In honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of science fiction author A.E. van Vogt (1912-2000), I am publishing an essay on his life and work at the Los Angeles Review of Books , as well as several review essays of his major works (see below) .
Fix-Up Artist: The Chaotic SF of A.E. van Vogt
Science fiction writer A.E. van Vogt, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday on April 26, introduced a new term into the literary vocabulary: the fix-up. A fix-up is a novel constructed out of shorter works of fiction, a kind of Frankenstein's monster of narrative, stitched together with hopes that the seams don't show. Read more at the Los Angeles Review of Books
The Mixed Men by A.E. van Vogt
During the period in which A.E. van Vogt was writing this novel, electric pinball machines were showing up in drugstores, taverns and arcades throughout America, and the pinball flipper was introduced. I like to think of van Vogt's stories as the literary equivalent of those postwar pinball machines....
Slan by A.E. van Vogt
Welcome to the world of A.E. van Vogt, the madcap storyteller who goes through plots faster than an otolaryngologist uses up tongue depressers. If writing fiction were simply a matter of setting up conflicts and resolutions, which lead to more conflicts and resolutions…well, van Vogt would have won the Nobel Prize in literature. As it stands, his books are more slapdash than sublime, yet captivating in their sheer manic energy....
The World of Null-A by A.E. van Vogt
The World of Null-A stands out as one of the best known and most controversial novels of the so-called Golden Age of science fiction. Due to its prominence, when it was first published in book form back in 1949, as the first significant trade hardcover sci-fi release, the book found a large crossover audience, and was probably the first work of speculative fiction read my many of its purchasers.....
The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. van Vogt
Okay, here's your tip sheet. If you like whales, read Moby Dick . If you prefer dogs, try The Call of the Wild . If you like horses for your literary courses, go for Black Beauty .
But if you're looking for creepy monsters from outer space, this is your book....