Futures Past / Van Vogt's first collection in over twenty years

Van Vogt, A.E. / Winner of the Nebula Grandmaster Award for Lifetime Achievement / with an introduction by Harlan Ellison

ISBN 10: 1892391058 / ISBN 13: 9781892391056

Published by Tachyon Publications, San Francisco, Califonnia, 1999

About this Item

Unread "digest size" trade paperback. States "First edition: October 1999." But that's for the collection. Many of these stories were originally published in science fiction magazines of the era as early as 1940, 1942, 1950 -- the latest in 1971. Includes "The Enchanted Village," which is marvelous. 203 pp. Reduced from $18.

Seller Inventory # 004768

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Futures Past / Van Vogt's first collection in over twenty years
• Publisher: Tachyon Publications, San Francisco, Califonnia
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1892391058
• ISBN 13: 9781892391056
• Binding: Soft cover
• Illustrator: Jacket design by Michael Dashow
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science Fiction & Fantasy

About this title

Synopsis

The last survivor of a spaceship that crash lands on Mars finds a deserted Martian village. Natives of the Andes Mountains are able to survive in the thin atmosphere of Mars, without pressure suits, to the great resentment of those born at sea level. A human and an ezwal, a large, blue, three-eyed being with the power of telepathic communication, crash land on a jungle planet and are forced to cooperate with each other in order to stay alive. This is despite the fact that the ezwal hates humans, and would just as soon tear the human into little pieces. A creature, actually the galaxy's greatest mathematician, is held in a huge vault on Mars, made of ultimate metal, and whose time-lock is keyed to the ultimate prime number.

At the forefront of the Golden Age of science fiction, A.E. van Vogt shaped the direction of modern science fiction. At a time when writers such as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon, Eric Frank Russell, and Lester Del Rey began to hit their stride, van Vogt was the genre's most popular author. The raw emotive power of these stories defy their pulp origins and remain classics of the SF field.

Contents

Introduction: "Van is Here, But Van is Gone" by Harlan Ellison

"The Enchanted Village"
"The Last Martian"
"The Reflected Men"
"Cooperate Or Else!"
"The Second Solution"
"Fulfillment"
"The Replicators"
"Vault of the Beast"

About the Author

A. E. van Vogt is considered a key author in John W. Campbell, Jr.’s Golden Age of science fiction. His best known novels include Slan and The World of Null-A. Van Vogt’s science fiction career began with the short story, Black Destroyer,” published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1939. Black Destroyer” remained one of his most popular stories, and has been cited as a source for the film Alien. In 1996, he received the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Along with John W. Campbell, Jr., Hugo Gernsback, and Jack Williamson, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame included van Vogt among its initial inductees.