Destination: van Vogt monsters

[Extollager]

 

[Extollager]

 

[Extollager]

It should be fun to read through these two old paperbacks and post notes on them here. First up will be "Far Centaurus" in Destination: Universe!

Comments from anyone on any of the stories would be great.

Destination:
Far Centaurus
The Monster [aka Resurrection]
Dormant
Enchanted Village
A Can of Paint
Defense
The Rulers
"Dear Pen Pal"
The Sound
The Search
Postscript

Monsters:
Introduction
Not Only Dead Men
Final Command
War of Nerves
Enchanted Village
Concealment
The Sea Thing
Resurrection [The Monster]
Vault of the Beast

Most of these stories first appeared in Astounding. My copy of Destination is a first Signet printing, from March 1953. My copy of Monsters is a third printing by Paperback Library, with art by Bob Lo Grippo, who did the covers for the Ballantine Fantasy series editions of Machen's The Three Impostors and Hodgson's Night Land and Boats of the "Glen Carrig" -- I'm sure it's the same artist.

 

[BAYLOR]

Destination Universe was the very first Van Vogt I ever read. I enjoyed it .

Other books by him ive read

The Voyage of the Space Beagle who Black destroyer chapter was one the inspirations for Alien
Slan
The War against the Rull
Ptath

All good stuff .

 

[hitmouse]

It must be 40 years since I read Destination. I wonder if would remember any of those stories?

 

[BAYLOR]

It must be 40 years since I read Destination. I wonder if would remember any of those stories?

A Can of Paint almost reads like a Phillip K Dick story

 

[hitmouse]

A Can of Paint almost reads like a Phillip K Dick story

Is that the one where an astronaut gets contaminated fuel which prevents him from taking off from a planet?

 

[BAYLOR]

Is that the one where an astronaut gets contaminated fuel which prevents him from taking off from a planet?

The main character Kilgore and astronaut land on Venus and funs a Can of Po=ait which nt like any point ever made , he get it on himself and spread on him and threaten to suffocate him . He contacts the inhalants and find that the can of paint was left buy the Venusians as a test of intelligence, If he figures out how to stop the paint from killing him , he will deemed worthy buy them.

 

[hitmouse]

The main character Kilgore and astronaut land on Venus and funs a Can of Po=ait which nt like any point ever made , he get it on himself and spread on him and threaten to suffocate him . He contacts the inhalants and find that the can of paint was left buy the Venusians as a test of intelligence, If he figures out how to stop the paint from killing him , he will deemed worthy buy them.

Funny thing. I was thinking about that story last week. I thought it was probably a Simak ss.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Funny thing. I was thinking about that story last week. I thought it was probably a Simak ss.

Simak wrote a story called (I think) The Big Back Yard published in Astounding which had cover painting (by Kelly Freas?). In the painting the main character holding a can of paint as he tries to sell it (or rather the concept of paint) to an alien.

Van Vogt is one of my favorite authors. Dreadful writer but some genuinely bonkers original ideas.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Simak wrote a story called (I think) The Big Back Yard published in Astounding which had cover painting (by Kelly Freas?). In the painting the main character holding a can of paint as he tries to sell it (or rather the concept of paint) to an alien.

The Big Front Yard:

 

[Extollager]

"Far Centaurus" deals with the time aspects as well as the distance aspects of interstellar travel at sublight speed. I would agree with Colin Wilson as cited in the Wikipedia article on the story, that the opening is compelling and the ending relatively weak.

4/5

 

[Matteo]

Another fan...

 

[BAYLOR]

Another fan...
View attachment 123666

Impressive

 

[Matteo]

As @JunkMonkey said (though perhaps a bit harsh...) he's not a great writer, but his stories are mad

 

[JunkMonkey]

Another fan...
View attachment 123666

Like @BAYLOR says 'impressive'!

I am even more impressed that you knew where they all were to get them together like that.

I have this horrible 'tendency to out of controlness'* which means I keep changing the way I range my books. I have a lot of van Vogt - though probably not as many as the 45 on display there - some are on the van Vogt shelf, but most lost in shelves and boxes 'sorted' by publisher.






*A phrase of van Vogt's from (I think) The Undercover Aliens which has become part of my vocabulary.

 

[Extollager]

Second story: "Not Only Dead Men" in Science Fiction Monsters. 3.5/5

Dizzied by the rapidly-moving story, I may have missed the relevance of the title.

Van Vogt throws what for some authors would be a novel's worth of plot developments at the reader in this short story. A result is that I could imagine this as being readily adapted in an old EC Weird Science-Fantasy comic.

I sometimes complain about sf authors these days who drag out a story idea into a long novel or even a series. This not a problem here. You think you know what's going on (an alien invasion revealed by a floating cigar-shaped craft subpolar regions). The resolution is a bit wacky but would be exciting comic book stuff. Harpooning is important.