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The Voyage of the Space Beagle
The Voyage of the Space Beagle is one of the most influential works of Science Fiction. It is best known today as the inspiration for the motion picture Alien, but before that it inspired the "five year mission to explore new worlds..." theme of Star Trek. Beyond these two noteworthy franchises, it has influenced and molded hundreds of other works in many forms.
The novel is composed of four novellas woven together with new material to relate the voyage of a science research ship, the Space Beagle, as it encounters alien life forms that prove to be hostile to everyone on board and to virtually all life forms in the galaxy should the being reach any civilization. Fortunately, the crew of the Beagle is able to defeat the threats.
If the stories only concerned dangerous aliens bouncing off superior technology, the point of the work would be far less interesting than it is. Van Vogt adds a dramatic element that creates internal strife among the ship's scientists and crew that speaks to today's readers directly.
The central character is a young scientist, Elliott Grosvenor, the youngest scientist on board and a student of the newly formed science of Nexialism.
Like today's Millennials, Grosvenor is both widely informed and thinks differently from the gray-haired single specialists who compose the scientific teams. Rather than knowing everything about something, Grosvenor knows more than something about everything and with his Nexialism training amplified by Nexial machines, he can see patterns and interconnections that the traditional scientists cannot. In modern terms, Grosvenor, has the equivalent of Internet search, big data, and analysis tools at his fingertips; he instantly grasps what he doesn't know and quickly deduces how to learn it.
Readers who acclaimed The Voyage of the Space Beagle as "a classic of the golden age of science fiction" responded largely to the thrill of defeating alien creatures. Today's readers will more clearly see the triumph of knowledge technology.
The novel is composed of four novellas woven together with new material to relate the voyage of a science research ship, the Space Beagle, as it encounters alien life forms that prove to be hostile to everyone on board and to virtually all life forms in the galaxy should the being reach any civilization. Fortunately, the crew of the Beagle is able to defeat the threats.
If the stories only concerned dangerous aliens bouncing off superior technology, the point of the work would be far less interesting than it is. Van Vogt adds a dramatic element that creates internal strife among the ship's scientists and crew that speaks to today's readers directly.
The central character is a young scientist, Elliott Grosvenor, the youngest scientist on board and a student of the newly formed science of Nexialism.
Like today's Millennials, Grosvenor is both widely informed and thinks differently from the gray-haired single specialists who compose the scientific teams. Rather than knowing everything about something, Grosvenor knows more than something about everything and with his Nexialism training amplified by Nexial machines, he can see patterns and interconnections that the traditional scientists cannot. In modern terms, Grosvenor, has the equivalent of Internet search, big data, and analysis tools at his fingertips; he instantly grasps what he doesn't know and quickly deduces how to learn it.
Readers who acclaimed The Voyage of the Space Beagle as "a classic of the golden age of science fiction" responded largely to the thrill of defeating alien creatures. Today's readers will more clearly see the triumph of knowledge technology.
252 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1950
About the author
A.E. van Vogt
629 books428 followersAlfred 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 edtion of the popular "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine.
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 edtion of the popular "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 283 reviews
September 19, 2024
The Space Beagle , sounds familiar, Darwin's ship was called HMS Beagle, in the unknown distant future as a warp engine (or something equivalent ) speeds the craft a "Starship" through the outer edge of the uncharted region of the Milky Way spiral galaxy between it and our neighbor the quite stupendous Andromeda star group a big brother to our own. The vastness chills the weak heart, cold, uncaring and perpetually bleak dark night, the lack of illumination f0r the only little spots (stars) showing of isolated lights shine in the massive universe. The Earth spaceship is huge , on board around 1,ooo all male, bickering egotistical scientists, diligent astronomers , sharp engineers , loyal physicians, fearless soldiers and one Nexialist, what you don't known what that is? For shame ! ... I must confess was ignorant of the term too until reading this book. Now the main character is Dr. Elliott Grosvenor the Nexialist...still want to know, okay, okay, a general inquirer, and studier of all sciences, not a specialist but a great, brilliant thinker in combining every department. Since other lesser specialists have many in their associations , he's alone , looks unimportant , insignificant and indeed invisible, our Mr. Grosvenor is just a cry in the wilderness as they say but the illusion is shattered when the aliens show up. The Director Morton, very scientific type name, leads, becomes a friend, Gregory Kent chief chemist isn't, not even close. The non- human types, Anabis, a gigantic entity or humongous blob in the eternal space, as he's expanding forever , soon leaving in his wake its destruction the lifeless Andromeda Galaxy, and soon to destroy our own dear galaxy next, the Rim, bird- like creatures on a desolate planet spreading dreams to the crew of the Space Beagle driving them insane, if they're lucky only, the blood -thirsty creature IxtL enters the ship and using the fleshy human bodies as nests, for their unborn eggs, yuck, Coeurl an enormous cat variety of beast , never satisfied always hungry in a devastated world caused by him and his fellow horrific species, not a paradise now. Four short stories put together by the writer to make a novel in 1950 , this space opera has those many, alien monsters to satisfy any science fiction aficionado and gives joy and amusement, it maybe a bit old-fashioned today but the charm reveals itself to every believer, I am one of those. A.E. van Vogt not too well a recognized name today , but yesteryear he was a giant in this interesting genre and those , the lucky seekers of truth in that category.... are ardent fans. ..P.S. if you think you've seen this before, you have ...in Star Trek, Forbidden Planet, 2001 a Space Odyssey, etc. The proverb there is nothing new under the Sun is a fact.
October 6, 2019
I read quite a few van Vogt books as a teenager. I remember saving up my pocket money, getting a 2/6 postal order and sending for the next book I wanted from Panther books from their list of books in the back of the book I had just read. The excitement of waiting for the next van Vogt (or Doc Smith or Asimov) to arrive was stupendous.
Anyway this was one of the books I'm sure I read during those halcyon days of sunshine, hours to read and endless time ahead.
This book has a typical van Vogt feel about, a classic SF Space Opera with some great characters , a great story and a timeless feel. Yes its a relatively simple story, a large number of earthmen travelling the universe looking for life and new discoveries. The crew, made up of representatives from all the sciences and the military, are full of the petty jealousies that all ambitious people have. The hero is a young scientist from a relatively new science of Nexialism, which looks at the sum of all the sciences, hoping that whole knowledge is larger that the sum of all the constituent parts. The trouble is, he is the only representative from his science aboard the spaceship and is far far younger than all the other heads of departments and so is seen as not worth bothering with.
As the adventures and scrapes the crew get into as they traverse the universe get more and more serious his star begins to shine as he uses Nexialism to solve their problems.
A romp across the galaxy with a great underlying story of classic sci-fi, that makes me want to read more from this era. A very solid 4 stars ⭐️
Anyway this was one of the books I'm sure I read during those halcyon days of sunshine, hours to read and endless time ahead.
This book has a typical van Vogt feel about, a classic SF Space Opera with some great characters , a great story and a timeless feel. Yes its a relatively simple story, a large number of earthmen travelling the universe looking for life and new discoveries. The crew, made up of representatives from all the sciences and the military, are full of the petty jealousies that all ambitious people have. The hero is a young scientist from a relatively new science of Nexialism, which looks at the sum of all the sciences, hoping that whole knowledge is larger that the sum of all the constituent parts. The trouble is, he is the only representative from his science aboard the spaceship and is far far younger than all the other heads of departments and so is seen as not worth bothering with.
As the adventures and scrapes the crew get into as they traverse the universe get more and more serious his star begins to shine as he uses Nexialism to solve their problems.
A romp across the galaxy with a great underlying story of classic sci-fi, that makes me want to read more from this era. A very solid 4 stars ⭐️
July 19, 2022
Obvious inspiration for Star Trek, June 26, 2016
This review is from: The Voyage of the Space Beagle (Paperback)
First published 1950
I first read Voyage of the Space Beagle in high school and became an immediate and lasting fan of Van Vogt. The stories comprising this book are obviously at least partial inspiration for much that followed - Star Trek; The Thing; Alien; It, The Terror From Beyond Space and numerous books and stories. You should read this classic of golden age scifi and see for yourself. Incidentally, one line in the movie Men in Black comes almost directly from one of the pieces in the David Drake edited Van Vogt book, Transgalactic.
This review is from: The Voyage of the Space Beagle (Paperback)
First published 1950
I first read Voyage of the Space Beagle in high school and became an immediate and lasting fan of Van Vogt. The stories comprising this book are obviously at least partial inspiration for much that followed - Star Trek; The Thing; Alien; It, The Terror From Beyond Space and numerous books and stories. You should read this classic of golden age scifi and see for yourself. Incidentally, one line in the movie Men in Black comes almost directly from one of the pieces in the David Drake edited Van Vogt book, Transgalactic.
January 7, 2019
An exploration vessel with a crew complement of almost one thousand wandering between the stars... cue some music. No, wait a minute, it’s not the Enterprise. It’s the Space Beagle. When was this written then? Well, the individual parts that make up this novel were published between 1939 and 1952. This is quite a famous little novel, even though current opinion about it is somewhat divided. Some of the assumptions in this book are rather naïve, such as allowing a foreign organism into an enclosed system (spaceship) without any concern over contamination or disease. Perhaps it’s merely anachronistic: this novel is, after all, from the golden age of Science Fiction. However, if you look at the story with eyes unbiased by 60 years of Science Fiction history and evolution, you should be suitably impressed.
The Discord in Scarlet storyline is especially memorable. A vicious and supernaturally powerful alien steals aboard the human ship; it lays eggs inside its hosts (the hapless humans); it hides in the “miles-long system of air conditioning”; it is bent on survival at all cost... Sound familiar? It should. 20th Century Fox eventually settled out of court, although in all fairness it may have been coincidence after all.
The novel also coined the phrase Nexialism, which is basically a consolidated approach to problem solving, by applying approaches from different sciences. Or, the holistic (“whole”-istic according to the novel) approach. The Anabis sequence contains some startling ideas, such as the teleportation of entire planets to create artificial systems. We are so used to high concept SF these days that it’s somewhat hard to imagine what folk would have experienced when reading this in the 1940s when the sequence was first published (as M33 in Andromeda, Astounding, 1943).
Needless to say, the Voyage of the Space Beagle has influenced the field of Science Fiction and pop culture to a momentous extent. Whether you like the novel or not, there is no denying its impact. Van Vogt’s alien creatures have even made it into Dungeons & Dragons and Final Fantasy, albeit in slightly altered forms. The novel carries its years pretty well, all things considered, and despite the fact that the Space Beagle still sports a mail chute. A true classic.
The Discord in Scarlet storyline is especially memorable. A vicious and supernaturally powerful alien steals aboard the human ship; it lays eggs inside its hosts (the hapless humans); it hides in the “miles-long system of air conditioning”; it is bent on survival at all cost... Sound familiar? It should. 20th Century Fox eventually settled out of court, although in all fairness it may have been coincidence after all.
The novel also coined the phrase Nexialism, which is basically a consolidated approach to problem solving, by applying approaches from different sciences. Or, the holistic (“whole”-istic according to the novel) approach. The Anabis sequence contains some startling ideas, such as the teleportation of entire planets to create artificial systems. We are so used to high concept SF these days that it’s somewhat hard to imagine what folk would have experienced when reading this in the 1940s when the sequence was first published (as M33 in Andromeda, Astounding, 1943).
Needless to say, the Voyage of the Space Beagle has influenced the field of Science Fiction and pop culture to a momentous extent. Whether you like the novel or not, there is no denying its impact. Van Vogt’s alien creatures have even made it into Dungeons & Dragons and Final Fantasy, albeit in slightly altered forms. The novel carries its years pretty well, all things considered, and despite the fact that the Space Beagle still sports a mail chute. A true classic.
December 23, 2024
Interesting and imaginative but dated!
With all the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to read Van Vogt's VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE with the same clarity and futuristic vision that perhaps inspired Gene Roddenberry to spin off STAR TREK vesting the Enterprise with the five year mission to go where no man has gone before. In a style that will remind readers of Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES or Asimov's I, ROBOT, this quintessential example of early pulp science-fiction and space opera - at once fun-loving, thought-provoking, intense, frightening and entertaining - is actually a series of four short stories joined together by the common theme of inter-stellar exploration and alien first contact.
Each of the four stories is brim full of the stock in trade and requisite hard sci-fi toys and elements of the typical stories of the day - blasters, stun guns, force fields, teleportation, bizarre aliens, hostile landscapes, communicators, travel at near light speeds, and the like. But assessing it from the hard side of the sci-fi spectrum, VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE is certainly not unique, has little beyond short-term entertainment value to recommend it and I think most readers would be unlikely to accord it the status of "classic".
But look more closely at the softer side of the sci-fi field of play! Ah, now there's where Voyage of the Space Beagle comes into its own with some compelling and imaginative ideas, insights and questions - Elliot Grosvenor as the expert in the newly founded science of Nexialism which purports to be the nexus or bridge between hitherto unrelated fields of scientific endeavour such as physics, chemistry, metallurgy, geography or sociology for example (a means of looking at the "big" scientific picture from a new meta-level, as it were - do you think we're talking about a 1950s version of Science Officer Spock here?); the social difficulties of a population living in the confined quarters of an exploratory vessel for extended periods; the political, command and management clashes between scientific, technical and military personnel with their varying motives, agendas and decision making styles on such a mission; the completely ineffectual nature of democracy as part of a command structure in the context of such an operation; and the unbridgeable philosophical differences and overwhelming communication difficulties that might be encountered in an alien first contact situation.
Clearly Van Vogt was appreciative of our ultimate smallness in the universe. Like Clifford D Simak, he was also openly critical of man's history of violence and the arrogant impression of his own power and importance:
"You assume far too readily that man is a paragon of justice, forgetting, apparently, that he has a long and savage history. He has killed other animals not only for meat but for pleasure; he has enslaved his neighbors, murdered his opponents, and obtained the most unholy sadistical joy from the agony of others. It is not impossible that we shall, in the course of our travels, meet other intelligent creatures far more worthy than man to rule the universe."
I wonder if Van Vogt appreciated the irony in his own writing. Despite the obvious criticism of the human condition inherent in his character's words, Van Vogt persisted in writing stories in which every alien encounter failed to transcend that hostility and savagery and either began or ended with violent confrontation or battle. For the most part, the inhabitants of the Space Beagle barely even tried. Sigh!
VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE is fun to read, entertaining and imaginative to be sure but not truly visionary and capable of lasting other than as a memento of what good space opera was like in the 50s! Recommended for lovers of classic science fiction.
Paul Weiss
With all the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to read Van Vogt's VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE with the same clarity and futuristic vision that perhaps inspired Gene Roddenberry to spin off STAR TREK vesting the Enterprise with the five year mission to go where no man has gone before. In a style that will remind readers of Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES or Asimov's I, ROBOT, this quintessential example of early pulp science-fiction and space opera - at once fun-loving, thought-provoking, intense, frightening and entertaining - is actually a series of four short stories joined together by the common theme of inter-stellar exploration and alien first contact.
Each of the four stories is brim full of the stock in trade and requisite hard sci-fi toys and elements of the typical stories of the day - blasters, stun guns, force fields, teleportation, bizarre aliens, hostile landscapes, communicators, travel at near light speeds, and the like. But assessing it from the hard side of the sci-fi spectrum, VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE is certainly not unique, has little beyond short-term entertainment value to recommend it and I think most readers would be unlikely to accord it the status of "classic".
But look more closely at the softer side of the sci-fi field of play! Ah, now there's where Voyage of the Space Beagle comes into its own with some compelling and imaginative ideas, insights and questions - Elliot Grosvenor as the expert in the newly founded science of Nexialism which purports to be the nexus or bridge between hitherto unrelated fields of scientific endeavour such as physics, chemistry, metallurgy, geography or sociology for example (a means of looking at the "big" scientific picture from a new meta-level, as it were - do you think we're talking about a 1950s version of Science Officer Spock here?); the social difficulties of a population living in the confined quarters of an exploratory vessel for extended periods; the political, command and management clashes between scientific, technical and military personnel with their varying motives, agendas and decision making styles on such a mission; the completely ineffectual nature of democracy as part of a command structure in the context of such an operation; and the unbridgeable philosophical differences and overwhelming communication difficulties that might be encountered in an alien first contact situation.
Clearly Van Vogt was appreciative of our ultimate smallness in the universe. Like Clifford D Simak, he was also openly critical of man's history of violence and the arrogant impression of his own power and importance:
"You assume far too readily that man is a paragon of justice, forgetting, apparently, that he has a long and savage history. He has killed other animals not only for meat but for pleasure; he has enslaved his neighbors, murdered his opponents, and obtained the most unholy sadistical joy from the agony of others. It is not impossible that we shall, in the course of our travels, meet other intelligent creatures far more worthy than man to rule the universe."
I wonder if Van Vogt appreciated the irony in his own writing. Despite the obvious criticism of the human condition inherent in his character's words, Van Vogt persisted in writing stories in which every alien encounter failed to transcend that hostility and savagery and either began or ended with violent confrontation or battle. For the most part, the inhabitants of the Space Beagle barely even tried. Sigh!
VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE is fun to read, entertaining and imaginative to be sure but not truly visionary and capable of lasting other than as a memento of what good space opera was like in the 50s! Recommended for lovers of classic science fiction.
Paul Weiss
July 11, 2016
July2016: I'm rereading this for the "Evolution of Science Fiction" group read here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
The title makes it obvious, but this is an exploration of strange new creatures - not much of strange new worlds, though. Still, I can see the roots of Star Trek. Less obvious is the exploration of a variety of human ideas through a new science called Nexialism, the science of learning many sciences & how to synthesize them. A science that turns out polymaths, I suppose. Elliott Grosvenor is the department of one on the Beagle. There is also the issue of a crew (all male chemically neutered) living together for years.
This was originally 4 short stories, not 3. Thanks to Buck for the TOC. My old 1950s copy doesn't have one in it, but it reads very well as a novel now, so I'm not listing it as short stories.
Black Destroyer 1939, (chapters 1 to 6) is about the Coeurl, one of the last creatures alive on a dying planet.
War of Nerves 1950, (chapters 9 to 12) is about alien mind control which didn't do much for me. It was the weakest story in the collection, IMO.
Discord in Scarlet 1939, (chapters 13 to 21) might well be the basis for the movie Alien with a bit of the first monster thrown in.
M33 in Andromeda 1943, (chapters 22 to 28) was one of the most interesting in several ways. The 'monster' was quite imaginative & Grosvenor really struts his stuff.
I don't disagree with anything I wrote in my earlier review below, but I think I underrated the book badly. While much of the science isn't well explained, it's certainly not as magical as so much was during this time period. Both Star Trek & the Alien movies seem to have grown out of this pioneering work & I wouldn't be surprised if others got their inspiration from it. On top of all that, it's still highly readable so many decades later. I almost feel bad only giving it 4 stars. Highly recommended for anyone into the evolution of SF. Van Vogt was certainly one of the giants.
Old review (2008? Last read... 2000?): 3 stars. Van Vogt collected three short stories together into a novel. It reads well, though. As you'd suspect, the Space Beagle is an exploratory space ship that runs into several different first contact scenarios. One is a very interesting failure to communicate. The other two have a lot in common; extreme power, immortality, war & stagnation. All have a lot of action & are tied together by a new breed of scientist, one who ties together the various specialties. There is a strong theme of 'the left hand not knowing what the right is doing' among the various scientific specialties. Very well done.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
The title makes it obvious, but this is an exploration of strange new creatures - not much of strange new worlds, though. Still, I can see the roots of Star Trek. Less obvious is the exploration of a variety of human ideas through a new science called Nexialism, the science of learning many sciences & how to synthesize them. A science that turns out polymaths, I suppose. Elliott Grosvenor is the department of one on the Beagle. There is also the issue of a crew (all male chemically neutered) living together for years.
This was originally 4 short stories, not 3. Thanks to Buck for the TOC. My old 1950s copy doesn't have one in it, but it reads very well as a novel now, so I'm not listing it as short stories.
Black Destroyer 1939, (chapters 1 to 6) is about the Coeurl, one of the last creatures alive on a dying planet.
War of Nerves 1950, (chapters 9 to 12) is about alien mind control which didn't do much for me. It was the weakest story in the collection, IMO.
Discord in Scarlet 1939, (chapters 13 to 21) might well be the basis for the movie Alien with a bit of the first monster thrown in.
M33 in Andromeda 1943, (chapters 22 to 28) was one of the most interesting in several ways. The 'monster' was quite imaginative & Grosvenor really struts his stuff.
I don't disagree with anything I wrote in my earlier review below, but I think I underrated the book badly. While much of the science isn't well explained, it's certainly not as magical as so much was during this time period. Both Star Trek & the Alien movies seem to have grown out of this pioneering work & I wouldn't be surprised if others got their inspiration from it. On top of all that, it's still highly readable so many decades later. I almost feel bad only giving it 4 stars. Highly recommended for anyone into the evolution of SF. Van Vogt was certainly one of the giants.
Old review (2008? Last read... 2000?): 3 stars. Van Vogt collected three short stories together into a novel. It reads well, though. As you'd suspect, the Space Beagle is an exploratory space ship that runs into several different first contact scenarios. One is a very interesting failure to communicate. The other two have a lot in common; extreme power, immortality, war & stagnation. All have a lot of action & are tied together by a new breed of scientist, one who ties together the various specialties. There is a strong theme of 'the left hand not knowing what the right is doing' among the various scientific specialties. Very well done.
June 15, 2020
Space is deadly. Deadly fun!
I see comparisons to Star Trek, which I think hold to some extent. But unlike the Enterprise, the Space Beagle is first and foremost a vessel of scientific research. van Vogt digs deeper than your typical golden age sci-fi adventure pulps, plumbing a wide range of scientific disciplines in dissecting the deadly wonders encountered by the Space Beagle.
I found the narrative, settings and situations the crew gets into very compelling. van Vogt has a flair for creating unusual situations and dynamics, which don't always fit together as expected. However, these get weighed down with dialogue of the scientists' hypothesizing as they examine the dangers they face. With every one we hear the musings of the biologist, the chemist, the historian, etc, before some course of action is chosen, by committee vote. So, just like Star Trek ... if the Enterprise was crewed only by Vulcans.
I see comparisons to Star Trek, which I think hold to some extent. But unlike the Enterprise, the Space Beagle is first and foremost a vessel of scientific research. van Vogt digs deeper than your typical golden age sci-fi adventure pulps, plumbing a wide range of scientific disciplines in dissecting the deadly wonders encountered by the Space Beagle.
I found the narrative, settings and situations the crew gets into very compelling. van Vogt has a flair for creating unusual situations and dynamics, which don't always fit together as expected. However, these get weighed down with dialogue of the scientists' hypothesizing as they examine the dangers they face. With every one we hear the musings of the biologist, the chemist, the historian, etc, before some course of action is chosen, by committee vote. So, just like Star Trek ... if the Enterprise was crewed only by Vulcans.
June 7, 2024
‘Voyage of the Space Beagle’ by A. E. van Vogt was eye-opening for me! The science fiction novel is actually four linked stories in the manner pursued by the newer Star Trek series - the having of one major story or a character’s dilemma carried in the background from episode to episode until a Big Finish episode, while each of the episodes individually had a new story in the foreground. The four stories originally were published separately in popular science fiction magazines. The Space Beagle is an intergalactic space ship traveling through space: “Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before!” Does this sound familiar?
Three of these stories were written in 1939, the fourth being written in 1943.
But there’s more!
In one story, there is a space creature which is almost invincible. It lays eggs inside of living people. The egg, upon hatching inside a person, eats it way out.
One of the crewman, thirty-one-year-old Elliott Grosvenor (our apparently selfless hero), practices a holistic self-education system called Nexialism, “… integration of many sciences…”. It’s about learning a little about a lot of stuff, not specializing in any single field of science. Nexialists specialize in training the mind’s mental approaches to acquiring knowledge and information, so that a practitioner is able to be more of a polymath than an expert in one thing. Practitioners also learn emotional self-control. Their Big Picture mental process puts facts before emotions even as the practitioner takes care to examine the emotions of everyone around them, taking the feelings of individuals psychologically into account as a factor in conclusions. The purpose is to arrive at logical conclusions which are the best option for survival of the many, even at the expense of the one.
Sound familiar?
Of course, almost every department head, military leader and technician boss on the ship thinks Grosvenor is too stupid to live. Only their subordinates and junior scientists bother to answer his questions - IF their bosses haven’t ordered them not to talk to him. Which some of them have done so.
The ship’s crew are divided into two groups of men with authority: scientists and military types, with the military men believing the scientists are fools, and the scientists thinking the non-scientists incapable of logic or having intelligence. Since the stories were written in 1939 and 1943, there are no women aboard.
Such a happy ship! Clearly they will pull all together in facing several strange monsters who attack them before they understand the nature of what is attacking them or why.
No, not. Sigh.
Gentler readers, this is a novel which is the source of many ideas which were extrapolated by science fiction writers later in the twentieth century! There are a lot of science and sociology discussions between the various scientists that reminded me of the discussions that happen on the Star Trek shows, especially the newer ones, as the specialists try to understand the nature of the monsters and how to defend the ship against them.
I have to admit I enjoyed the book the most in identifying what plot points have been rebooted and make-overed by our current crop of science fiction writers.
Some quotes from the novel are eerily appropriate in the interrogation of recent witnesses who were summoned by U.S. Congress extreme right-wing Republicans to a hearing before a House subcommittee. The witnesses/scientists were insulted, threatened and verbally intimidated in Congressional hearings by House Representatives who are followers of Donald Trump’s manner of controlling everyone around him.
From the book:
””I notice,” said Grosvenor, “you didn’t say anything about his qualifications for the job.””
“”It’s not a vital position, generally speaking. He can get advice from experts on anything he wants to know.”” McCann pursed his lips. ““It’s hard to put Kent’s appeal into words, but I think that scientists are constantly on the defensive about their alleged unfeeling intellectualism. So they like to have someone fronting for them who is emotional but whose scientific qualifications cannot be questioned.””
Grosvenor shook his head. ““I disagree with you about the director’s job not being vital. It all depends on the individual as to how he exercises the very considerable authority involved.””
McCann studied him shrewdly. He said finally, ““Strictly logical men like you have always had a hard time understanding the mass appeal of the Kents. They haven’t much chance against his type, politically.””
Grosvenor smiled grimly. “”It’s not their devotion to the scientific method that defeats the technologists. It’s their integrity. The average trained man often understand the tactics that are used against him better than the person who uses them, but he cannot bring himself to retaliate in kind without feeling tarnished.””
The Republicans are definitely using the approach the character Kent uses to acquire power over the other men traveling in the Space Beagle. Truth be damned, even if one’s lies or one’s egotistical need to be in charge kills more people.
The crazy nonsensical attack approach using exaggerations, misdirections, false narratives, the not-relevant sideways issues and lies:
https://youtu.be/vIwFeG1TAxY?si=AL2m5...
https://youtu.be/hk6y19AbLNE?si=GJ62C...
https://youtu.be/vCq6haTQZtg?si=9ZWjb...
https://youtu.be/2GgpKRoRYGE?si=XxMNv...
https://youtu.be/zWwuOZ18ABA?si=H5KCq...
https://youtu.be/u2CVFS6MT1E?si=v3lNu...
The more fact-based, but still obviously hostile, not accepting anything you say, spinning the truth to suit the beliefs of the ignorant, approach:
https://youtu.be/b7Q28CcUEzw?si=duK_c...
https://youtu.be/hahOJNKFLRI?si=ZMT7R...
https://youtu.be/HxOhlnje_GA?si=i5af1...
https://youtu.be/RARlZ3eIKCM?si=ywUEb...
https://youtu.be/K-O-QtDEwyU?si=_r8IL...
In the hearing, various Republicans accuse Dr. Fauci and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of being responsible for bringing the virus Covid-19 to America. In tones of severe disapproval, the Republicans express amazement that this rumored creation of Covid-19 for the NIH and Dr. Fauci was paid for by American taxpayer money. The Republicans give no reason WHY the NIH or Dr. Fauci would want the American people specifically to die from Covid. Republicans are convinced the proof of their suspicions have been deleted from computers. The absence of proof is the proof. They also quote from published articles stating suspicions and opinions of individual medical professionals who are known to be on the fringes of real science supporting their accusations.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave a small amount of money, $120,000, to the Wuhan lnstitute of Virology, which has an annual billion-dollar budget of operating funds. NIH did NOT instruct the Chinese scientists to create Covid-19 with the money from the NIH. It was for another study, for which there is ample proof. Plus, there is no way $120,000 would begin to cover the cost of development of a virus like Covid-19. There is absolutely NO proof at all that the NIH or Dr. Fauci personally required the Chinese to develop the Covid-19 virus for the purpose of distributing the virus throughout America to kill American citizens.
Every country in the world had people dying from Covid, including Chinese people. I find it difficult to believe the Chinese government had a design of genocide to kill off all of Humanity, including their own people. Since Covid-19 was deadly mostly to the elderly and the sick and the immune-compromised, I think this is a very strange designer virus for genocide, created apparently by the Chinese on behalf of Dr. Fauci’s and the NIH’s plot to kill everyone in the world. It clearly isn’t very efficient at killing everyone, unless you are sick, immune-compromised or old, which, hello, is not EvErYOnE, is it?
Making children wear masks is not a type of torture. Making adults wear masks is not type of torture. Wearing a mask does not hurt at all. Many Republicans in the hearing equate it with being an evil torture terrible to endure. I have worn a variety of masks. None of them hurt me. I have friends, relatives and neighbors who wore masks. None of them expressed any pain from doing do.
Beating up a kid hurts a kid. Burning a kid with fire hurts a kid. Breaking a kid’s bones hurts a kid. Spanking a kid hurts a kid. Physically assaulting a kid hurts a kid. Falling down hurts a kid. These are facts. A kid wearing a mask does not hurt a kid’s face, or his body for the matter. Lots of kids wore masks during the pandemic without any pain. Some experienced annoyance, though.
Wearing a mask does not hurt. Since it doesn’t hurt, it can’t be defined as a torture. Full stop. This is a fact.
Statistically, children are more resistant to Covid, but they can carry the virus home to their parents and grandparents who do not have the resistance that children have. Many children were discovered to carry the virus if they were exposed but they were asymptomatic. However, when adult teachers, parents, grandparents, fellow adult passengers on trains/planes/cars/buses are exposed to Covid-19 consisting of virus particles being breathed out by asymptomatic and not-sick-at-all kids, the adults around them can get very sick. Teachers were very afraid of catching Covid-19 from the kids, not vice versa. Not that any of the Republicans mentioned this FACT. Many teachers refused to come to work because they were afraid of catching Covid-19 from their kids. Fact. This is why kids were required to wear masks. It wasn’t the kid who needed protecting from Covid, generally. Also, sidebar, many kids are immune-compromised because of health issues. They COULD get sick and die from Covid-19. Also, a mask was intended not only to protect the wearer from the virus which might be being passed around in the room by another person, but they were worn to protect others from a person who had the virus and was wearing a mask because they were breathing it out of their mouth.
They also went after Dr. Fauci for recommending people get vaccinated. Most private corporations and state institutions gave people the choice to get the vaccination or not. If they didn’t get it, they were told to stay home. Many of the unvaccinated lost their jobs because they weren’t permitted to go to their place of work to do their jobs unvaccinated. If they had got vaccinated, they would have kept their jobs. The corporations and institutions, and especially the government which would and did foot most of the bills from taxpayer money to care for sick people, did not want the other employees to get sick with Covid, mild as it was if one was vaccinated. Or worse, while vaccinated employees might be asymptomatic because they were vaccinated, they could still pass on the virus carried into the room by the unvaccinated to elderly or immune-compromised family members or friends or neighbors at home who could not get the vaccination safely due to poor health or youth. From what I heard from non-vaxxers and the House Republicans, they did not think passing on the virus to their fellow employees, family members and friends and children, and possibly killing them, was as important as what they felt was their own right to not get vaccinated. They want to choose to not get vaccinated even if it meant killing other people who could not get vaccinated because of their health or for whom the vaccine did not work well. Somehow, non-vaxxers can’t hear themselves, I guess, because what they are actually saying is “I will kill you if your genetics has made you susceptible to the virus, and your immune-compromised children, your elderly parents and grandparents, by giving you the virus to make you sick and then pass on, because I don’t want to get vaccinated. Or wear a painless mask that doesn’t hurt but it annoys me.”
The Republicans pointed out vaccination didn’t work for everyone. In their spinning of the science, that made the recommendation of getting vaccinated or getting fired if one doesn’t get vaccinated an evil demand without merit. Many of them would not allow Dr. Fauci to point out the obvious reasons why the vaccine didn’t work for everyone, interrupting his explanations. A few questioners finally allowed him to talk and explain. The main reason is the Covid virus mutates. A Covid vaccine works very well on one variety of Covid. But soon there is another variety of Covid circulating and the vaccine being used doesn’t work on it. So another vaccine has to be created to deal with the new type of Covid virus. Simple, yes? Dr. Fauci pointed out the measles virus does not mutate, so the vaccine one gets for the measles lasts for decades. This is not true with Covid-19 vaccines because the Covid virus in the wild mutates all of the time.
The Republicans didn’t want him to really respond, though, and shouted him down with insults and misdirection.
Another reason the vaccine does not work was the vaccine designed for a specific type of Covid stops working in time, its protective effect of stimulating the body’s immune system working less and less. The science answer to that is booster shots.
I mean, it is what it is. Perhaps in the future the scientists will develop a vaccine which works for decades against all the different mutations of Covid-19, but that day is not here. But, as far as the Republicans are concerned, these unavoidable problems with vaccinating people against Covid with the current manufacturing processes and science discoveries about the virus are a conspiracy against the American people.
Again, can these Republicans hear themselves? They are angry that people are being saved by getting vaccinated? The vaccinated are not killing the immune-compromised and the elderly and others who have weakened immune systems, by passing on the virus to them because they got vaccinated?
Well, the character Kent reminded me a lot of these House Republicans. Grosvener reminded me of poor Dr. Fauci.
If those Youtube videos on that wild so-called hearing to discover facts that was performed by House Republicans doesn’t blow your mind, here is what was recommended by a different United States Congress, along with many other countries around the world faced with a pandemic exactly similar to the one caused by Covid:
”Responses
Public health management
Coromandel Hospital Board (New Zealand) advice to influenza sufferers (1918)
In September 1918, the Red Cross recommended two-layer gauze masks to halt the spread of "plague".
1918 Chicago newspaper headlines reflect mitigation strategies such as increased ventilation, arrests for not wearing face masks, sequenced inoculations, limitations on crowd size, selective closing of businesses, curfews, and lockdowns. After October's strict containment measures showed some success, Armistice Day celebrations in November and relaxed attitudes by Thanksgiving caused a resurgence.
While systems for alerting public health authorities of infectious spread did exist in 1918, they did not generally include influenza, leading to a delayed response. Nevertheless, actions were taken. Maritime quarantines were declared on islands such as Iceland, Australia, and American Samoa, saving many lives. Social distancing measures were introduced, for example closing schools, theatres, and places of worship, limiting public transportation, and banning mass gatherings. Wearing face masks became common in some places, such as Japan, though there were debates over their efficacy.[228] There was also some resistance to their use, as exemplified by the Anti-Mask League of San Francisco. Vaccines were also developed, but as these were based on bacteria and not the actual virus, they could only help with secondary infections. The actual enforcement of various restrictions varied. To a large extent, the New York City health commissioner ordered businesses to open and close on staggered shifts to avoid overcrowding on the subways.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish...
Three of these stories were written in 1939, the fourth being written in 1943.
But there’s more!
In one story, there is a space creature which is almost invincible. It lays eggs inside of living people. The egg, upon hatching inside a person, eats it way out.
One of the crewman, thirty-one-year-old Elliott Grosvenor (our apparently selfless hero), practices a holistic self-education system called Nexialism, “… integration of many sciences…”. It’s about learning a little about a lot of stuff, not specializing in any single field of science. Nexialists specialize in training the mind’s mental approaches to acquiring knowledge and information, so that a practitioner is able to be more of a polymath than an expert in one thing. Practitioners also learn emotional self-control. Their Big Picture mental process puts facts before emotions even as the practitioner takes care to examine the emotions of everyone around them, taking the feelings of individuals psychologically into account as a factor in conclusions. The purpose is to arrive at logical conclusions which are the best option for survival of the many, even at the expense of the one.
Sound familiar?
Of course, almost every department head, military leader and technician boss on the ship thinks Grosvenor is too stupid to live. Only their subordinates and junior scientists bother to answer his questions - IF their bosses haven’t ordered them not to talk to him. Which some of them have done so.
The ship’s crew are divided into two groups of men with authority: scientists and military types, with the military men believing the scientists are fools, and the scientists thinking the non-scientists incapable of logic or having intelligence. Since the stories were written in 1939 and 1943, there are no women aboard.
Such a happy ship! Clearly they will pull all together in facing several strange monsters who attack them before they understand the nature of what is attacking them or why.
No, not. Sigh.
Gentler readers, this is a novel which is the source of many ideas which were extrapolated by science fiction writers later in the twentieth century! There are a lot of science and sociology discussions between the various scientists that reminded me of the discussions that happen on the Star Trek shows, especially the newer ones, as the specialists try to understand the nature of the monsters and how to defend the ship against them.
I have to admit I enjoyed the book the most in identifying what plot points have been rebooted and make-overed by our current crop of science fiction writers.
Some quotes from the novel are eerily appropriate in the interrogation of recent witnesses who were summoned by U.S. Congress extreme right-wing Republicans to a hearing before a House subcommittee. The witnesses/scientists were insulted, threatened and verbally intimidated in Congressional hearings by House Representatives who are followers of Donald Trump’s manner of controlling everyone around him.
From the book:
””I notice,” said Grosvenor, “you didn’t say anything about his qualifications for the job.””
“”It’s not a vital position, generally speaking. He can get advice from experts on anything he wants to know.”” McCann pursed his lips. ““It’s hard to put Kent’s appeal into words, but I think that scientists are constantly on the defensive about their alleged unfeeling intellectualism. So they like to have someone fronting for them who is emotional but whose scientific qualifications cannot be questioned.””
Grosvenor shook his head. ““I disagree with you about the director’s job not being vital. It all depends on the individual as to how he exercises the very considerable authority involved.””
McCann studied him shrewdly. He said finally, ““Strictly logical men like you have always had a hard time understanding the mass appeal of the Kents. They haven’t much chance against his type, politically.””
Grosvenor smiled grimly. “”It’s not their devotion to the scientific method that defeats the technologists. It’s their integrity. The average trained man often understand the tactics that are used against him better than the person who uses them, but he cannot bring himself to retaliate in kind without feeling tarnished.””
The Republicans are definitely using the approach the character Kent uses to acquire power over the other men traveling in the Space Beagle. Truth be damned, even if one’s lies or one’s egotistical need to be in charge kills more people.
The crazy nonsensical attack approach using exaggerations, misdirections, false narratives, the not-relevant sideways issues and lies:
https://youtu.be/vIwFeG1TAxY?si=AL2m5...
https://youtu.be/hk6y19AbLNE?si=GJ62C...
https://youtu.be/vCq6haTQZtg?si=9ZWjb...
https://youtu.be/2GgpKRoRYGE?si=XxMNv...
https://youtu.be/zWwuOZ18ABA?si=H5KCq...
https://youtu.be/u2CVFS6MT1E?si=v3lNu...
The more fact-based, but still obviously hostile, not accepting anything you say, spinning the truth to suit the beliefs of the ignorant, approach:
https://youtu.be/b7Q28CcUEzw?si=duK_c...
https://youtu.be/hahOJNKFLRI?si=ZMT7R...
https://youtu.be/HxOhlnje_GA?si=i5af1...
https://youtu.be/RARlZ3eIKCM?si=ywUEb...
https://youtu.be/K-O-QtDEwyU?si=_r8IL...
In the hearing, various Republicans accuse Dr. Fauci and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of being responsible for bringing the virus Covid-19 to America. In tones of severe disapproval, the Republicans express amazement that this rumored creation of Covid-19 for the NIH and Dr. Fauci was paid for by American taxpayer money. The Republicans give no reason WHY the NIH or Dr. Fauci would want the American people specifically to die from Covid. Republicans are convinced the proof of their suspicions have been deleted from computers. The absence of proof is the proof. They also quote from published articles stating suspicions and opinions of individual medical professionals who are known to be on the fringes of real science supporting their accusations.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave a small amount of money, $120,000, to the Wuhan lnstitute of Virology, which has an annual billion-dollar budget of operating funds. NIH did NOT instruct the Chinese scientists to create Covid-19 with the money from the NIH. It was for another study, for which there is ample proof. Plus, there is no way $120,000 would begin to cover the cost of development of a virus like Covid-19. There is absolutely NO proof at all that the NIH or Dr. Fauci personally required the Chinese to develop the Covid-19 virus for the purpose of distributing the virus throughout America to kill American citizens.
Every country in the world had people dying from Covid, including Chinese people. I find it difficult to believe the Chinese government had a design of genocide to kill off all of Humanity, including their own people. Since Covid-19 was deadly mostly to the elderly and the sick and the immune-compromised, I think this is a very strange designer virus for genocide, created apparently by the Chinese on behalf of Dr. Fauci’s and the NIH’s plot to kill everyone in the world. It clearly isn’t very efficient at killing everyone, unless you are sick, immune-compromised or old, which, hello, is not EvErYOnE, is it?
Making children wear masks is not a type of torture. Making adults wear masks is not type of torture. Wearing a mask does not hurt at all. Many Republicans in the hearing equate it with being an evil torture terrible to endure. I have worn a variety of masks. None of them hurt me. I have friends, relatives and neighbors who wore masks. None of them expressed any pain from doing do.
Beating up a kid hurts a kid. Burning a kid with fire hurts a kid. Breaking a kid’s bones hurts a kid. Spanking a kid hurts a kid. Physically assaulting a kid hurts a kid. Falling down hurts a kid. These are facts. A kid wearing a mask does not hurt a kid’s face, or his body for the matter. Lots of kids wore masks during the pandemic without any pain. Some experienced annoyance, though.
Wearing a mask does not hurt. Since it doesn’t hurt, it can’t be defined as a torture. Full stop. This is a fact.
Statistically, children are more resistant to Covid, but they can carry the virus home to their parents and grandparents who do not have the resistance that children have. Many children were discovered to carry the virus if they were exposed but they were asymptomatic. However, when adult teachers, parents, grandparents, fellow adult passengers on trains/planes/cars/buses are exposed to Covid-19 consisting of virus particles being breathed out by asymptomatic and not-sick-at-all kids, the adults around them can get very sick. Teachers were very afraid of catching Covid-19 from the kids, not vice versa. Not that any of the Republicans mentioned this FACT. Many teachers refused to come to work because they were afraid of catching Covid-19 from their kids. Fact. This is why kids were required to wear masks. It wasn’t the kid who needed protecting from Covid, generally. Also, sidebar, many kids are immune-compromised because of health issues. They COULD get sick and die from Covid-19. Also, a mask was intended not only to protect the wearer from the virus which might be being passed around in the room by another person, but they were worn to protect others from a person who had the virus and was wearing a mask because they were breathing it out of their mouth.
They also went after Dr. Fauci for recommending people get vaccinated. Most private corporations and state institutions gave people the choice to get the vaccination or not. If they didn’t get it, they were told to stay home. Many of the unvaccinated lost their jobs because they weren’t permitted to go to their place of work to do their jobs unvaccinated. If they had got vaccinated, they would have kept their jobs. The corporations and institutions, and especially the government which would and did foot most of the bills from taxpayer money to care for sick people, did not want the other employees to get sick with Covid, mild as it was if one was vaccinated. Or worse, while vaccinated employees might be asymptomatic because they were vaccinated, they could still pass on the virus carried into the room by the unvaccinated to elderly or immune-compromised family members or friends or neighbors at home who could not get the vaccination safely due to poor health or youth. From what I heard from non-vaxxers and the House Republicans, they did not think passing on the virus to their fellow employees, family members and friends and children, and possibly killing them, was as important as what they felt was their own right to not get vaccinated. They want to choose to not get vaccinated even if it meant killing other people who could not get vaccinated because of their health or for whom the vaccine did not work well. Somehow, non-vaxxers can’t hear themselves, I guess, because what they are actually saying is “I will kill you if your genetics has made you susceptible to the virus, and your immune-compromised children, your elderly parents and grandparents, by giving you the virus to make you sick and then pass on, because I don’t want to get vaccinated. Or wear a painless mask that doesn’t hurt but it annoys me.”
The Republicans pointed out vaccination didn’t work for everyone. In their spinning of the science, that made the recommendation of getting vaccinated or getting fired if one doesn’t get vaccinated an evil demand without merit. Many of them would not allow Dr. Fauci to point out the obvious reasons why the vaccine didn’t work for everyone, interrupting his explanations. A few questioners finally allowed him to talk and explain. The main reason is the Covid virus mutates. A Covid vaccine works very well on one variety of Covid. But soon there is another variety of Covid circulating and the vaccine being used doesn’t work on it. So another vaccine has to be created to deal with the new type of Covid virus. Simple, yes? Dr. Fauci pointed out the measles virus does not mutate, so the vaccine one gets for the measles lasts for decades. This is not true with Covid-19 vaccines because the Covid virus in the wild mutates all of the time.
The Republicans didn’t want him to really respond, though, and shouted him down with insults and misdirection.
Another reason the vaccine does not work was the vaccine designed for a specific type of Covid stops working in time, its protective effect of stimulating the body’s immune system working less and less. The science answer to that is booster shots.
I mean, it is what it is. Perhaps in the future the scientists will develop a vaccine which works for decades against all the different mutations of Covid-19, but that day is not here. But, as far as the Republicans are concerned, these unavoidable problems with vaccinating people against Covid with the current manufacturing processes and science discoveries about the virus are a conspiracy against the American people.
Again, can these Republicans hear themselves? They are angry that people are being saved by getting vaccinated? The vaccinated are not killing the immune-compromised and the elderly and others who have weakened immune systems, by passing on the virus to them because they got vaccinated?
Well, the character Kent reminded me a lot of these House Republicans. Grosvener reminded me of poor Dr. Fauci.
If those Youtube videos on that wild so-called hearing to discover facts that was performed by House Republicans doesn’t blow your mind, here is what was recommended by a different United States Congress, along with many other countries around the world faced with a pandemic exactly similar to the one caused by Covid:
”Responses
Public health management
Coromandel Hospital Board (New Zealand) advice to influenza sufferers (1918)
In September 1918, the Red Cross recommended two-layer gauze masks to halt the spread of "plague".
1918 Chicago newspaper headlines reflect mitigation strategies such as increased ventilation, arrests for not wearing face masks, sequenced inoculations, limitations on crowd size, selective closing of businesses, curfews, and lockdowns. After October's strict containment measures showed some success, Armistice Day celebrations in November and relaxed attitudes by Thanksgiving caused a resurgence.
While systems for alerting public health authorities of infectious spread did exist in 1918, they did not generally include influenza, leading to a delayed response. Nevertheless, actions were taken. Maritime quarantines were declared on islands such as Iceland, Australia, and American Samoa, saving many lives. Social distancing measures were introduced, for example closing schools, theatres, and places of worship, limiting public transportation, and banning mass gatherings. Wearing face masks became common in some places, such as Japan, though there were debates over their efficacy.[228] There was also some resistance to their use, as exemplified by the Anti-Mask League of San Francisco. Vaccines were also developed, but as these were based on bacteria and not the actual virus, they could only help with secondary infections. The actual enforcement of various restrictions varied. To a large extent, the New York City health commissioner ordered businesses to open and close on staggered shifts to avoid overcrowding on the subways.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish...
September 18, 2010
I read this undistinguished piece of space opera when I was about 15. I can't say that I was a terribly discerning reader in those days - basically I read any SF I got my hands on, and enjoyed most of it - but there was one episode that managed to shock even my unreflective teenage self. I don't remember all the details, but it went something like this. The eponymous ship is several million light-years from home when it's attacked by a mysterious disembodied entity. It turns out that the aggressor is a huge, non-sentient creature that has grown to fill its entire galaxy.
Well... we can't have disembodied, galactic-sized aliens attacking human spacecraft, can we! Besides, suppose it followed us back to our own galaxy? It is a little hard to see what you could do to defeat a foe as large as this one, but word "impossible" doesn't feature in our intrepid heroes' dictionary. (Truth to tell, their dictionary also lacked many other words, vocabulary not being A.E. van Vogt's greatest strength, but let's not get diverted). They have a problem, and they're darn well going to solve it! So they build self-replicating nuclear missile factories, presumably equipped with their own faster-than-light drives so that they can spread quickly enough, and soon the creature's galaxy is filled with robot missile bases. One push of the button, and - poof! - the giant enemy has been eradicated.
As far as I can recall, van Vogt does it straight, without the least hint of irony. Well, there's early 1950s America for you. Something's changed, hasn't it?
Well... we can't have disembodied, galactic-sized aliens attacking human spacecraft, can we! Besides, suppose it followed us back to our own galaxy? It is a little hard to see what you could do to defeat a foe as large as this one, but word "impossible" doesn't feature in our intrepid heroes' dictionary. (Truth to tell, their dictionary also lacked many other words, vocabulary not being A.E. van Vogt's greatest strength, but let's not get diverted). They have a problem, and they're darn well going to solve it! So they build self-replicating nuclear missile factories, presumably equipped with their own faster-than-light drives so that they can spread quickly enough, and soon the creature's galaxy is filled with robot missile bases. One push of the button, and - poof! - the giant enemy has been eradicated.
As far as I can recall, van Vogt does it straight, without the least hint of irony. Well, there's early 1950s America for you. Something's changed, hasn't it?
September 25, 2014
Let me see if I understand: these explorers are the product of a galactic civilization, with atomic foundries to transmute base metals into super-substances, the ability to transverse and leave the galaxy itself, to reignite stars and relocate planets...and their interoffice mail system is based on pneumatic tubes?
There's a tremendous subtext at play throughout the entire work. In addition to the obvious fight-the-phenomenally-dangerous-monster plot lines, there are meditations on Oswald Spengler's model of civilization--particularly the analogy of seasons--and on the interaction of politics, command structure, and specialization of knowledge.
Of course, van Vogt has thoughts on all this. He seems obsessed with thought-systems, and invests tremendously into his invented Nexialism science and Spengler's model, which finds application in the strangest of places. I personally did not find the Nexialism discussions interesting, as its use appeared limited to making Elliot Grosvenor look awesome compared to the boring specialist scientists.
There's a tremendous subtext at play throughout the entire work. In addition to the obvious fight-the-phenomenally-dangerous-monster plot lines, there are meditations on Oswald Spengler's model of civilization--particularly the analogy of seasons--and on the interaction of politics, command structure, and specialization of knowledge.
Of course, van Vogt has thoughts on all this. He seems obsessed with thought-systems, and invests tremendously into his invented Nexialism science and Spengler's model, which finds application in the strangest of places. I personally did not find the Nexialism discussions interesting, as its use appeared limited to making Elliot Grosvenor look awesome compared to the boring specialist scientists.
March 30, 2011
Written in 1939, The Voyage of the Space Beagle reads like the prototype for Star Trek. A multinational crew of scientists and the military embark on a ten-year mission to explore the galaxy, seeking out new aliens and almost being killed by them (they even have 'shields).
Grosvenor, our protagonist, is in many ways reminiscent of Mr. Spock: both are awkward, intelligent men mistrusted by their emotional shipmates because of their cool rationality. He also shares the standard characteristics of Van Vogt's heroes: he is a master of a superscience unknown to other men, capable of predicting them and controlling them through crystals and hypnotism.
As in Slan, Van Vogt is not above resolving plot conflicts through convenient introductions of supertech, but here, those resolutions are often secondary to the protagonist's interpersonal relationships and moral quandries. While in Slan, the hero lives an isolated life, working against invisible enemies, Grosvenor is constantly embroiled in social interaction.
At first, I found the character intriguing, a portrait of a strange, off-putting man trying to survive in close quarters on the long mission. Early on, we see him making many small, manipulative moves, reading and weighing those around him.
Eventually, Van Vogt gives in to the sci fi author's vice of overexplaining, and reveals that Grosvenor is acting this way because he is a student of a new, unproven science, a superscience that combines all the other sciences and relies on hypnotic sleep-learning. Soon, the majority of his thoughts revolve around philosophical discussions of how this science came about and what its purpose is, and his actions are chiefly to promote it (when he isn't saving the stubborn crew from certain death).
No matter how many times Grosvenor's new science proves him right, he always finds himself struggling to convince anyone around him to believe him. There are some amusing asides about how this happens, psychologically, since no man aboard is in a position to double-check Grosvenor's unique methods, and his assuredness makes others resentful.
But he still manages to overcome (did we ever doubt?) a series of unconnected episodes, again, evoking Star Trek or other 'monster of the week' serials. The first plot parallels the film Alien, and so does the third; the others are familiar to any sci fi fan.
Though this series of related short stories means that the book has less of a grand arc, it also allows the author to explore a number of different themes and styles, while the less differentiated Slan tends to drag on a bit. I've noticed that, for a lot of authors, especially pulp authors, their short story collections are much more thoughtful and complex than their novels.
That being said, it also often makes for a rather swift, neat ending, and we have the same here. For all that the final story builds, its resolution is rather abrupt. It seems that Van Vogt was able to produce greater depth by relying on psychological interaction, but once the interpersonal conflicts are resolved, the huge, galaxy-threatening problems that caused them are mere afterthoughts.
Van Vogt hardly overcomes his limitations, but he is able to mitigate them with deeper character exploration and more variance in plotting. As usual, he demonstrates a vivid, creative mind, combining many concepts to create his stories, but his science is shaky, his writing sometimes inelegant, and so he can't be said to outstrip earlier authors like Verne or Huxley.
Grosvenor, our protagonist, is in many ways reminiscent of Mr. Spock: both are awkward, intelligent men mistrusted by their emotional shipmates because of their cool rationality. He also shares the standard characteristics of Van Vogt's heroes: he is a master of a superscience unknown to other men, capable of predicting them and controlling them through crystals and hypnotism.
As in Slan, Van Vogt is not above resolving plot conflicts through convenient introductions of supertech, but here, those resolutions are often secondary to the protagonist's interpersonal relationships and moral quandries. While in Slan, the hero lives an isolated life, working against invisible enemies, Grosvenor is constantly embroiled in social interaction.
At first, I found the character intriguing, a portrait of a strange, off-putting man trying to survive in close quarters on the long mission. Early on, we see him making many small, manipulative moves, reading and weighing those around him.
Eventually, Van Vogt gives in to the sci fi author's vice of overexplaining, and reveals that Grosvenor is acting this way because he is a student of a new, unproven science, a superscience that combines all the other sciences and relies on hypnotic sleep-learning. Soon, the majority of his thoughts revolve around philosophical discussions of how this science came about and what its purpose is, and his actions are chiefly to promote it (when he isn't saving the stubborn crew from certain death).
No matter how many times Grosvenor's new science proves him right, he always finds himself struggling to convince anyone around him to believe him. There are some amusing asides about how this happens, psychologically, since no man aboard is in a position to double-check Grosvenor's unique methods, and his assuredness makes others resentful.
But he still manages to overcome (did we ever doubt?) a series of unconnected episodes, again, evoking Star Trek or other 'monster of the week' serials. The first plot parallels the film Alien, and so does the third; the others are familiar to any sci fi fan.
Though this series of related short stories means that the book has less of a grand arc, it also allows the author to explore a number of different themes and styles, while the less differentiated Slan tends to drag on a bit. I've noticed that, for a lot of authors, especially pulp authors, their short story collections are much more thoughtful and complex than their novels.
That being said, it also often makes for a rather swift, neat ending, and we have the same here. For all that the final story builds, its resolution is rather abrupt. It seems that Van Vogt was able to produce greater depth by relying on psychological interaction, but once the interpersonal conflicts are resolved, the huge, galaxy-threatening problems that caused them are mere afterthoughts.
Van Vogt hardly overcomes his limitations, but he is able to mitigate them with deeper character exploration and more variance in plotting. As usual, he demonstrates a vivid, creative mind, combining many concepts to create his stories, but his science is shaky, his writing sometimes inelegant, and so he can't be said to outstrip earlier authors like Verne or Huxley.
July 23, 2017
1939 ile 1950 yılları arasında yazılmış dört hikayenin birleştirilmesiyle oluşmuş bir bilimkurgu klasiği. Öykülerden biri Alien filmine konu olmuş. Blimkurgu meraklılarının ilgisini daha fazla çekeceğini sanıyorum, ancak içinde tarih, sosyoloji, siyaset, bilim gibi konulara ilişkin güzel tespitler de yer almakta. Çok kötü bir kitap olsaydı (ki kesinlikle değil) bile Alien hatrına okunması gereken bir kitap olurdu.
7/10
7/10
February 12, 2008
I have just started reading old, classic science fiction. I have an old pretty well beat up 1970 version (so old that it still has an ad for Kent cigarettes in the middle of it). I also have a thing for really cool sci-fi cover art, so when I'm buying these things, I look for the cover art to see if it's entertaining. I was surprised to find out, was very likely the basis for one of my favorite movies ever, Alien. It is divided up into four stories, all of them tied together by the fact that they all happened on this particular voyage of the Space Beagle -- a craft and crew which was put together to explore new worlds & galaxies.
The stories are as follows:
1. There is an encounter with a cat-like creature with tentacles who feeds on "id" on a desolate planet who threatens the ship & its crew (and possibly humanity);
2. an attack through psychic means by a bird-like population of aliens living in an outer galaxy;
3. third (and probably the best) the discovery of a bizarre creature who has no home except in space, pulled and pushed by the cosmic forces, and as you might guess, starving -- this one is outstanding.
4. another encounter with an attacking alien creature.
Another factor that ties all of these stories together is one Dr. Elliott Grosvenor, who was the first person to have graduated from "the Nexial Foundation." Grovesnor has been taken on board as a scientist (this expedition is filled with scientists) representing the field of nexialism -- a sort of integration of thought and science combined with mind and body control techniques. Where other scientists had problems trying to figure out what to do during each crisis listed above, Grovesnor could step back and use his education to solve the problems.
So here's what I didn't like about these stories: if you have absolutely no clue who Oswald Spengler was you may not understand how nexialism relies on inferences from Spengler's theories.
If you want some really fine classic sci-fi, then you may enjoy this one. It is dated, for sure, but still fun.
The stories are as follows:
1. There is an encounter with a cat-like creature with tentacles who feeds on "id" on a desolate planet who threatens the ship & its crew (and possibly humanity);
2. an attack through psychic means by a bird-like population of aliens living in an outer galaxy;
3. third (and probably the best) the discovery of a bizarre creature who has no home except in space, pulled and pushed by the cosmic forces, and as you might guess, starving -- this one is outstanding.
4. another encounter with an attacking alien creature.
Another factor that ties all of these stories together is one Dr. Elliott Grosvenor, who was the first person to have graduated from "the Nexial Foundation." Grovesnor has been taken on board as a scientist (this expedition is filled with scientists) representing the field of nexialism -- a sort of integration of thought and science combined with mind and body control techniques. Where other scientists had problems trying to figure out what to do during each crisis listed above, Grovesnor could step back and use his education to solve the problems.
So here's what I didn't like about these stories: if you have absolutely no clue who Oswald Spengler was you may not understand how nexialism relies on inferences from Spengler's theories.
If you want some really fine classic sci-fi, then you may enjoy this one. It is dated, for sure, but still fun.
July 15, 2015
One of the earliest SF novels I read, even before Asimov. At the time, I felt it was fantastic. However, the sheen has reduced over the years.
This book is an episodic novel, based on the spaceship "Space Beagle"'s journey of exploration (maybe inspired by Darwin and the H.M.S. Beagle), and deals with many exotic species (I remember one living in empty space). But my clearest memory is about "Nexialism", where knowledge from one area of expertise is used in another area, a sort of "stringing-together" science. The name stayed in the mind because of its similarity to "Naxalism", the name for Leftist Extremist philosophy in India at that time.
This book is an episodic novel, based on the spaceship "Space Beagle"'s journey of exploration (maybe inspired by Darwin and the H.M.S. Beagle), and deals with many exotic species (I remember one living in empty space). But my clearest memory is about "Nexialism", where knowledge from one area of expertise is used in another area, a sort of "stringing-together" science. The name stayed in the mind because of its similarity to "Naxalism", the name for Leftist Extremist philosophy in India at that time.
May 31, 2024
This book just has to have been Gene Roddenbury’s inspiration for Star Trek. I loved it. Great stories made to hang together by one character, a so called Nexialist, or a person of all sciences.
March 24, 2017
Книгата е обединение от четири, писани по-рано, разказа на тема среща с извънземен живот, от които първият е излизал на български в една от книжките от поредицата SF трилър. Разказите споделят общи главни герои и идея, което ги сплотява в приличен роман.
Отново се вижда вдъхновението, което автора е насадил в редица излезли по-късно фантастични произведения, придобили култов статус в жанра, като сериала Стар Трек (главният герой очевидно е прототип за Спок) и филма Пришълецът (единият от извънземните антагонисти е почти неунищожимо същество, на което са нужни човешки гостоприемници за износване на яйцата му), както и в редица романи, между които най-много ми изпъква „Слепоглед” на Уолтс.
Българското заглавие е правдиво, но леко лъже читателя, като набляга на извънземните форми на живот заставащи на пътя на научната експедиция, докато фабулата в книгата е насочена към отнош��нията между членовете на екипажа и доминантната фигура на Гросвенър.
Спейс бигъл е космически кораб с екипаж от военни и учени, чиято цел е чисто изследователска. Човечеството е развило техническите си възможности, може да тераформира и мести планети, да прави слънца, а в политически аспект е постигнало идеален демократичен мир. Авторът обосновано налага идеята, че този космически ренесанс е началото на края на расата ни. Справили се с всички предизвикателства, хората закърняват и на преден план изкачат егоистични подбуди, високо самомнение и търсене на евтина слава с неморални средства. Научният екипаж на „Космическия геврек” е микрообраз точно на това човечество, и то представен от най-интелигентните му индивиди. Единственият начин да се обърне този регрес е главният герой Елиът Гросвенър, представител на нова наука, – нексиализъм, която сама по себе си е приложен холизъм, постигнат с неконвенционални методи на обучение – а пространство да се наложи му е предоставено от изключително агресивни външни заплахи. Независимо дали е раса от интелигентни, манипулиращи трептенията хищници, оцелял от краха на предишната вселена полубог, добронамерени птици – телепати, чийто поздрав почти разрушава кораба или разумен и гладен блатен газ с размерите на галактика, цветът на човечеството е неспособен да се справи, защото е раздробил познанието си на отделни сегменти, в главите на егоистични личности, без обединяващо звено. Само нексиалистът на борда може да ги спаси, но ще му се наложи да го направи насила.
Отново се вижда вдъхновението, което автора е насадил в редица излезли по-късно фантастични произведения, придобили култов статус в жанра, като сериала Стар Трек (главният герой очевидно е прототип за Спок) и филма Пришълецът (единият от извънземните антагонисти е почти неунищожимо същество, на което са нужни човешки гостоприемници за износване на яйцата му), както и в редица романи, между които най-много ми изпъква „Слепоглед” на Уолтс.
Българското заглавие е правдиво, но леко лъже читателя, като набляга на извънземните форми на живот заставащи на пътя на научната експедиция, докато фабулата в книгата е насочена към отнош��нията между членовете на екипажа и доминантната фигура на Гросвенър.
Спейс бигъл е космически кораб с екипаж от военни и учени, чиято цел е чисто изследователска. Човечеството е развило техническите си възможности, може да тераформира и мести планети, да прави слънца, а в политически аспект е постигнало идеален демократичен мир. Авторът обосновано налага идеята, че този космически ренесанс е началото на края на расата ни. Справили се с всички предизвикателства, хората закърняват и на преден план изкачат егоистични подбуди, високо самомнение и търсене на евтина слава с неморални средства. Научният екипаж на „Космическия геврек” е микрообраз точно на това човечество, и то представен от най-интелигентните му индивиди. Единственият начин да се обърне този регрес е главният герой Елиът Гросвенър, представител на нова наука, – нексиализъм, която сама по себе си е приложен холизъм, постигнат с неконвенционални методи на обучение – а пространство да се наложи му е предоставено от изключително агресивни външни заплахи. Независимо дали е раса от интелигентни, манипулиращи трептенията хищници, оцелял от краха на предишната вселена полубог, добронамерени птици – телепати, чийто поздрав почти разрушава кораба или разумен и гладен блатен газ с размерите на галактика, цветът на човечеството е неспособен да се справи, защото е раздробил познанието си на отделни сегменти, в главите на егоистични личности, без обединяващо звено. Само нексиалистът на борда може да ги спаси, но ще му се наложи да го направи насила.
June 17, 2009
To van Vogt, the universe is a violent place and teaming with life. The Space Beagle is a scientific exploration ship sent out from Earth to go where no man has gone before and study all that it finds. The alien beings that are encountered are invariably hostile or if they aren't their efforts to communicate their friendship inadvertedly cause much harm.
The book has an episodic nature that arises from the fact that it was forged from four seperate short stories that he reworked into one story.
The narrative is mainly from the perspective of Elliot Grosvenor, who is is the lone representative on the ship of his particular scientific field; Nexialism. The science of whole-ism, an integrated approach to all the different scientific fields. Grosvenor, and his new science generally, is initially looked down upon by the other scientists and the meta story that unifies the book describes the politics on board and how he gradually overcomes prejudice to gain acceptance amoung his peers.
The book is heavy on science and ideas, pretty visionary for it's time altough some has innevitably dated. Once particular scientific notion that is often called upon to help them overcome an alien menace is the cyclic theory of civilization and one wonders if this is quite an old fashioned notion by today's standards?
The depiction of the alien creatures is deeply imaginative and the excitement and tension of the book never lets up. One might be inclined to criticise the book for it's fairly flat depiction of characters but to my mind this shouldn't detract from the fact that read as SF, it ticks every box. If you're not ordinarilly a fan of SF, this is probably not going to convert you. But if you are, you could do far worse than reading this outstanding work of SF.
The book has an episodic nature that arises from the fact that it was forged from four seperate short stories that he reworked into one story.
The narrative is mainly from the perspective of Elliot Grosvenor, who is is the lone representative on the ship of his particular scientific field; Nexialism. The science of whole-ism, an integrated approach to all the different scientific fields. Grosvenor, and his new science generally, is initially looked down upon by the other scientists and the meta story that unifies the book describes the politics on board and how he gradually overcomes prejudice to gain acceptance amoung his peers.
The book is heavy on science and ideas, pretty visionary for it's time altough some has innevitably dated. Once particular scientific notion that is often called upon to help them overcome an alien menace is the cyclic theory of civilization and one wonders if this is quite an old fashioned notion by today's standards?
The depiction of the alien creatures is deeply imaginative and the excitement and tension of the book never lets up. One might be inclined to criticise the book for it's fairly flat depiction of characters but to my mind this shouldn't detract from the fact that read as SF, it ticks every box. If you're not ordinarilly a fan of SF, this is probably not going to convert you. But if you are, you could do far worse than reading this outstanding work of SF.
April 13, 2024
second read – 12 April 2024 – ****. The Voyage of the Space Beagle is a 1950 A. E. Van Vogt fix-up novel of a series of his 1939-1943 stories. In fact, it seems he invented the term “fix-up novel.” It is set aboard a 1000-man intergalactic space ship dedicated to scientific exploration. On board, most of the crew is organized by scientific discipline, much like a university, and with a small military attachment. And they are all male. I do not believe that to be a statement of any kind, just an assumption of the times. Unlike contemporary science fiction, sexual activity or identity is simply not a topic of the writing. The adventures involve the crew of the Beagle dealing with attacks by alien species and civilizations, and a conflict of power within the “democratically” elected leadership of the mission.
In particular, two crew members represent specific scientific themes that Van Vogt pays attention to. Grosvenor is the department head of the science of Nexialism, an intersectional study of other scientific disciplines. Korita is the department head of anthropology, and a proponent of the early 20th century cyclical model of history of Arnold Toynbee and Oswald Spengler.
Grosvenor’s scientific discipline involves extreme mental training, and produces new findings and capabilities in weapon systems, but also in psychology, hypnotism, and mind-influence of both humans and aliens. He is portrayed as socially isolated, hyper-logical, and brilliant. In many ways, he appears to be a forerunner of the Spock figure and the Vulcan civilization of Star Trek. And like in Star Trek, sometimes his choices seem more oriented towards advancing the plot towards Van Vogt’s desired speculative concepts, than in actual logic. But still, a great character.
Korita interprets both humans and aliens according to their stage in a cyclical interpretation of human history. After a stage of revolutionary development, civilizations grow into big cities with increased specializations, but eventually settle into a stage of stable stagnation and peasantry. The strength of “big city” civilizations and individuals in them is brilliant and flawless knowledge within a discipline. Their weakness is an inability to see the big picture. The strength of “peasant” civilizations and individuals in them is powerful personal motivation. Their weakness is a prioritization of personal legacy and reproduction over the ability to understand changing social trends. This is all within a greater cyclical model of the physical universe. Grosvenor and Korita use their sciences to overcome alien attacks, even as their fellow crewmembers are hindered by the current cyclical state of human psychology. Korita is not developed as a character, but serves more as a lectern for Van Vogt’s exposition.
In all, the novel is a significant SFnal work of its time, that takes some effort to appreciate in modern times. But is still quite readable.
first read – 7 December 2009 - ***. Imagine a 1000-man starship, whose five-year mission in space is discover strange new worlds, seek out new life, to boldly go where no man has gone before. On board are a collection of scientists organized by department - among them a single Nexialist, whose science is the interconnection of all sciences, and whose singularly logical thinking saves the ship and crew from strange aliens and psychic threats. No, not the Enterprise, but the Space Beagle. This is a fix-up of four episodic stories written in 1930s through 1950, when they were assembled into a novel nearly 20 years before Star Trek. The similarities end there, and this is in fact a different universe than Star Trek, but I have a feeling I know what Gene Roddenberry read when he was a kid. Reading this book was a strange experience, as the prose is clearly leaps and bounds ahead of other space opera from that era, and yet the characters are very flat, the society is rigidly hierarchical, and there are no women characters at all.
In particular, two crew members represent specific scientific themes that Van Vogt pays attention to. Grosvenor is the department head of the science of Nexialism, an intersectional study of other scientific disciplines. Korita is the department head of anthropology, and a proponent of the early 20th century cyclical model of history of Arnold Toynbee and Oswald Spengler.
Grosvenor’s scientific discipline involves extreme mental training, and produces new findings and capabilities in weapon systems, but also in psychology, hypnotism, and mind-influence of both humans and aliens. He is portrayed as socially isolated, hyper-logical, and brilliant. In many ways, he appears to be a forerunner of the Spock figure and the Vulcan civilization of Star Trek. And like in Star Trek, sometimes his choices seem more oriented towards advancing the plot towards Van Vogt’s desired speculative concepts, than in actual logic. But still, a great character.
Korita interprets both humans and aliens according to their stage in a cyclical interpretation of human history. After a stage of revolutionary development, civilizations grow into big cities with increased specializations, but eventually settle into a stage of stable stagnation and peasantry. The strength of “big city” civilizations and individuals in them is brilliant and flawless knowledge within a discipline. Their weakness is an inability to see the big picture. The strength of “peasant” civilizations and individuals in them is powerful personal motivation. Their weakness is a prioritization of personal legacy and reproduction over the ability to understand changing social trends. This is all within a greater cyclical model of the physical universe. Grosvenor and Korita use their sciences to overcome alien attacks, even as their fellow crewmembers are hindered by the current cyclical state of human psychology. Korita is not developed as a character, but serves more as a lectern for Van Vogt’s exposition.
In all, the novel is a significant SFnal work of its time, that takes some effort to appreciate in modern times. But is still quite readable.
first read – 7 December 2009 - ***. Imagine a 1000-man starship, whose five-year mission in space is discover strange new worlds, seek out new life, to boldly go where no man has gone before. On board are a collection of scientists organized by department - among them a single Nexialist, whose science is the interconnection of all sciences, and whose singularly logical thinking saves the ship and crew from strange aliens and psychic threats. No, not the Enterprise, but the Space Beagle. This is a fix-up of four episodic stories written in 1930s through 1950, when they were assembled into a novel nearly 20 years before Star Trek. The similarities end there, and this is in fact a different universe than Star Trek, but I have a feeling I know what Gene Roddenberry read when he was a kid. Reading this book was a strange experience, as the prose is clearly leaps and bounds ahead of other space opera from that era, and yet the characters are very flat, the society is rigidly hierarchical, and there are no women characters at all.
January 11, 2015
"Voyage of the Space Beagle" ("VOSB") is one of the seminal works of early "hard" science fiction by this master. Although the "science" in the work might be considered "quaint," by today's standards, its influence on the genre and later television and film can't be understated. One of the aliens - named Coeurl - even shows up in a couple of video game. Such is the impact of this book.
VSOB is really a compilation of four related, not-so-short stories - 3 written in 1939 and 1 written in 1943 and published in SF periodicals. The four were later collected and republished in 1950 as VOSB. All involve the 5 year voyage of the starship (Space) Beagle, a giant orb housing roughly 1,000 humans, into interstellar and intergalactic space. The book is clearly inspired by Charles Darwin's exploratory mission on HMS Beagle, as well as the inspiration for the basic concept of the original Star Trek. One of the stories is a direct inspiration for at least one Star Trek episode in the original TV series, another for the creature in the Alien film series. What is remarkable is that van Vogt could envision these concepts 20 years before Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to orbit the earth in a space craft.
Van Vogt's style is a tad plodding at times, but the stories are all well crafted. He narrates from the point of view of multiple characters, the most interesting being his narrations from the points of the intelligent alien life forms. One, a galaxy sized and galaxy destroying entity, is truly malevolent. Two others that invade the Beagle in separate incidents are simply trying to survive. Their stories beg the question of whether we can empathize with intelligent life forms that are trying to kill us. In a couple of centuries we might have the answer.
VSOB is really a compilation of four related, not-so-short stories - 3 written in 1939 and 1 written in 1943 and published in SF periodicals. The four were later collected and republished in 1950 as VOSB. All involve the 5 year voyage of the starship (Space) Beagle, a giant orb housing roughly 1,000 humans, into interstellar and intergalactic space. The book is clearly inspired by Charles Darwin's exploratory mission on HMS Beagle, as well as the inspiration for the basic concept of the original Star Trek. One of the stories is a direct inspiration for at least one Star Trek episode in the original TV series, another for the creature in the Alien film series. What is remarkable is that van Vogt could envision these concepts 20 years before Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to orbit the earth in a space craft.
Van Vogt's style is a tad plodding at times, but the stories are all well crafted. He narrates from the point of view of multiple characters, the most interesting being his narrations from the points of the intelligent alien life forms. One, a galaxy sized and galaxy destroying entity, is truly malevolent. Two others that invade the Beagle in separate incidents are simply trying to survive. Their stories beg the question of whether we can empathize with intelligent life forms that are trying to kill us. In a couple of centuries we might have the answer.
January 14, 2020
Es una genialidad. Escrito mayoritariamente en los años 30, este libro ha dado la base a Alien, Star Trek y mucho más. Por qué este autor no tiene el reconocimiento que merece es algo que sería digno de investigar.
Su forma de narrar y los temas que trata son absurdamente modernos para la época en que se escribió. Un gran descubrimiento para mí.
Su forma de narrar y los temas que trata son absurdamente modernos para la época en que se escribió. Un gran descubrimiento para mí.
May 21, 2023
Original review 2/14/2018: When I was in college, learning about the history of sci fi, I developed a pretty strong prejudice against A.E. van Vogt. He represented the “bad old days” of sci fi, before the New Wave of the 1960s, when everything was hypermasculine, uncritical, optimistic. His work was dismissed with the pejorative “Space Opera” and ignored. In fact, I don’t know that I even read any of it, maybe part of one novel, I can’t recall now. In the years since, I’ve come to be more appreciative of the earlier history of sci fi, but for some reason I never gave van Vogt a chance. I think the impression left in my brain was too strong: he had to be bad, because I had decided he was bad years ago and never examined it.
I’m saying all that to explain that I didn’t exactly come to this book with very high expectations, but I did finally come to it. It’s flawed, but it’s not the worst example of sci fi I’ve read, or even the most blatantly sexist or imperialist. It is those things, mind you, but not to the extreme I might have imagined. The book was not written as a novel, but as a series of four short stories published over more than a decade, which partly explains why the overall plot never really comes together. In each story, the all-male scientific crew of the “Space Beagle” encounters an alien far more powerful than they are prepared for, which threatens humanity and the Universe if allowed to take over the ship. In each case, the one person who can figure out how to stop the alien is the protagonist, a practitioner of a new holistic science called Nexialism, and in each case he is ignored almost until it is too late. There is something of an “arc” for him, however, because his confidence in his ability to put his plan forward grows each time, and by the end he is the de facto captain of the ship.
As I said, it’s pretty familiar stuff, but it’s handled in an interesting way. I kept hoping that Nexialism would get more exposition: from what we see in this book, it mostly seems to be rather aggressively applied psychology, reminding one of the concept of “brain washing” that was popular at the time, but applied with a certain internal ethic. The aliens tend to be so super-powered as to be hard to take seriously, although I liked the race of telepathic bird-men, the only one whose culture is really considered in detail. For D&D nerds like me, one trivia fact of interest is that the alien in the first story in this novel was the inspiration for the “displacer beast” of the 1st Ed. Monster Manual. Two other aliens were depicted in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. Van Vogt seems to have been a competent wordsmith, though in this case parts of the story are definitely under-developed. I’d be willing to give him another try, despite all I thought of him as a younger person.
Updated 5/21/2023: Not much to add, but I still found this a moderately entertaining example of old-school sci fi. Nexialism seemed a bit paradoxical to me, this time around, since it seemed to be a "holistic" science that took as one of its premises that science is necessarily too large a field to be grappled with holistically. Often, the result just seemed to be that the protagonist was a bit smarter than everyone else. Van Vogt puts forward an interesting theory of cyclical history; notably most of the villains are at either very decadent, or very primitive, stages of the cycle.
I’m saying all that to explain that I didn’t exactly come to this book with very high expectations, but I did finally come to it. It’s flawed, but it’s not the worst example of sci fi I’ve read, or even the most blatantly sexist or imperialist. It is those things, mind you, but not to the extreme I might have imagined. The book was not written as a novel, but as a series of four short stories published over more than a decade, which partly explains why the overall plot never really comes together. In each story, the all-male scientific crew of the “Space Beagle” encounters an alien far more powerful than they are prepared for, which threatens humanity and the Universe if allowed to take over the ship. In each case, the one person who can figure out how to stop the alien is the protagonist, a practitioner of a new holistic science called Nexialism, and in each case he is ignored almost until it is too late. There is something of an “arc” for him, however, because his confidence in his ability to put his plan forward grows each time, and by the end he is the de facto captain of the ship.
As I said, it’s pretty familiar stuff, but it’s handled in an interesting way. I kept hoping that Nexialism would get more exposition: from what we see in this book, it mostly seems to be rather aggressively applied psychology, reminding one of the concept of “brain washing” that was popular at the time, but applied with a certain internal ethic. The aliens tend to be so super-powered as to be hard to take seriously, although I liked the race of telepathic bird-men, the only one whose culture is really considered in detail. For D&D nerds like me, one trivia fact of interest is that the alien in the first story in this novel was the inspiration for the “displacer beast” of the 1st Ed. Monster Manual. Two other aliens were depicted in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. Van Vogt seems to have been a competent wordsmith, though in this case parts of the story are definitely under-developed. I’d be willing to give him another try, despite all I thought of him as a younger person.
Updated 5/21/2023: Not much to add, but I still found this a moderately entertaining example of old-school sci fi. Nexialism seemed a bit paradoxical to me, this time around, since it seemed to be a "holistic" science that took as one of its premises that science is necessarily too large a field to be grappled with holistically. Often, the result just seemed to be that the protagonist was a bit smarter than everyone else. Van Vogt puts forward an interesting theory of cyclical history; notably most of the villains are at either very decadent, or very primitive, stages of the cycle.
January 24, 2017
Romanul, publicat in 1950 si considerat a fi un clasic al genului space opera, si sursa de inspiratie pentru numerosi scenaristi si scriitori, reuneste patru povestiri publicate anterior de catre scriitor : Black Destroyer, War of nerves, Discord in Scarlet si M33 in Andromeda. Si iata si datele de publicare si locurile, conform wiki :
“Black Destroyer” (iulie 1939, Astounding magazine— primul sf publicat de scriitor; capitolul 1-6)
“War of Nerves” (mai, 1950, Other Worlds magazine) (capitolele 9 – 12)
“Discord in Scarlet” (decembrie, 1939, Astounding magazine— a doua lucrare SF publicata de A. E. Van Vogt) (capitolele 13-21)
“M33 in Andromeda” (august, 1943, Astounding magazine, capitolele 22-28)
Ne aflam intr-un moment al evolutiei umane in care aceasta a reusit sa schimbe orbitele unor planete si a facut sa creasca vegetatia in lumea moarta a altora. Preocupata sa aduca la viata sori morti “a aprins focuri sub forma novelor vizibile de la o distanta de zeci de galaxii. Deserturi arse de sori mai dogoritori decat cei care lumineaza pamantul au fost inlocuite cu oceane frematand de viata.” Neoprindu-se aici, oamenii s-au indreptat si spre spatiul galactic construind o nava uriasa cu mii de oameni la bord, si lansand-o in spatiu cu scopul principal de a identifica si a cerceta formele extraterestre de viata. Aceasta este Space Beagle.
Avem patru povestiri cu patru forme extraterestre de viata in prim plan. Elliott Grosvenor, singurul nexialist plasat la bord este cel care incearca sa scoata, deseori, castanele din foc in urma greselilor comise de echipajul navei. Datorita pregatirii sale speciale, studiind o stiinta a intregului bazat pe o compilare si o aprofundare mai analitica a mai multor stiinte si cauze, cu o pregatire deosebita in plan psihologic, este capabil sa reactioneze rapid si eficient in desele situatii limita cu care se confrunta echipajul navei.
Aceste entitati extraterestre, prin diversitatea abordata si evidentierea particularitatilor fiecarei specii au reusit sa ma uimeasca cu adevarat. Desi sunt unice in felul lor, scriitorul avand grija de fiecare data sa ne introduca in mintea fiintei respective, oferindu-ne si avantajul de a sti cum vor reactiona si care le sunt motivatiile, cel mai mult m-a atras prima entitate.
Corl, este o pisica uriasa bipeda dotata cu o inteligenta iesita din comun, insa pe linga aspectul clasic al felinei prezinta pe umeri o serie de tentacule terminate cu niste ventuze. Capabila sa respire in diverse atmosfere si sa se adapteze continuu “pisicuta” se dovedeste a fi o adevarat provocare pentru oamenii ajunsi in spatiu.
Desi nu exista prea multe informatii privitoare la nava, doar cateva detalii succinte, scriitorul transporta cu usurinta cititorul la bordul acesteia facandu-l partas direct la aventurile echipajului sau. Iar cea mai importanta constatare pe care o putem trage este ca pe linga provocarile externe, oamenii expeditiei trebuie sa faca fata in primul rand orgoliilor fiecaruia, Elliot fiind nevoit sa intervina foarte des, prin metode nu neaparat ortodoxe, pentru a calma spiritele si a restabili ordinea.
In final, lasand la o parte pericolul contactului cu speciile necunoscute se observa ca reusita expeditie sta in stiinta omului de-asi invinge prejudecatile si de a renunta, chiar si pentru o clipa, la propriile-i convingeri posibil eronate.
“Odiseea navei Space Beagle” este un roman, intregit de cele patru povestiri desigur, foarte antrenant, capabil sa surprinda neincetat cititorul prin firul desfasurarii evenimentelor.
http://www.cititorsf.ro/2009/05/17/od...
“Black Destroyer” (iulie 1939, Astounding magazine— primul sf publicat de scriitor; capitolul 1-6)
“War of Nerves” (mai, 1950, Other Worlds magazine) (capitolele 9 – 12)
“Discord in Scarlet” (decembrie, 1939, Astounding magazine— a doua lucrare SF publicata de A. E. Van Vogt) (capitolele 13-21)
“M33 in Andromeda” (august, 1943, Astounding magazine, capitolele 22-28)
Ne aflam intr-un moment al evolutiei umane in care aceasta a reusit sa schimbe orbitele unor planete si a facut sa creasca vegetatia in lumea moarta a altora. Preocupata sa aduca la viata sori morti “a aprins focuri sub forma novelor vizibile de la o distanta de zeci de galaxii. Deserturi arse de sori mai dogoritori decat cei care lumineaza pamantul au fost inlocuite cu oceane frematand de viata.” Neoprindu-se aici, oamenii s-au indreptat si spre spatiul galactic construind o nava uriasa cu mii de oameni la bord, si lansand-o in spatiu cu scopul principal de a identifica si a cerceta formele extraterestre de viata. Aceasta este Space Beagle.
Avem patru povestiri cu patru forme extraterestre de viata in prim plan. Elliott Grosvenor, singurul nexialist plasat la bord este cel care incearca sa scoata, deseori, castanele din foc in urma greselilor comise de echipajul navei. Datorita pregatirii sale speciale, studiind o stiinta a intregului bazat pe o compilare si o aprofundare mai analitica a mai multor stiinte si cauze, cu o pregatire deosebita in plan psihologic, este capabil sa reactioneze rapid si eficient in desele situatii limita cu care se confrunta echipajul navei.
Aceste entitati extraterestre, prin diversitatea abordata si evidentierea particularitatilor fiecarei specii au reusit sa ma uimeasca cu adevarat. Desi sunt unice in felul lor, scriitorul avand grija de fiecare data sa ne introduca in mintea fiintei respective, oferindu-ne si avantajul de a sti cum vor reactiona si care le sunt motivatiile, cel mai mult m-a atras prima entitate.
Corl, este o pisica uriasa bipeda dotata cu o inteligenta iesita din comun, insa pe linga aspectul clasic al felinei prezinta pe umeri o serie de tentacule terminate cu niste ventuze. Capabila sa respire in diverse atmosfere si sa se adapteze continuu “pisicuta” se dovedeste a fi o adevarat provocare pentru oamenii ajunsi in spatiu.
Desi nu exista prea multe informatii privitoare la nava, doar cateva detalii succinte, scriitorul transporta cu usurinta cititorul la bordul acesteia facandu-l partas direct la aventurile echipajului sau. Iar cea mai importanta constatare pe care o putem trage este ca pe linga provocarile externe, oamenii expeditiei trebuie sa faca fata in primul rand orgoliilor fiecaruia, Elliot fiind nevoit sa intervina foarte des, prin metode nu neaparat ortodoxe, pentru a calma spiritele si a restabili ordinea.
In final, lasand la o parte pericolul contactului cu speciile necunoscute se observa ca reusita expeditie sta in stiinta omului de-asi invinge prejudecatile si de a renunta, chiar si pentru o clipa, la propriile-i convingeri posibil eronate.
“Odiseea navei Space Beagle” este un roman, intregit de cele patru povestiri desigur, foarte antrenant, capabil sa surprinda neincetat cititorul prin firul desfasurarii evenimentelor.
http://www.cititorsf.ro/2009/05/17/od...
March 27, 2009
I always hate to write about these venerable SF classics, because very frequently I end up being disappointed by them. I know that I can't hold genre fiction from the 1950's up to the same standards as current-day genre fiction, but...
Well, hold on. Actually, I can and I am. Maybe I just feel guilty about pointing out the various flaws, especially because back in the day, this was cutting-edge stuff. Sure, it's filled with cardboard characters (almost all male of course) that either talk about science, fight off alien menaces, or do both simultaneously. Sure, some of the "cutting edge" science is now verging on the ridiculous (early in the novel, one of the scientists dictates a report and then runs it over to the steganography department to have it transcribed). Some of it is a bit unfortunate (naming the most commonly used weapons "vibrators" was just plain distracting). But there are also a lot of ideas here that were really innovative and exciting at the time.
In the end, I try to read these novels with an open mind, trying to muster admiration for them by keeping their place in the canon in mind... while trying to ignore the distractions.
So. This is an episodic novel --- it really feels like 4 separate novella's sharing the same characters. The 4 stories are incredibly similar (even down to the length --- about 50 pages each). The Space Beagle is basically a giant inter-galactic spaceship filled with a bunch of scientists from nearly every known discipline (and one new one --- more about this later). They are on a voyage heading out of our galaxy and on the way to the galaxy next door. Along the way, they encounter 4 different alien life forms (one per story) who all pose a threat to the expedition. Some of these aliens are pretty nifty (the telepathic bird-people were very cool). Others are more boring (the lay-their-eggs-inside-human-tummies variety).
Invariably, the aliens are defeated by Elliot Grosvenor, the ship's only representative of Nexialism, a relatively new science branch that is initially described in very vague terms but in the end turns out to be something like a simultaneous insight in every other science branch, achieved by hypnotic machine-learning brain-programming (with tapes --- in the vein of CJ Cherryh's Union folks but less evil). Grosvenor is initially ridiculed, shunned and/or ignored, but time and again turns out to be the ship's savior.
My favorite aspect of the novel was the sometimes ethically questionable methods Grosvenor uses to push through his will. It adds a nice greyness to the black-and-white quality of the other characters (good scientist versus evil scientist politics). Grosvenor does good things, but he sometimes accomplishes them by hypnotizing entire sections of the ship to make them do his bidding or by killing the last or only representative of an alien race.
In this sense, the novel reminded me of George RR Martin's "Tuf Voyaging" --- about another loner who is posed with moral dilemmas. (I just realize "Tuf Voyaging" is also an episodic novel. Hm.) However, none of the characters in this novel come anywhere close to the depth and charm Martin used to draw Haviland Tuf, one of my favorite SF characters of all time.
In the end, I would only recommend "The Voyage of the Space Beagle" to people who have an interest in the history of the genre and are willing to overlook some of the flaws common in older genre fiction.
Well, hold on. Actually, I can and I am. Maybe I just feel guilty about pointing out the various flaws, especially because back in the day, this was cutting-edge stuff. Sure, it's filled with cardboard characters (almost all male of course) that either talk about science, fight off alien menaces, or do both simultaneously. Sure, some of the "cutting edge" science is now verging on the ridiculous (early in the novel, one of the scientists dictates a report and then runs it over to the steganography department to have it transcribed). Some of it is a bit unfortunate (naming the most commonly used weapons "vibrators" was just plain distracting). But there are also a lot of ideas here that were really innovative and exciting at the time.
In the end, I try to read these novels with an open mind, trying to muster admiration for them by keeping their place in the canon in mind... while trying to ignore the distractions.
So. This is an episodic novel --- it really feels like 4 separate novella's sharing the same characters. The 4 stories are incredibly similar (even down to the length --- about 50 pages each). The Space Beagle is basically a giant inter-galactic spaceship filled with a bunch of scientists from nearly every known discipline (and one new one --- more about this later). They are on a voyage heading out of our galaxy and on the way to the galaxy next door. Along the way, they encounter 4 different alien life forms (one per story) who all pose a threat to the expedition. Some of these aliens are pretty nifty (the telepathic bird-people were very cool). Others are more boring (the lay-their-eggs-inside-human-tummies variety).
Invariably, the aliens are defeated by Elliot Grosvenor, the ship's only representative of Nexialism, a relatively new science branch that is initially described in very vague terms but in the end turns out to be something like a simultaneous insight in every other science branch, achieved by hypnotic machine-learning brain-programming (with tapes --- in the vein of CJ Cherryh's Union folks but less evil). Grosvenor is initially ridiculed, shunned and/or ignored, but time and again turns out to be the ship's savior.
My favorite aspect of the novel was the sometimes ethically questionable methods Grosvenor uses to push through his will. It adds a nice greyness to the black-and-white quality of the other characters (good scientist versus evil scientist politics). Grosvenor does good things, but he sometimes accomplishes them by hypnotizing entire sections of the ship to make them do his bidding or by killing the last or only representative of an alien race.
In this sense, the novel reminded me of George RR Martin's "Tuf Voyaging" --- about another loner who is posed with moral dilemmas. (I just realize "Tuf Voyaging" is also an episodic novel. Hm.) However, none of the characters in this novel come anywhere close to the depth and charm Martin used to draw Haviland Tuf, one of my favorite SF characters of all time.
In the end, I would only recommend "The Voyage of the Space Beagle" to people who have an interest in the history of the genre and are willing to overlook some of the flaws common in older genre fiction.
July 7, 2022
Mit diesem Band liegt ein weiteres Hauptwerk von A.E. van Vogt in der "Bibliothek der Science Fiction Literatur" vor, das wieder von Rainer Eisfeld herausgegeben wurde. Oder soll man sagen: Hauptwerke. Denn Rainer Eisfeld hat die Urfassungen der Erzählungen, die A.E. Van Vogt später zu einem Roman zusammengefasst hat, übersetzt und um Passagen, die nur im Roman stehen, ergänzt. In einem Vor- und in einem Nachwort erläutert Eisfeld zudem die Überarbeitung und beschäftigt sich kritisch mit dem Gehalt des Werkes, in dem er auch auf das geschichtsphilosophische Werk "Der Untergang des Abendlandes" von Oswald Spengler eingeht, das van Vogt stark beim Schreiben inspiriert hat.
„Die Expedition Space Beagle" zählt zu den klassischen Space Operas. Ein Forschungsschiff fliegt eine ferne Galaxis an. Unterwegs trifft es auf intelligente Wesen mit übermenschlichen Fähigkeiten, die entweder feindliche Absichten haben oder die Menschen unbeabsichtigt gefährden. Da gibt es Coeurl, das katzenhafte, tentakelbewehrte Wesen oder die Riim, die mit ihren telepathischen Kräften in den Menschen Aggressionen wecken. Aber die Wissenschaftler, an erster Stelle der Nexialist Elliott Grosvenor, der eine interdisziplinäre Lehrmethode verkörpert, zeigen sich den Gefahren gewachsen. Beim Abwehren der Gefahren kommt ihnen die zyklische Kulturtheorie, die der Archäologe Korita vertritt, zu Hilfe.
Die Episoden strahlen immer noch große Lebendigkeit aus. A.E. van Vogts Schreibweise ist mitreißend und zeigt Ansätze zur Poetisierung des Kosmos. Die Episoden sind spannend, auch wenn sich das Handlungsschema wiederholt. Die Wesen, auf die die Mannschaft der „Space Beagle“ trifft, sind auch faszinierend, wenngleich sie mit Ausnahme der Riim als Übertiere zu bezeichnen sind, die nur ihre Selbsterhaltung oder die Erhaltung ihrer Art im Sinn haben. Mit den Menschen kommt es erst gar nicht zur Verständigung. Das ist das Problematische bei diesem Bild des Fremden - nicht nur bei van Vogt, sondern bei der SF der frühen Jahre allgemein - ist, dass in dem Fremden hauptsächlich ein Bedrohungsfaktor gesehen wird, ihre Gefährlichkeit a priori festzustehen scheint. Aber das Fragwürdige in A.E. van Vogts Werk ist auch stets gegenwärtig. Der Gigantomanie, die Vorliebe für Menschen mit überragenden Fähigkeiten, die sich über Spielregeln hinwegsetzen.
Dennoch ist dieses Buch ein Muss für alle, die sich mit der Geschichte der Science Fiction auseinander setzten wollen. Dass Eisfeld den Überarbeitungsprozess durchsichtig gemacht hat, erhöht den Reiz. Die reiche Ausstattung mit Illustrationen und Bildteil macht das Buch zu einer schönen bibliophilen Ausgabe, deren Anschaffung sich auf jeden Fall lohnt.
„Die Expedition Space Beagle" zählt zu den klassischen Space Operas. Ein Forschungsschiff fliegt eine ferne Galaxis an. Unterwegs trifft es auf intelligente Wesen mit übermenschlichen Fähigkeiten, die entweder feindliche Absichten haben oder die Menschen unbeabsichtigt gefährden. Da gibt es Coeurl, das katzenhafte, tentakelbewehrte Wesen oder die Riim, die mit ihren telepathischen Kräften in den Menschen Aggressionen wecken. Aber die Wissenschaftler, an erster Stelle der Nexialist Elliott Grosvenor, der eine interdisziplinäre Lehrmethode verkörpert, zeigen sich den Gefahren gewachsen. Beim Abwehren der Gefahren kommt ihnen die zyklische Kulturtheorie, die der Archäologe Korita vertritt, zu Hilfe.
Die Episoden strahlen immer noch große Lebendigkeit aus. A.E. van Vogts Schreibweise ist mitreißend und zeigt Ansätze zur Poetisierung des Kosmos. Die Episoden sind spannend, auch wenn sich das Handlungsschema wiederholt. Die Wesen, auf die die Mannschaft der „Space Beagle“ trifft, sind auch faszinierend, wenngleich sie mit Ausnahme der Riim als Übertiere zu bezeichnen sind, die nur ihre Selbsterhaltung oder die Erhaltung ihrer Art im Sinn haben. Mit den Menschen kommt es erst gar nicht zur Verständigung. Das ist das Problematische bei diesem Bild des Fremden - nicht nur bei van Vogt, sondern bei der SF der frühen Jahre allgemein - ist, dass in dem Fremden hauptsächlich ein Bedrohungsfaktor gesehen wird, ihre Gefährlichkeit a priori festzustehen scheint. Aber das Fragwürdige in A.E. van Vogts Werk ist auch stets gegenwärtig. Der Gigantomanie, die Vorliebe für Menschen mit überragenden Fähigkeiten, die sich über Spielregeln hinwegsetzen.
Dennoch ist dieses Buch ein Muss für alle, die sich mit der Geschichte der Science Fiction auseinander setzten wollen. Dass Eisfeld den Überarbeitungsprozess durchsichtig gemacht hat, erhöht den Reiz. Die reiche Ausstattung mit Illustrationen und Bildteil macht das Buch zu einer schönen bibliophilen Ausgabe, deren Anschaffung sich auf jeden Fall lohnt.
September 1, 2015
Lest we think of ourselves as too sophisticated and pooh-pooh out of hand some old (1950) science fiction with a somewhat clunky name, perhaps we should reconsider. A.E. van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle is a collection of four short stories cobbled together. From this unlikely source came the idea for Gene Roddenberry’s "Star Trek" and all its spin-offs and movies. From the third story came the idea for the movie Alien.
You remember the words that started the show: “Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Van Vogt got his idea from Charles Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle, which, curiously, lasted five years. While the five years did not figure in Van Vogt’s book, it assumed new importance when Roddenberry lifted the general idea. And he never paid a penny to Van Vogt nor credited him with the idea for the series.
The producers of the film Alien did not get off so easily. Van Vogt sued the producers and came to an arrangement with them that was monetarily satisfactory to both sides. Needless to say, the character of Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, was not part of The Voyage of the Space Beagle, as all its crew were chemically castrated males.
There are many treasures from the Golden Age of Science Fiction (mostly the 1950s) that are worth re-examining. I would submit that the works of A. E. Van Vogt deserve a closer look. I have re-read three of his books recently and found them well worth the effort.
You remember the words that started the show: “Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Van Vogt got his idea from Charles Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle, which, curiously, lasted five years. While the five years did not figure in Van Vogt’s book, it assumed new importance when Roddenberry lifted the general idea. And he never paid a penny to Van Vogt nor credited him with the idea for the series.
The producers of the film Alien did not get off so easily. Van Vogt sued the producers and came to an arrangement with them that was monetarily satisfactory to both sides. Needless to say, the character of Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, was not part of The Voyage of the Space Beagle, as all its crew were chemically castrated males.
There are many treasures from the Golden Age of Science Fiction (mostly the 1950s) that are worth re-examining. I would submit that the works of A. E. Van Vogt deserve a closer look. I have re-read three of his books recently and found them well worth the effort.
October 11, 2012
Fun! I mean, look at that name!
It's 4 short-stories with the same main character and the same spaceship woven into one book. The main guy seems to be the proto-Spock - a guy trained in a new science called Nexialism, some kind of "all-sciences-into-one" with hints of individualism/libertarianism with a healthy dose of what science-fiction in the 50s was like (electronic telepathy, mind-controlling, funky big machines etc).
Each story is about the crew encountering an unknown, but superior alien organism. The first story is a LOT like the first Alien movie (I think the author sued and got some money), and each time the main guy, thanks to his superior intellect and background, defeats the alien using logic (and his gadgets). It's sometimes amusing to see how he prevails over some of the egomaniacs on board, or how well his long ago laid out plans work out, yet sometimes it's too much deus ex machina for my tastes.
Still, great fun if you're into old science-fiction, soft sci-fi or when you "love it when a plan comes together".
It's 4 short-stories with the same main character and the same spaceship woven into one book. The main guy seems to be the proto-Spock - a guy trained in a new science called Nexialism, some kind of "all-sciences-into-one" with hints of individualism/libertarianism with a healthy dose of what science-fiction in the 50s was like (electronic telepathy, mind-controlling, funky big machines etc).
Each story is about the crew encountering an unknown, but superior alien organism. The first story is a LOT like the first Alien movie (I think the author sued and got some money), and each time the main guy, thanks to his superior intellect and background, defeats the alien using logic (and his gadgets). It's sometimes amusing to see how he prevails over some of the egomaniacs on board, or how well his long ago laid out plans work out, yet sometimes it's too much deus ex machina for my tastes.
Still, great fun if you're into old science-fiction, soft sci-fi or when you "love it when a plan comes together".
September 17, 2023
The influence this book had on 20th century science fiction is clear, I just wish it wasn’t so dry.
As soon as I started reading this the very concept reminded me of Star Trek. Several of the stories were very similar to specific episodes of the show. One of the stories was surely read by the writer of the movie alien. Not that anything felt like a direct rip off but the influence is strongly felt.
That said, some other aspects of the book fall a bit flat or seem funny because of dated language. One of the creatures is a giant space cat which they always refer to as pussy and their energy weapons were called vibrators. So there were some instances where they said things like “pussy is a dangerous creature, better keep your vibrator handy” you can see the unintended comedy.
As soon as I started reading this the very concept reminded me of Star Trek. Several of the stories were very similar to specific episodes of the show. One of the stories was surely read by the writer of the movie alien. Not that anything felt like a direct rip off but the influence is strongly felt.
That said, some other aspects of the book fall a bit flat or seem funny because of dated language. One of the creatures is a giant space cat which they always refer to as pussy and their energy weapons were called vibrators. So there were some instances where they said things like “pussy is a dangerous creature, better keep your vibrator handy” you can see the unintended comedy.
December 24, 2014
Great classic SiFi. The four adventures of the crew were originally short stories published in digest and rewritten into book form. One of the stories is the basis for the movie Alien and the entire book is obviously the germ of the idea for Star Trek. The Main character is Spock to a large degree. Nice easy and entertaining read. Recommended
March 22, 2019
For a group read, Evolution of SF:
Ok I've finally read this. The ideas are nifty. The writing improves over the course of the four 'episodes.' Darwin learned more from his creatures than these men do, and *Star Trek* has a lot more heart & wisdom & diversity. At least it's better, imo, than *Foundation* in its exploration of cyclic history and esp-ish forces than Asimov's 'psychohistory.' Basically it's unrecommendable outside this group though... so dated and so wrong... and mostly just adventure.
Cute how the bridge resembles a university lecture auditorium.
And there's an argument against the Prime Directive here: "It's unwise for birds--or men--to live too specialized an existence. I broke down their resistance to new ideas..."
Interesting commentary voiced by the character named Smith: "It is not impossible that we shall, in the course of our travels, meet other intelligent creatures far more worthy than man to rule the universe."
And what I really get a kick out of is the line "Resistance, however, will be useless."
It was probably a better book in the context of its time. And when I was younger I would have liked it more. Not just because I was younger, but because there were fewer better books to compare it to. Still, imo it never deserved accolades. And I'm unlikely to seek more from the author.
Ok I've finally read this. The ideas are nifty. The writing improves over the course of the four 'episodes.' Darwin learned more from his creatures than these men do, and *Star Trek* has a lot more heart & wisdom & diversity. At least it's better, imo, than *Foundation* in its exploration of cyclic history and esp-ish forces than Asimov's 'psychohistory.' Basically it's unrecommendable outside this group though... so dated and so wrong... and mostly just adventure.
Cute how the bridge resembles a university lecture auditorium.
And there's an argument against the Prime Directive here: "It's unwise for birds--or men--to live too specialized an existence. I broke down their resistance to new ideas..."
Interesting commentary voiced by the character named Smith: "It is not impossible that we shall, in the course of our travels, meet other intelligent creatures far more worthy than man to rule the universe."
And what I really get a kick out of is the line "Resistance, however, will be useless."
It was probably a better book in the context of its time. And when I was younger I would have liked it more. Not just because I was younger, but because there were fewer better books to compare it to. Still, imo it never deserved accolades. And I'm unlikely to seek more from the author.
January 15, 2024
Interesting. Neat. Good.
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