A. E. van Vogt
Born 26 April 1912 · Died 26 January 2000
From Gretna, Manitoba, Canada · Nationality: Canada, United States · Writes fiction
Alfred Elton van Vogt was born on a farm in Edenburg, a Russian Mennonite community east of Gretna, Manitoba. Early in his career he wrote for true confession pulp magazines like True Story, but in the late 1930s he began writing science fiction, which he was more interested in. His first published SF story, "Black Destroyer" was published in 1939, and is considered to be one of the first works of the Golden Age of science fiction. In 1941 he left his job at the Department of National Defence to become a full-time writer, and he went on to write a large number of short stories. In 1944 he moved to Hollywood, California. In the 1950s he briefly became involved in L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics projects. Although he left Dianetics, he claimed that Hubbard's followers continued to harass him, and he stopped writing for a few years. In the 1960s Frederik Pohl convinced him to start writing again, and he wrote novels (as opposed to short stories that were later developed into novels) until his death in 2000.
Quotes
“The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.”
The Weapon Shop, in Astounding Science Fiction December 1942 “He had a sense of having been saved from the necessity of making a decision rather than of having made one.”
Dormant, published in Startling Stories November 1948 “Childhood was a terrible period for me. I was like a ship without anchor being swept along through darkness in a storm. Again and again I sought shelter, only to be forced out of it by something new.”
As quoted in "Man Beyond Man : The Early Stories of A.E. van Vogt" by Alexei Pan “Religion, you see, is not in its roots adoration of a god or a goddess. Religion is fear. Religion is the spark that issues forth when the thought of death or danger strikes the individual.”
The Book of Ptath, Chapter 27 “Thank the goddess! What a monstrous obscenity. Thank the goddess! Vile, lecherous, lascivious witch! Wretched debauched, wanton, bloody, devil woman!”
The Book of Ptath, Chapter 23
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Books by A. E. van Vogt in order
Books by A. E. van Vogt in the order they were published, from Slan (1946) to Null-A Three (1985).
- 1Slan
Slan1946 - 2The Book of Ptath
The Book of Ptath1947 - 3The Weapon Makers
The Weapon Makers1947 - 4The World of Null-A
The World of Null-A1948 - 5The House That Stood Still
The House That Stood Still1950 - 6The Voyage of the Space Beagle
The Voyage of the Space Beagle1950 - 7The War Against the Rull
The War Against the Rull1950 - 8The Weapon Shops of Isher
The Weapon Shops of Isher1951 - 9Away and Beyond
Away and Beyond1952 - 10Destination: Universe!
Destination: Universe!1952 - 11The Universe Maker
The Universe Maker1953 - 12Empire of the Atom
Empire of the Atom1956 - 13The Players of Null-A
The Players of Null-A1956 - 14The Mind Cage
The Mind Cage1957 - 15Mission to the Stars
Mission to the Stars1960 - 16The Wizard of Linn
The Wizard of Linn1962 - 17The Beast
The Beast1963 - 18Monsters
Monsters1965 - 19The Winged Man
The Winged Man1966 - 20The Silkie
The Silkie1969 - 21Quest for the Future
Quest for the Future1970 - 22The Best of A. E. Van Vogt
The Best of A. E. Van Vogt1974 - 23The Secret Galactics
The Secret Galactics1974 - 24Null-A Three
Null-A Three1985