"A. E. Van Vogt - The Best Of A. E. Van Vogt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

Like most SF authors I handled this situation with the total aplomb of someone who realizes that failure
to make such a choice simply means your story is not included. P.S. I got the check.
Still--I should report--no one likes to be cynical.
Truth is, I have always had my own favorites among my stories, and occasionally re-read these.
Before I tell you my own choice, let me list for you those stories of mine which have repeatedly won
the accolade of my particular readership.
Short stories: (early titles) тАЬFar CentaurusтАЭ, тАЬEnchanted VillageтАЭ, тАЬThe MonsterтАЭ. This last has
sometimes been titled тАЬResurrectionтАЭ, (more recent title) тАЬItselfтАЭ.
Novelettes: (early titles) тАЬBlack DestroyerтАЭ, тАЬCooperate--Or ElseтАЭ, The Weapon ShopтАЭ, (recent titles)
тАЬThe Proxy IntelligenceтАЭ, тАЬThe SilkieтАЭ--novelette version--and тАЬThe Reflected MenтАЭ.
Novels: (early) Slan, The Voyage of the Space Beagle and The World of Null-A, (recent) Quest for
the Future and The Darkness on Diamondia.
Now, why are those not my choices also? Well, I like far-out science fiction.
Does far-out--you may wonder--mean unscientific? Does it mean that I have a fantasy orientation as
distinct from scientific extrapolation. Does it mean that I like it when an author creates bizarre but
impossible situations.
No--to all three questions.
Take тАЬThe StormтАЭ--which I include in my list. Surely, at first look, some of the ideas in it are as
far-fetched as you could ask for. A тАЬstormтАЭ in space. A planet revolving around the most fantastic sun in
the known universe: S-Doradus.
IтАЩll concentrate on that last item. When I got the idea, I wrote John W. Campbell, editor of
Astounding, and asked him if it was possible to obtain any valid concept of such a planet. What would
the sky look like? The plant life? etc. He wrote an astronomer friend. Among the three of us we evolved
the planet as described in the story. So far as I know itтАЩs the only description in existence. And itтАЩs
accurate.
 There is an error in the original magazine version--and I have decided to let it stand in this present
volume. Just to show you how difficult these matters are, let me describe the mistake. The astronomy
texts I had available did not clearly identify which of the Magellanic Clouds contain S-Doradus. This
particular point did not cross my mind during the correspondence. Suddenly, it was too late. I had to
guess. Now, in those days I gave a lot of attention to the sounds of words. It was my belief that certain
letters all by themselves conveyed a feeling. And so, when I wanted this feeling, or that, I would look for
words with those sounds in them, and substitute them for words that might, otherwise, appear to be more
suitable.
My critics presently took me apart on my use of the English language, particularly ridiculing such
passages. So I abandoned the technique. However, before I was demol-ished, I decided that the word
Lesser had a better feeling for my purposes than Greater. So, on this basis, I placed the great and
glorious S-Doradus in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud.
A few years later, while I was looking up something else in another text, there was the truth. Meaning,
it was in the Greater Magellanic Cloud.
Those things happen to SF authors, alas.
Another example: I read an entire text book on the production and manufacture of steel and its
by-products. I used the terminology in a little short story, titled, тАЬJugger-nautтАЭ. To my dismay, a reader
wrote in with a puzzled appraisal, stating that I seemed to know something about the subject; but that, as
a steel man himself, he had to report that he had never heard any of the terms.
It developed that I had read a book about British steel production.
A third story needing comment is тАЬThe GhostтАЭ. It appeared originally in Unknown Worlds, a fantasy
magazine. Well, itтАЩs science fiction. The idea in it derives from the time theories of a British philosopher,
named Dunne. He called his time concept serial time.
When I was age eighteen--and a would-be writer--I loved the lush style of A. Merritt, the cosmic
stories of E. E. Smith, and the western yarns of Max Brand. By the time I got around to eighteen a