Quote:
Originally Posted by DrNefario
Edit: I guess I also need to read the Retro Hugo winner, Slan by AE Van Vogt.
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If you're going to read one Van Vogt, that's the one.
Van Vogt specialized in complex "wheels within wheels within wheels" plots. He once described his writing method in an interview, where he said his practice was to veer off in a new direction every 800 words. It resulted in works which fell apart if looked at too closely, but he relied on proceeding at a breakneck pace that prevented you from doing so.
Slan is the story of Jommy Cross, who is ten years old when we meet him. Jommy is a Slan, which are arguably the next step in human evolution. They are stronger, healthier, smarter, and heal faster from illness or injury than normal humans, and they can read minds. They are a minority hated and feared by normals. Earth is controlled by the dictator Keir Gray, who uses the threat supposedly posed by Slans as a means of maintaining power.
Jommy's late father was a scientist who made a development that might prove the key the overthrowing Kier Gray and insuring the safety of Slans, which he hid away in catacombs under Gray's palace. Jommy's mother tells him he must someday enter the catacombs and recover his father's legacy. She is promptly killed by Gray's secret police, and Jommy becomes an orphan who must survive and somehow accomplish his mission.
Slan falls apart if looked at too closely too, but it's shorter, less complicated, and under better control than most of Van Vogt's work, and you can largely suspend disbelief while you read it.
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Dennis