Cosmic Encounter

by A.E. van Vogt

A space vehicle from Earth's distant future is trapped in the l8th Century, lands in the Caribbean Sea, and its crew boards the pirate ship Orinda. The unwitting pirate, Captain Fletcher, must cope with the uncanny problems posed by time-displacement, an alien "cabin boy;' captives sentenced towalk the plank who drown but do not die, and an ominous battleship that has sneaked in from a different point in the galaxy. How the "cabin boy" struggles to restore his ship, fight off the enemy battleship, and prevent Earth's history from being irrevocably changed, makes for a wonderful adventure that blends futuristic time-travel with the swashbuckling excitement of l8th-Century pirates.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 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

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkably coherent story for van Vogt, especially for one of his later works. Regardless of executions that can sometimes feel slapdash, his concepts are without fail mind bending and wholly original. Cosmic Encounter is a great showcase of his incredible imagination, telling the story of a man inexplicably at the center of an imploding universe. With alternate realities and time itself collapsing, the time stream become fractured, resulting in some surreal circumstances involving robots from the 25th century and ultra advanced humans from the 83rd century cavorting about with 18th century English pirates and royalty. Fabulous!

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second read of this surprisingly very good novel by A.E. Van Vogt. In his prime (the 1940’s) he wrote, prolifically, wild, weird (in a good way) strange sense of wonder yarns that were unlike anyone else’s during a time when the pulp genre was entering a golden age. By the fifties, he seemed to run out of steam and focused on other things - psychology, hypnotism, Scientology and such non-sense, publishing mostly “fix-up” novels created by previously published short works from the decade before. He A second wave of publishing came in the sixties and seventies urged on by “If” magazine editor Frederick Pohl - he did the same with Robert Silverberg around who had taken a hiatus from the sci-fi business around the same time.

By the eighties, there was little left in the tank for the ageing van Vogt, who was unfortunately beginning to show signs of what would later develop into a severe case of Alzheimer’s disease. His work had, of late, become strange and weird (not in a good way) works that were dated and out of touch with modern times. He still had an audience (a publisher in France was especially interested in what he was writing during that period and thus most of his later works were published there in the French language before being made available to the English reading world - and a couple never did actually) but had long since ceased breaking any new ground and must had been but a curiosity to those who longed for the whimsical golden age masters. This was the time of William Gibson, Greg Bear, Steven Barnes... to name a few.

However, with “Cosmic Encounter”, van Vogt managed to come up with something that incorporates all the classic elements that those who appreciate his work, know and love, such as a multitude of situation ideas, a complicated protagonist and insane convoluted plot lines involving characters and robots from far future time-lines all arriving in 18 century Europe due to some freak event that occurred with the very fabric of space-time, yet it is more readable and developed than most of his work of the time. Truly a most interesting read. Though it is not a well known work, it stands out somehow. A chapter by chapter summery of the novel can be found here: http://www.icshi.net/sevagram/summari... -Chapter 34, which could have been titled “Enigma”, on its own, reads like a top “short-short” he might have published during his early prime period.

[Eric N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable obscure find by a hit or miss author.

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first van Vogt novel I’ve read that didn’t turn into the mess in the middle. I’m shocked it's so tight.

Perhaps it is this delightful surprise that induces me to grant it five, not four, stars.

I was rolling my eyes at another reviewer dismissing the book for, among other failures, its “distasteful politics.” As I was reading, I thought: it is set in A.D. 1704 A.D. and it’s about a pirate. Of course it is “distasteful”! But then I read to the cosmic conclusion, where a responsibilitarian morality, of a decidedly libertarian variant, is revealed as part of the warp and woof of the universe despite being an invention of man. Of course that would offend many readers. Most folks hate liberty and want their social justice.

I, on the other hand, prefer real justice. And was pleasantly surprised by van Vogt’s philosophical musings.

But that aside, the fun of it runs from beginning to end, as I marveled that van Vogt spins his tale into an only slightly confusing complexity without the familiar arbitrary intrusions of his usual dream method of composing. Now I need to go back and re-read his early classics. It’s been forty years since I have read The World of Null-A.

[shrutsiv · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Surprisingly good! The motley crew of characters and descriptions that jumped from the macro to the micro level provided a very hitchhiker-esque feel to the book, which I enjoyed. I also thought the mechanic of jumping back was super interesting, and I enjoyed the way each character used their growing awareness of the jumps to their advantage. The end falls a bit flat for me, since it sort of handwaves a solution by providing one character with cosmically insane powers, but I enjoyed the scientific handwaving that attempted to justify it. The description of atoms having adolescent urges to leave and then return home was very cute. I would honestly recommend this to old-school sci-fi readers based off of the strength of the ideas alone.

[Jérémie Moenne Loccoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

De la science fiction au XVIII siècle, c'est une idée intéressante. Ce n'est pas la seule de ce livre qui est en fait bourré d'idées, presque trop. Les personnages en pâtissent un peu et manquent de relief. L'auteur a clairement construit son livre autour de son idée centrale et à l'exception de Nathan Fletcher qui fait preuve d'un peu de personnalité, ses compagnons assez fades. L'écriture est correcte, un style assez particulier qui une fois appréhendé m'a plutôt séduit. J'ai été déçu par la fin qui n'en est pas vraiment une à mon sens mais l'impressions globale reste positive à la lecture de ce livre.

[Alan Bligh · Rating 1 out of 5]

For me, this book lacked any redeeming feature; failing to deliver on an interesting premise in every way from the clumsy English, facile characterizations, bad history and distasteful politics. This of course is simply my opinion and your mileage may of course vary, and if you're a particular fan of the oeuvre you may be able to forgive it more than I, but as my first venture into the works of Vogt, I am far from enamored of going back for more.

[Marc Hilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few books I enjoy re-reading every few years.