The Best of A.E. van Vogt, Volume 1

by A.E. van Vogt, Angus Wells (Editor)

Contents:
7 • Introduction (The Best of A. E. van Vogt (UK)) • (1974) • essay by A. E. van Vogt
12 • Vault of the Beast • (1940) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt
44 • The Weapon Shop • [Weapon Shops of Isher] • (1942) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt
92 • The Storm • [Mixed Men] • (1943) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt
130 • Juggernaut • (1944) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
142 • Hand of the Gods • [Clane] • (1946) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt
177 • The Cataaaaa • (1947) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
195 • The Monster • (1948) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt (aka Resurrection)
215 • Bibliography (The Best of A. E. van Vogt) • (1974) • essay by Gerald Bishop

Genres: Science Fiction

219 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published March 1, 1979

About the author

Alfred Elton van Vogt was a Canadian-born science fiction author regarded by some as one of the most popular and complex science fiction writers of the mid-twentieth century—the "Golden Age" of the genre.

van Vogt was born to Russian Mennonite family. Until he was four years old, van Vogt and his family spoke only a dialect of Low German in the home.

He began his writing career with "true story" romances, but then moved to writing science fiction, a field he identified with. His first story was "Black Destroyer", that appeared as the front cover story for the July 1939 edition of the popular Astounding Science Fiction magazine.

Reviews

[Scifimoth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far better than its sequel.

[Arn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was OK, well crafted but not that gripping, last story The Monster was the better of them.

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 4 out of 5]

'I've heard of these shops. They're places of infamy, against which the government of the empress will act one of these days. They're built in hidden factories, and then transported whole to towns like ours and set up in gross defiance of property rights. That one wasn't there an hour ago.'

Vault of the Beats
The Weapon Shop
The Storm
Juggernaut
Hand of the Gods
The Cataaaaa
The Monster

The author himself chose his best stories for this collection. Since they are arranged chronologically, the first volume contains seven stories from the early part of his career, all written in the 1940s.

My least favourite story was the first, and I almost didn't bother reading the rest. Luckily they turned out to be much more to my taste, from "The Weapon Shops" which suddenly swerves off in an entirely unexpected direction, to the metal bar from nowhere that changes the world in "Juggernaut", and finishing with an unnerving tale of how the intelligence, speed of reaction and utter ruthlessness of man could prove a danger to alien civilisations throughout the galaxy even after a nucleonic storm has destroyed the whole human race and all other animal life on earth.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of seven Science fiction short stories chosen by Vogt himself. None of the stories stood out due to them all being simple ideas but extremely well thought out and well written.