Slan Hunter - Hardcover

Van Vogt, A. E.; Anderson, Kevin J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765316757 ISBN 13: 9780765316752

Publisher: Tor Books, 2007

Synopsis

This startling SF adventure novel is a collaboration between the classic SF Grand Master, A. E. van Vogt, and contemporary master Kevin J. Anderson. At the time of his death in 2000, van Vogt left a partial draft and an outline for the sequel to his most famous novel, Slan. van Vogt's jam-packed, one-damn-thing-after-another story technique makes his active plots compulsively readable. Now the story is completed by Anderson, and is sure to be one of the most popular SF novels of the year.

 

Slans are a race of superior mutants in the far future, smarter and stronger than Homo sapiens and able to read minds. Yet they are a persecuted minority, survivors of terrible genocidal wars, who live in hiding from the mass of humanity. Slan Hunter tells of this towering conflict in the far future, when a new war among the races of mankind bursts out, and humanity -- all types of humanity -- struggles to survive, and of course of the heroic Jommy Cross, mutant hero of Slan.

About this title

About the Author

Kevin J. Anderson has written dozens of national bestsellers and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Reader's Choice Award. He has set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing--for a posthumous collaboration with L. Ron Hubbard!

 

A. E. Van Vogt was a Canadian still living in Canada when he wrote Slan in the early 1940s.  He spent the latter decades of his life in Los Angeles.

Reviews

Working fluently from an incomplete draft and outline by the late van Vogt, Anderson picks up where the classic pulp predecessor, Slan (1940), left off, with the true mutant (or slan) Jommy Cross trying to head off the impending invasion of Earth by the Mars-based group of slan without tendrils. Opposing him again are John Petty, head of the secret police and chief slan hunter, and Jem Lorry, traitorous presidential adviser and leader of the invasion. Seeking his dead father's hidden retreat, Jommy hopes to uncover the origins of both the true and the tendrilless slan, to stop their internecine war and to relieve human fears of being replaced by artificially created supermen. Van Vogt and Anderson (Of Fire and Night) produce a convincingly styled book that could have been published in the 1940s. Though Anderson can't plug all the holes in Grand Master van Vogt's logic, the fast pacing, melodramatic situations and snappy (if dated) dialogue all match the original seamlessly. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sf legend van Vogt launched his storied career with Slan (1940), a now-classic tale about a race of telepathic mutants, the slans, battling oppression. Before his death in 2000, he had sketched the outlines of a sequel continuing the story of slan Jommy Cross and an invasion from Mars by the slans' malevolent, tendrilless cousins. Alhough less powerful than tendriled Jommy and his peers, the tendrilless slans have largely succeeded in overthrowing Earth's governments. The notorious slan hunter John Petty has had Jommy imprisoned, but the slan escapes and, with deposed President Kier Gray, flees across a disintegrating landscape in search of methods to defeat the tendrilless. A subplot follows a new mother who, while clueless about her slan identity, may hold the key to reconciling humans with both tendriled and tendrilless slans. Already an accomplished sequel spinner with several Dune volumes to his credit, sf veteran Anderson captures van Vogt's dynamic style and vision with immaculate precision. He even re-creates the original novel's 1940s-era flavor, so that deep-dyed sf buffs can take a nostalgic trip back to sf's golden age. Hays, Carl

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

 

The world was already falling apart when her first contractions hit.

 

"Perfect timing--" Anthea Stewart clenched her teeth to stop a hiss of pain, holding her rounded abdomen.

 

Beside her, driving recklessly, her husband Davis said, "Don't worry, Anth. I'll get you there in time." He took a hard right so that the wide whitewalled tires squealed on the asphalt. "Plenty of time. Don't you worry about a thing." The hospital was just ahead. He accelerated.

 

"Why are you telling me not to worry? Because you're doing all the work?"

 

"I'm doing every bit as much as I can." He flashed her a grin so full of love that she forgot the pain. Then Anthea gripped the handrest as she concentrated on the spasms, the clenching of her muscles, and the restless baby inside her.

 

She felt a strange, bittersweet anticipation. Soon, the healthy infant she had carried for nine months would emerge into the world. He would no longer be an integral part of her, and their lives would be permanently changed. But Anthea looked forward to it with anticipation as well as trepidation. She would stop being a "pregnant woman" and become a "mother"; they would stop being a "married couple" and become a "family." The thought brought a smile to her lips. So many changes ahead!

 

The AM radio blared, laced with occasional threads of static, as the edgy-sounding announcer talked about the current crisis. Davis had turned on the car radio as he drove, hoping for some soothing music for his wife, but the emergency broadcasts were not comforting. "Slan attack imminent. Radar images show the possibility of numerous enemy ships approaching."

 

Anthea wiped sweat from her forehead and turned to look at him. Davis was alarmingly pale, disturbed by the tense news as well as having the jitters of an expectant father. He turned the knob again, trying a different station.

 

"--President Kier Gray arrested. The world has been rocked to learn that their leader was secretly a slan in disguise. The noted slan hunter John Petty, chief of the secret police, has assumed provisional control of the government after making the arrest himself. Several of the President's cabinet members, also shown to be slans, were killed in the altercation. Gray's arrest raises the uncomfortable question of how many more of the telepathic mutants might be living among us, completely unnoticed."

 

Davis snapped off the radio in disgust. "I guess we'll just have to hum if we want music." A slow-moving car driven by an old man hunched over the steering wheel swerved out of the way as Davis rushed past.

 

"How could Kier Gray be a slan?" Anthea said, trying to distract herself. "I thought they all had tendrils coming out the back of their heads. He couldn't possibly have hidden what he was."

 

"Don't underestimate how devious they can be. They use makeup, prosthetics, hairpieces to cover up their tendrils. It really is a conspiracy." He stared intently ahead as he drove. "I wish we'd just wiped them all out during the Slan Wars."

 

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to sound conversational despite the spasms, but she failed miserably. "It's not . . . as if . . . we didn't try."

 

The telepathic humans were physically superior, with great strength and improved healing abilities; they considered themselves a master race. Long ago, the mutant slans had tried to dominate and enslave the rest of humanity. Centuries of warfare ensued as brave humans fought slans, defeated them, and drove the few survivors into hiding.

 

Though the media was rife with rumors about an expansive underground slan organization and numerous concealed bases, only a few loners were ever caught. Sinister slan ships occasionally flew over the great cities on Earth, sometimes dropping off messages, other times just gathering reconnaissance. Obviously, the slans were building their numbers, gearing up for some sort of concerted attack. No wonder humanity was terrified.

 

Somehow, though, being with Davis made her feel safe, no matter what the radio news said. Her husband had brown eyes in contrast with her blue ones, dark curly hair as opposed to her straight, strawberry-blond. But Anthea and Davis Stewart were not opposites: They had been soul mates since their first meeting. Some romantics called it "love at first sight"; others talked about chemistry and matching personalities. From the moment she had met Davis, it seemed their very heartbeats had synchronized. They had known they were meant for each other. Now with the coming baby, their love, their family, would be stronger than ever before.

 

Unbearable affection seeped through the concern on his face like fresh rain washing away a stain. "It won't be long now, Anth. Just hang on."

 

After riding through another contraction, she gave him a strange smile. "No, Davis . . . no, it won't. But I don't think I can concentrate on politics anymore . . . okay?"

 

Davis raced toward the tall, brown-brick Centropolis General Hospital, turning into the marked driveway for the emergency-room entrance. He wasn't going to let even a planet-sized war get in the way of the medical attention his wife needed. He pulled up to the curb in front of the double doors, then jammed the shift lever into park and opened his door all in one gesture. "Just wait here. I'll get somebody."

 

Anthea was tempted to walk by herself into the emergency room, but then another contraction hit, harder than the previous ones. "All right," she gasped. "I'll just wait here."

 

Running into the hospital with his hair mussed, awkwardly waving his arms, Davis looked utterly adorable. She knew she would never forget that sight.

 

Anthea closed her eyes and counted, trying to time the contractions, though it was merely a trick to occupy her mind. She had always been able to shunt aside pain, to concentrate on her body. Did all mothers feel so connected to their babies? It wanted to come out--he wanted to be born, and she experienced an inexplicable confidence that the delivery would be smooth. She had nothing to worry about.

 

Davis returned in less than a minute, pushing a wheelchair. A gangly orderly jogged along beside her husband, scolding him and trying to wrest the wheelchair from him, but Davis wanted to do this himself. The two men quickly helped Anthea out of the car and into the emergency-room waiting area. The orderly shouted for a nurse, who in turn shouted for a doctor, and they all rushed toward the delivery room.

 

Anthea looked up just long enough to see several policemen milling about in the emergency room. A grim-looking, dark-suited man wore an armband with the insignia of the secret police, a scarlet hammer across a web. A slan hunter here in the hospital? Her thoughts were fuzzy, but she realized that if the slans were going to attack Centropolis, many casualties would be pouring into this medical center. Slan terrorists probably thought the hospital would be a good place to sabotage. What if one of them took her baby? She had heard of the terrible things slans did to babies. . . .

 

The man with the armband was scolding a plump woman behind the reception desk. "I must insist, ma'am. The secret police have the legal authority to inspect all of your admissions records. I want your carbon copies."

 

While halfheartedly clacking away on her manual typewriter, she popped her pink gum with a sound like the shot from a toy gun. "Sir, don't you think that if we found a slan in our treatment rooms we would report it?"

 

"I need to look at blood tests and any X-rays. Their internal organs are different from ours, you know. President Gray was a slan in disguise--we can't trust anyone. We have evidence that there may be a new breed of slans, ones that don't have tendrils."

 

The receptionist continued typing as she talked. "Surgically removed so that they can infiltrate our society better? I assure you, we would notice such scars."

 

The man from the secret police scowled. "That is not for you to decide, ma'am. These new mutations may even be born without the tendrils. In fact, some of them might not even know they're slans."

 

The receptionist chuckled nervously. "Oh, come now! How can they not know?"

 

With a grim expression, the man simply held out his hand. The plump receptionist heaved a put-upon sigh and turned in her swivel chair. She opened a gray metal filing cabinet and pulled out the curling carbon-copy records of all recent admissions. Her expression made it perfectly clear that she thought the secret policeman was wasting her precious time.

 

The gangly orderly ran back out into the waiting area. "Delivery Room Four is ready." In a rush, he and Davis wheeled Anthea down the hall. A nurse opened the swinging door, but then she put out a stern hand. "Mr. Stewart, I'm afraid you'll have to wait out here."

 

"I want to be with my wife." Davis craned his neck to look after her.

 

"Sorry, sir. Men aren't allowed inside the delivery room. Go wait with the other nervous fathers. Hand out cigars to each other."

 

Anthea saw his deeply disappointed frown. "Don't worry, Davis. I'll be fine. I'll be here."

 

He gave her hand a squeeze. "I love you."

 

"You can prove it by changing more than your share of diapers," she joked. Then the contractions hit again, and she knew the baby was close.

&nbs...

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0765316757
• ISBN 13: 9780765316752
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272