A. E. van Vogt

Alfred Elton van Vogt (April 26, 1912 - January 26, 2000) was a renowned Canadian-born science fiction author who achieved a degree of immortality as one of the most prolific, yet complex, writers from the mid-20th century 'Golden Age' of his genre.

Science Fiction's Golden Age

Van Vogt was one of the most popular and highly esteemed science fiction writers of the 1940s, during the ascent of the genre's Golden Age. After starting his writing career by writing for 'true confession' style pulp magazines, van Vogt decided to switch to writing something he enjoyed, science fiction. His first published sci-fi story, "Black Destroyer" (Astounding Science Fiction, 1939), depicting a fierce, carnivorous alien stalking the crew of an exploration ship, was extremely popular and set the style for a number of science fiction films over the years. This was the cover story of the pulp magazine considered to have ushered in the start of the 'Golden Age' of science fiction. Many fans of that era would have named van Vogt, Robert A. Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov as the three greatest science fiction writers.

Related Topics:
1940s - Pulp magazines - Science fiction - Astounding Science Fiction - 1939 - Alien - Robert A. Heinlein - Isaac Asimov

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Extremely prolific for a few years, van Vogt wrote a large number of short stories, many of which were retrospectively patched together into novels, or "fixups" as he called them, a term which entered the vocabulary of science fiction criticism. Sometimes this was successful (The War against the Rull); other times the disparate stories thrown together made for a less coherent plot (Quest for the Future).

Related Topics:
Short stories - Fixup

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~