In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement.
The writers in the early days of science fiction, at a time before the conventions and tropes of the genre had solidified, occasionally produced some very strange stories. Some of those lurid pulp tales are long forgotten, and often for good reason. But Slan, the first novel by A.E. van Vogt, is still remembered and read today. It is the surreal story of a race of supermen who appear to have lost a struggle with normal humans, a story that reads as much like a comic book as a novel…but it’s also a story that, despite its clumsy language and construction, is surprisingly engaging and epic in scope.
I recently found a copy of Slan in my basement. It is a book club edition, containing copyright dates but no publication date; from the type and illustration on the cover, I’m guessing it was published in the mid-1970s. I had a feeling it was one of the books I inherited from my dad when my brothers and I split up his collection after he died. I’d read some of van Vogt’s shorter works in the past, with “Black Destroyer” being especially memorable, but I’d never read any of his novels, and decided it was time to change that.
When I started reading the book, I found a bookmark that confirmed its origin. It was a slim piece of cardstock, on which my dad had written, “Bought Johnson’s Bookstore Boskone 88 Read Feb 88.” That note brought back memories of our family’s many trips to Boston’s Boskone science fiction convention, which got a bit too big and unwieldy in the early 1980s; starting in 1988, it was deliberately downsized and moved to Springfield for a few years. But it was the mention of Johnson’s Bookstore that really brought back memories. The store was a fixture in downtown Springfield throughout the 20th century which sadly did not survive into the 21st century. When I was young, the store was like heaven. There were new books, used books, and a large toy and hobby section. At Christmas you would meet Santa, and he would present you with a collectible gold-toned coin. My dad had to see a medical specialist in Springfield every month, and I would tag along because dad would then take me to lunch at a deli or automat, and then to the bookstore.
That one little sliver of a bookmark brought back a flood of memories and emotions. But before you decide I’m just an old guy getting sidetracked with tales of times gone by, my digression has a purpose. It turns out that capturing memories and emotions was an important part of the method A.E. van Vogt used to create his stories. Instead of logic, he often let his emotions and dreams drive his writing, and it gave his work a feel that was unique among his contemporaries.
About the Author
A.E. van Vogt (Alfred Elton van Vogt) is the pen name, and later legal name, of Alfred Vogt (1912 to 2000), an American science fiction writer who emigrated from Canada to California in 1944. He started his writing career while still living in Canada, first in general pulp magazines, and then in science fiction magazines. His first genre sale was to John Campbell’s Astounding in 1939 with the tale “Black Destroyer,” a first contact story about a monstrous alien that set the template for such narratives for decades to come (and gained a settlement for van Vogt from the producers of the movie Alien because of similarities between his story and the plot of the movie).
Van Vogt reportedly had an idiosyncratic writing style, composing his stories as a series of scenes, sometimes coming to him in dreams, which he wrote down upon awakening. The scenes were often vivid, highly emotional, and connected as much by theme and emotion as by a linear plot. His most productive period was the 1940s, and he was one of the most widely known authors of what became known as science fiction’s Golden Age. Except for reworking earlier stories into novel form (and some credit him with originating the term “fix-up”), van Vogt did not write much in the 1950s, being heavily involved in fellow writer L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics movement. He began writing again in the 1960s, and his career continued into the 1980s.
Van Vogt’s first novel, Slan, was serialized in Astounding, and brought him significant attention. “Black Destroyer” and other tales of exploration were combined into the novel Voyages of the Space Beagle. Other notable books that spawned sequels included The World of Null-A, The Rull, and The Weapon Shops of Isher.
Because of van Vogt’s unique style, critical response to his work varied widely. In particular, Damon Knight (writer, critic, editor, and founder of the Science Fiction Writers of America) disliked pretty much everything about van Vogt’s work. On the other hand, author Philip K. Dick credited van Vogt with inspiring his own style. SFWA eventually recognized van Vogt as a Grand Master, and he was later inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
Unfortunately, there is only a single work from van Vogt available to read for free on Project Gutenberg (you can find it here), a later work printed in If magazine in 1963.
Super-Men and Super-Science
Slan is an early example of science fiction’s enduring fascination with the evolution of the human species and the possibilities of advanced mental powers. And one of the proponents of those ideas was Astounding/Analog editor John Campbell. In past reviews, I’ve looked at examples of stories published by Campbell that featured people with extraordinary powers, included E. E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series (which culminated in Children of the Lens), John Dalmas’ Yngling stories, and James Schmitz’s tales of Telzey Amberdon. And there were many others—for a man noted for publishing stories based on rigorous science, Campbell had a penchant for the paranormal.
When I was a youngster in the mid-1960s, one of my favorite comic books was the X-Men, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It was the tale of a group of young mutants (who had been appearing more frequently among the population since the use of atomic bombs), gathered together the and enrolled into a specialized school by secretly telepathic Professor Xavier, with aspirations to mold them into a force for good. But while they try to do good, they are surrounded by a world that hates and fears them. In my youth, not having encountered some of these ideas before, I thought the story of the X-Men was terribly original. But since then, and especially after reading Slan, I’ve realized the ideas Lee and Kirby incorporated into their stories were themes already out in the zeitgeist, and common in the science fiction magazines of the day.
Slan
The book opens with one of those vivid scenes van Vogt is known for. Young Jommy Cross and his mother are slans, a hunted minority of humans, superior in strength and stamina, and possessing golden tendrils on their heads which allow them to read minds and communicate with each other telepathically. Jommy’s late father was a scientist who left a hidden legacy for Jommy to retrieve when he came of age. Jommy’s mother is captured and killed, but Jommy escapes, only to be captured by a hateful, alcoholic old woman who calls herself Grammy and wants to use Jommy and his powers to enrich herself.
We then meet Kathleen Layton, another slan who is held captive by world dictator Kier Gray. She is both harassed and desired by the occupants of the palace, which include Gray’s minions and cabinet members. John Petty, Gray’s security chief, wants to use Gray’s possession of a hated slan as a pretext to overthrow him. He has convinced the entire cabinet to revolt against Gray, but (rather improbably) Gray has conspired with their assistants to overthrow the cabinet members, and they die in a hail of bullets. All except Petty, that is, who is allowed to live because even though he is treacherous, he is useful in invoking fear among the populace.
Granny is a former actress, and uses her makeup and costume skills to disguise Jommy’s tendrils. She sends him out to become a thief, using his powers to avoid capture and find hidden treasures. But Jommy strays near the Air Center, the nexus of the aviation industry, and finds it occupied by tendril-less slans, who are like him except that they lack his ability to read minds. They discover Jommy in their midst, and he realizes that these different slans hate him and his kind as intensely as the normal humans do. Jommy escapes, and the story jumps ahead six years, during which he has come to dominate Granny, keeping her happy, drunk, and docile. Jommy is now old enough to claim his legacy from his father, its location having been imprinted in his brain. At the same time, a slan airship is approaching the palace, so the city is in turmoil. Jommy finds a strange weapon and his father’s notes, is approached by two guards, and turns the weapon on them. Their bodies immediately disintegrate, and he realizes he has been given a device that can draw upon the full power of the atom.
We then revisit Kathleen Layton, always at risk, despite being protected by Kier Gray, the dictator whose mind is inexplicably closed to her powers. Meanwhile, Granny tries to betray Jommy, but he abducts her and flees, stealing a spaceship from the Air Center. He then starts a period where he prepares to unravel the secrets of both the true slans and tendril-less slans. Jommy uses his father’s scientific discoveries to customize his spaceship, turning it into a craft that can stand up to entire fleets of ordinary ships. He increases his knowledge by plucking information from the brains of people around him. He finds a small town to hide in and manipulates people’s brains so they will cooperate with him. He also restructures Granny’s mind so she is a nicer person. These are all, at least in my mind, morally questionable actions, but van Vogt does not question the ethics of the situation at all. When you combine this with the admiration exhibited in the book toward the cruel dictator Kier Gray, I am not entirely comfortable with the message van Vogt is presenting to his readers.
Finally, Jommy follows a lead to the true slans, and meets Kathleen Layton—only have the cruel John Petty eliminate her. It appears her purpose in the story was only to provide motivation for Jommy’s further actions. Jommy then sets off for the giant complex the tendril-less slans have built on Mars, a voyage filled with surreal images. There are a lot of twists, turns, and reversals of fortune, some of them pretty pulpy in nature. Moreover, the “scientific” explanations behind many of the mysteries Jommy has been unraveling end up being less than plausible. Yet the ending, while corny, at least brings the often dark and gloomy book to a close on a positive note.
Final Thoughts
Slan was a fascinating book to read. The quality of the prose is not very high, and neither is the quality of the science. The flow and plotting are also awkward. But the novel has an energy and distinctive flavor that makes it stand out from other tales of its era. It is far from the best book I’ve ever read, but it is also an interesting piece of the science fiction genre’s history.
If any of you out there have read Slan, I’d be eager to hear your opinions, both on the book itself, and its place in history. And if there are any other works by van Vogt you want to discuss, you are more than welcome. And I suspect some of you have had experiences with old books triggering a flood of memories, as I did when I found my father’s annotated bookmark in my copy of Slan.
Alan Brown has been a science fiction fan for over five decades, especially fiction that deals with science, military matters, exploration and adventure.
