History Creator / AEVanVogt

Website/TheOtherWiki states that van Vogt was born in Edenburg, a Russian Mennonite community near [[CanadaEh Gretna, Manitoba.]] He spoke German until he was four years old. He got his start by writing for pulp magazines, but decided to switch to something he liked a lot better.

* ImprobablyHighIQ: Van Vogt appears to retain the term "IQ" but throws away any relationship it has with IQ today and more to be some sort of measure of "mental strength". In ''The Proxy Intelligence'', on an IQ curve that would include humans, Kluggs, Lennels and Dreeghs, the respective averages would be 100, 220, 380, and 450. A few paragraphs later come mentions of IQs of 3,000 and 10,000. The problem is the idea that the intelligence or mental abilities of different species could naturally be ordered along a single dimension/expressed by a single number (it's hard enough trying to do that just for humans).

Critics are sharply divided over the quality and merit of van Vogt's work. While it's true that he won few awards during his lifetime, his name is often mentioned along with the Big Three. It's worth pointing out that Clarke, Asimov, and Creator/JohnWCampbell, Jr. all spoke highly of him. Creator/DamonKnight, however, called him "a pygmy who has learned to operate an overgrown typewriter." Despite his critics, van Vogt did manage to inspire several prominent sci-fi writers, such as Creator/HarlanEllison and Creator/PhilipKDick. Ellison in particular was so outraged that van Vogt had received so little recognition that he went on a [[OneManArmy one-man media rampage]] until the SFWA finally presented the aging van Vogt with a [[UsefulNotes/DamonKnightMemorialGrandMasterAward Grand Master Award]].

* CloningBlues: Gilbert Gosseyn (pronounced 'go sane' -- get it?) of ''The World of Null-A'' and ''The Players of Null-A''. Whenever he's killed, he 'wakes up' in a new cloned body with all his old memories right up to his death... and he has a superpower, too.

* HaveAGAyOldTime: ''The World of Null-A'' introduces an energy weapon called the vibrator, leading to sentences like, "His body pulsed with silent energy as it became attuned to the vibrator."

Though only one among many hardworking GoldenAge ScienceFiction writers, Alfred Elton van Vogt (pronounced "von vote") (April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000) was definitely one of the most prolific. Often overshadowed by the "Big Three" (Creator/ArthurCClarke, Creator/RobertAHeinlein and Creator/IsaacAsimov), van Vogt still managed to pen some long-lived classics, including ''Literature/{{Slan}}'', ''The Book of Ptath'', ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle'', ''The Weapon Shops of Isher,'' and the ''Null-A'' series (which incidentally was an influence on [[RationalFic the genre of rational fiction]]). He cranked out dozens of short stories, many of which have been anthologized over and over again. Like several of his contemporaries, he also forayed into the realms of mainstream fiction and nonfiction.

* RationalFic: The ''Null-A'' novels are a classic example of this genre -- one of the first to use aspects of rational thinking and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-classical_logic non-Aristotelian logic]] as the basis for world-building and character interactions -- and considered a major influence. Alfred Korzybski's phrase "The map is not the territory" is used as a slogan.

Wiki/TheOtherWiki states that van Vogt was born in Edenburg, a Russian Mennonite community near [[CanadaEh Gretna, Manitoba.]] He spoke German until he was four years old. He got his start by writing for pulp magazines, but decided to switch to something he liked a lot better.

* CloningBlues: Gilbert Gosseyn (pronounced 'go sane' — get it?) of ''The World of Null-A'' and ''The Players of Null-A''. Whenever he's killed, he 'wakes up' in a new cloned body with all his old memories right up to his death... and he has a superpower, too.

* AfterTheEnd: The context of the ''Mutant Mage'' series. [[spoiler: It isn't quite what it seems like at first, though.]]

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Kibmadine from ''The Silkie'' are telepathic, shapeshifting Ted Bundies and Jeffrey Dahmers, whose chief delight is [[MindRape changing]] their victims' terror into a ''yearning'' to be eaten alive.
* AmnesiacGod: [[spoiler: Who was killed in a tank battle in a previous life, no less.]]
* AtomicHate: The Riss (from ''The Wizard of Linn'') have a nasty habit of bombing human cities into smoking craters. [[spoiler: [[ScienceHero Our hero]] [[TheGrotesque Clane]] gets hold of something even more powerful, though, and defeats the Riss with it.]]
* BadassBookworm: A lot of van Vogt's protagonists are [[TheSmartGuy scientists and other academic types]] who wind up playing [[ScienceHero the hero.]]

* BoldExplorer: In ''Voyage of the Space Beagle'', most of the crew of the ''Space Beagle'', especially Director Morton, the head of the expedition. (The protagonist, Elliot Grosvenor, is along as more of a trouble-shooter.

* CausedTheBigBang: A possible case in ''The Weapon Shops of Isher'', where a man travels through time, accumulating energy the further he is away from his time. In the end, he is at a time before the planets formed, and is tired of it, so he releases the energy (although it is not stated that outright it is actually the Big Bang that was created that way).
* EnemyMine: Professor Jamieson and the ezwal are forced to work together to survive the hostile surface of Eristan II in ''Co-Operate--or Else!''
** Clane and the captured barbarian leader Czinczar [[spoiler: team up to defeat the [[HigherTechSpecies Riss]], [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder despite Czinczar's repeated attempts]] to gain the upper hand.]] It's a good thing Clane invests heavily in BetrayalInsurance.
** There's also Maltby and Grand Captain Laurr from ''Mission to the Stars''. [[spoiler: They actually take the trope up to eleven and ''get hitched''.]]

* IntelligentGerbil: Van Vogt seemed to have a fondness for these, and usually equipped them with {{Telepathy}}.

%%* RationalFic: Null-A is a classic example of this genre
* RecycledINSPACE: ''The Empire of the Atom'' and ''The Wizard of Linn'', which were amalgamated into the ''Mutant Mage'' series, were inspired in part by the Roman Empire, particularly the reign of Claudius. The resemblance is almost painful at times. The series is basically ''Series/IClaudius'' '''IN SPACE!'''

** There's also Maltby and Grand Captain Laurr from ''Mission to the Stars''. [[spoiler: They actually take the trope UpToEleven and ''get hitched''.]]

* RecycledINSPACE: ''The Empire of the Atom'' and ''The Wizard of Linn'', which were amalgamated into the ''Mutant Mage'' series, were inspired in part by the Roman Empire, particularly the reign of Claudius. The resemblance is almost painful at times. The series is basically ''Series/IClaudius'' [[AC:IN SPACE]]!

* "Literature/TheMonster"

* BrainsAndBrawn: Clane and Czinczar from ''The Wizard of Linn'', though Czinczar [[MagnificentBastard is by no means unintelligent.]]

* AlienAutopsy

* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum

* LostTechnology
* LowCultureHighTech
* MilkmanConspiracy: The weapon shops of Isher.
* NearlyNormalAnimal
* NotQuiteHuman: The Mixed Men from ''Mission to the Stars.''
* PlantAliens
* RationalFic: Null-A is a classic example of this genre

* ScienceHero
* StandardSciFiFleet
* StarfishAliens
* {{Unobtainium}}

Though only one among many hardworking GoldenAge ScienceFiction writers, Alfred Elton van Vogt (pronounced "von vote") was definitely one of the most prolific. Often overshadowed by the "Big Three" (Creator/ArthurCClarke, Creator/RobertAHeinlein and Creator/IsaacAsimov), van Vogt still managed to pen some long-lived classics, including ''Literature/{{Slan}}'', ''The Book of Ptath'', ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle'', ''The Weapon Shops of Isher,'' and the ''Null-A'' series (which incidentally was an influence on [[RationalFic the genre of rational fiction]]). He cranked out dozens of short stories, many of which have been anthologized over and over again. Like several of his contemporaries, he also forayed into the realms of mainstream fiction and nonfiction.

[[LoveItOrHateIt Critics are sharply divided]] over the quality and merit of van Vogt's work. While it's true that he won few awards during his lifetime, his name is often mentioned along with the Big Three. It's worth pointing out that Clarke, Asimov, and Creator/JohnWCampbell, Jr. all spoke highly of him. Creator/DamonKnight, however, called him "a pygmy who has learned to operate an overgrown typewriter." Despite his critics, van Vogt did manage to inspire several prominent sci-fi writers, such as Creator/HarlanEllison and Creator/PhilipKDick. Ellison in particular was so outraged that van Vogt had received so little recognition that he went on a [[OneManArmy one-man media rampage]] until the SFWA finally presented the aging van Vogt with a [[UsefulNotes/DamonKnightMemorialGrandMasterAward Grand Master Award]].