My A.E. van Vogt Tribute and Links

Okay, there are various specialties within the larger genre called science fiction. A.E. van Vogt falls into the Pioneer category. I've collected every book of his that I could find.

He freely admitted to using a formula in structuring his stories, which has caused many sci-fi snobs to dismiss him as a lightweight. But the formula doesn't work without great ideas, and his are excellent. He often bases his novels on concepts that interest him personally, such as General Semantics (the Null-A trilogy) and individual responsibility for others and the state of the world (Cosmic Encounter).

He started out during the "pulp" era of science fiction. That refers to the cheap paper used for magazines that were printed at a time when science fiction was considered to even more weird and freaky than it is now. He eventually expanded or combined many of his magazine stories into novels.

Recommended A.E. van Vogt Books

I like all of van Vogt's books, but my short list includes these seven novels:

• Slan
• The Weapon Shops novels: *
  • The Weapon Shops of Isher
  • The Weapon Makers
• The Null-A (Semantics) Trilogy:
  • The World of Null-A
  • The Players of Null-A
  • Null-A Three
• Cosmic Encounter

* - The Weapon Shops novels have been republished in one volume called The Empire of Isher, available at Amazon.com. Also note that while Weapon Makers was written first, Weapon Shops is a prequel and probably should be read first.

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