful, but in the way Plan 9 From Outer Space is absolutely wonderful.

I've never read the Null A sequels.

 

[Matt H.]

I'd pick Voyage of the Space Beagle. Black Destroyer -the first sequence in that book is very famous. Also in terms of SF history, Slan is a good pick...

Thanks for the extensive info and your take on all those novels! Will keep it all in mind...

1. Btw, is Space Beagle a self-contained novel? (meaning not part of a series)

 

[Windshadow]

Just started listening to a new to me Audible version pf Time Patrol by Poul Anderson the reader is good but the first part of the book needs a lot of English accents at which like many Americans who lack a classic theatre education is quite weak. this is quite jarring till you get past that part of the book
what shines through is what a fine seminal time travels book.

Time Patrol

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Forget minor hazards like nuclear bombs. The discovery of time travel means that everything we know, anyone we know, might not only vanish, but never even have existed. Against that possibility stand the men and women of the Time Patrol, dedica...

www.audible.com

 

[Hobbit]

1. Btw, is Space Beagle a self-contained novel? (meaning not part of a series)

Yes. Though like many of the books of the time it's a fix-up - a book made up of a number of stories (in this case four) published separately (usually in the magazines) first. (Details here: LINK)

I remember it being quoted as an inspiration for Star Trek when I read it - but now remember why I disagreed at the time! The crew are all men, chemically castrated, because, if I remember right, it just made life easier/simpler (as well as to reduce the impact of space radiation on the crew?) Can you imagine Captain Kirk coping with that?

 

[Matt H.]

Th

Yes. Though like many of the books of the time it's a fix-up - a book made up of a number of stories (in this case four) published separately (usually in the magazines) first. (Details here: LINK)
...

Thanks Hobbit! I think I will order it. Won't comment anything at all about it, because fairly certain will add it to my list. Btw, that's an amazing (astounding?) stack of books you got! Would be neat indeed to hold them and check out the names, works and the cover art. It's like holy scriptures or something. But what can you do with books of cheap high-acid paper like that? (unless you have a museum, lol) Seems a shame, but maybe the are destined to crumple regardless...

(added)
Yeah, they really do kinda look like decaying ancient scrolls. And look halfway down the stack on the right - June 1940 (I think), "L Ron Hubbard","Robert Heinlein"!

 

[pogopossum]

Thanks for the extensive info and your take on all those novels! Will keep it all in mind...

1. Btw, is Space Beagle a self-contained novel? (meaning not part of a series)

Having read it most recently, I'll respond.
As Hobbit illustrated above for the first two stories, it was originally published as separate pieces. They have the continuity of setting, an intergalactic exploratory ship named after Darwin's boat.
Each of the four original stories centers on a specific crisis with non-humans.
Van Vogt did a fix up, adding a main character not in the original story, some continuity and a power struggle between factions on the ship.
The book came out in 1950. as did the book Dianetics. Van Vogt was an immediate follower of L. Ron Hubbard & headed his California operation from 1950 until it went bust.
Since Grosvenor, the lead character in the book, pulls them through the crises using a kind of mind training you can bet what was on Van Vogt's mind.
He sued Twentieth Century Fox after Alien came out due to similarities between the movie and the book and received an out of court settlement.

edit. Hobbit posted while I was writing. Sheesh. Can't a guy get a word in edgewise?

 

[Matt H.]

Having read it most recently, I'll respond... Hobbit posted while I was writing. Sheesh. Can't a guy get a word in edgewise?

Pogo, yeah, hobbits are sneaky that way...
Nevertheless, your comments amplify and are gratefully noted!

 

[ArthurFrayn]

Actually, I believe VanVogt is one of the first SF writers to engage in fixup writing. Space Beagle and War Against the Rull work pretty good. The Moonbeast on the other hand, is a car crash...

James Blish wrote fixup novels as well, off the top of my head -also with varied success...

I kind of see the Star Trek thing, but to me Forbidden Planet is a much more likely inspiration for Star Trek, in many ways...

BTW, it's important to mention -The reason why The Black Destroyer was celebrated at the time, is because it was one of the first SF stories, featuring narrative from the alien's POV...

Yet another one more thing, despite me mentioning Dianetics with regard to Null A the book is more involved with name checking the concepts of General Semantics by Alfred Korzbyski. General Semantics definitely an influence on Hubbard's concepts for Dianetics...

 

[Aldroud]

Any particular favourites, Aldroud? I like the Paratime stories I've read.

Must admit, I've never read beyond the first couple of chapters of Little Fuzzy, though I keep meaning to try again. Which would you suggest other people read?

The anthology "Federation" was my entry point. A series of short stories showcasing the advancement of Man across the stars. First story was an expedition to Mars and excavating the ancient cities there. Later stories moved further out and farther into the future.

Much of what he wrote involved first contacts or cultural miscommunications and the issues that can arise. Oomphal in the Sky is a story of using native mythology to evoke sympathy for Terrans and accept Terrans as teachers. There is one about how a race of super hearers would make languages neigh impossible to under stand. And then there is Uller Uprising. A retelling of the mid-19th C Indian Sepoy Revolt in Space! Actually a very well done story of high tech versus mass hordes on a planet where everything is poisonous.

Of course the Fuzzy stories are just sugary cute.

 

[Hobbit]

Trying to think now.... read Uller Uprising... and Space Viking! (which, if I remember right, was pretty much what it said in the title!)

 

[Aldroud]

I read Soace Viking. I liked it and I didnt like it at the same time. Good story but hates the idea of barbarians picking over the remnants of a fallen civilization.

 

[Hobbit]

Good story but hates the idea of barbarians picking over the remnants of a fallen civilization.

It was an old trope even then..... echoes the fall of the Roman Empire and the return to barbarism in the so-called 'Dark Ages'... which we have now found out weren't as barbaric as previous historians thought they were...