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Slan #1
Slan
In the 1940s, the Golden Age of science fiction flowered in the magazine Astounding. Editor John W. Campbell, Jr., discovered and promoted great new writers such as A.E. van Vogt, whose novel Slan was one of the works of the era.
Slan is the story of Jommy Cross, the orphan mutant outcast from a future society prejudiced against mutants, or slans. Throughout the forties and into the fifties, Slan was considered the single most important SF novel, the one great book that everyone had to read. Today it remains a monument to pulp SF adventure, filled with constant action and a cornucopia of ideas.
This edition has a new introduction by Kevin J. Anderson.
Slan is the story of Jommy Cross, the orphan mutant outcast from a future society prejudiced against mutants, or slans. Throughout the forties and into the fifties, Slan was considered the single most important SF novel, the one great book that everyone had to read. Today it remains a monument to pulp SF adventure, filled with constant action and a cornucopia of ideas.
This edition has a new introduction by Kevin J. Anderson.
272 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1940
About the author
A.E. van Vogt
613 books420 followersAlfred Elton van Vogt was a Canadian-born science fiction author regarded by some as one of the most popular and complex science fiction writers of the mid-twentieth century—the "Golden Age" of the genre.
van Vogt was born to Russian Mennonite family. Until he was four years old, van Vogt and his family spoke only a dialect of Low German in the home.
He began his writing career with 'true story' romances, but then moved to writing science fiction, a field he identified with. His first story was Black Destroyer, that appeared as the front cover story for the July 1939 edtion of the popular "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine.
van Vogt was born to Russian Mennonite family. Until he was four years old, van Vogt and his family spoke only a dialect of Low German in the home.
He began his writing career with 'true story' romances, but then moved to writing science fiction, a field he identified with. His first story was Black Destroyer, that appeared as the front cover story for the July 1939 edtion of the popular "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 461 reviews
February 9, 2017
How do I properly describe a novel that uses (incorrectly) atomic energy, but also addressing the fact that it was published in 1940?
Well, it's been 76 years since it came out, and its and integral part of the Campbellian SF revolution that said that we can have great Science in Science Fiction, but of course our understanding of these things change as we learn more, so I'm perfectly willing to let a lot of that slide. Still. The fact that it's 1940 when it was published, and he was talking about Atomic Energy as a resource and a weapon *is* also rather mind-blowingly cool. :)
That's one of the more noteworthy things about this adventure novel that strings up a ton of cool ideas for us to enjoy, being part dystopian future, part aftermath of a huge pogrom against alien "supermen" that the "supermen" lost, and partly a mirror to ourselves of the fact of insanely stupid prejudice.
The plot proceeds very quickly, which is an amazingly cool feature and expectation for this era's SF adventure books, moving at a nice pace for an Oliver Twist beginning all the way to find a macguffin that would save the benighted alien race of Slans, to learn the slightly surprising reveals about the Slan's origins, while putting us firmly in the hands of a few Slan MCs. Telepathy, strength, speed, and intelligence is all enhanced in these individuals.
That's no big surprise, of course. Nietzsche's insanely popular across the world in every continent at this time. Superman (comic) just came out. A war has just popped up over the ocean that bears a lot of identification with it. So much of our literature, and especially SF, has truly heroic super men. It's part of our zeitgeist.
What's most interesting is how these supermen are the most downtrodden in the novel, despite all their advantages.
But wait, you say, hasn't this been done a million times?
Well, yeah, but few before this time have done something quite as intelligently as Vogt. He's trying to send a global message and doing it across so many subjects with so much world building... and the point is, he's doing it with such economy of prose. It's a really short novel.
The only other novels that I know of that could pull this off only came later.
I'm thinking of The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination, both by Alfred Bester, and probably these are probably the very best Golden Age SF novels that still hold up today.
I'm not going to judge this book by today's standards of SF, although it is superior in pacing and plot, if not characterization. It was also a phenomenon for about 15 years after it came out, being considered the best of the best. Popularity doesn't always mean quality, but this does have a lot of quality.
Unfortunately, it's also been copied a million times since then, diluting the effect and the enjoyment that we might have in it now.
At least we can point to it as one of the major supermen mythos stories with pride, and hopefully it won't be utterly forgotten in time.
Well, it's been 76 years since it came out, and its and integral part of the Campbellian SF revolution that said that we can have great Science in Science Fiction, but of course our understanding of these things change as we learn more, so I'm perfectly willing to let a lot of that slide. Still. The fact that it's 1940 when it was published, and he was talking about Atomic Energy as a resource and a weapon *is* also rather mind-blowingly cool. :)
That's one of the more noteworthy things about this adventure novel that strings up a ton of cool ideas for us to enjoy, being part dystopian future, part aftermath of a huge pogrom against alien "supermen" that the "supermen" lost, and partly a mirror to ourselves of the fact of insanely stupid prejudice.
The plot proceeds very quickly, which is an amazingly cool feature and expectation for this era's SF adventure books, moving at a nice pace for an Oliver Twist beginning all the way to find a macguffin that would save the benighted alien race of Slans, to learn the slightly surprising reveals about the Slan's origins, while putting us firmly in the hands of a few Slan MCs. Telepathy, strength, speed, and intelligence is all enhanced in these individuals.
That's no big surprise, of course. Nietzsche's insanely popular across the world in every continent at this time. Superman (comic) just came out. A war has just popped up over the ocean that bears a lot of identification with it. So much of our literature, and especially SF, has truly heroic super men. It's part of our zeitgeist.
What's most interesting is how these supermen are the most downtrodden in the novel, despite all their advantages.
But wait, you say, hasn't this been done a million times?
Well, yeah, but few before this time have done something quite as intelligently as Vogt. He's trying to send a global message and doing it across so many subjects with so much world building... and the point is, he's doing it with such economy of prose. It's a really short novel.
The only other novels that I know of that could pull this off only came later.
I'm thinking of The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination, both by Alfred Bester, and probably these are probably the very best Golden Age SF novels that still hold up today.
I'm not going to judge this book by today's standards of SF, although it is superior in pacing and plot, if not characterization. It was also a phenomenon for about 15 years after it came out, being considered the best of the best. Popularity doesn't always mean quality, but this does have a lot of quality.
Unfortunately, it's also been copied a million times since then, diluting the effect and the enjoyment that we might have in it now.
At least we can point to it as one of the major supermen mythos stories with pride, and hopefully it won't be utterly forgotten in time.
January 4, 2019
Golden Age Science Fiction goodness. I can see from other reviews that not everybody enjoyed this, but I really enjoy Van Vogt, his stories tend to twist and turn and venture off into unexpected territory. The logical next step is almost never what happens. Slan has had a massive influence on the genre, as seen in Marvel Comics' X-men and the writings of Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). Slan actually deals with a rather complicated theme, but in an almost simplistic fashion, the quick pace of the novel is testament to this. Latter authors, like Dick, instilled a much greater emotional impact into the same kind of thing. This, however, is fun. Anachronisms? Of course! I'd expect no less of a Science Fiction novel published in the 1940s. There is a feverish quality to much of the Van Vogt stuff I've read, and perhaps that's why he's not everybody's cup of tea. Me, I'd recommend this any day of the week. Some of it appears silly now, but Slan has certainly made its mark!
November 6, 2023
A mostly forgotten writer in today's SiFi world, Van Vogt is a grandmaster of the genre. His stories still ready well today. Nice enjoyable classic SiFi. Recommended
October 6, 2018
Three and half stars.
Slan is poorly written but I enjoyed the reading (well, my reviews are also poorly written ;-)
As a lot of classics this novel could seem a bit silly to the current reader: the female characters, some aspects of the plot, and of course the state of the art of science knowledge...
However Slan has good ideas, for example when the author imagines a society in which some humans have superpowers (telepathy, intelligence, strength, etc) but at the same time they must hide and protect themselves from different superhumans, so I understand that this novel was acclaimed in its time.
I suppose that then (in 1940) A. E. van Vogt’s novel made a lot of fans -the “proto-geeks” if I may say so- daydream to be the main character: socially maladjusted but in a sense superior, etc.
Slan is poorly written but I enjoyed the reading (well, my reviews are also poorly written ;-)
As a lot of classics this novel could seem a bit silly to the current reader: the female characters, some aspects of the plot, and of course the state of the art of science knowledge...
However Slan has good ideas, for example when the author imagines a society in which some humans have superpowers (telepathy, intelligence, strength, etc) but at the same time they must hide and protect themselves from different superhumans, so I understand that this novel was acclaimed in its time.
I suppose that then (in 1940) A. E. van Vogt’s novel made a lot of fans -the “proto-geeks” if I may say so- daydream to be the main character: socially maladjusted but in a sense superior, etc.
October 13, 2015
I really liked van Vogt when I was younger & it's only been a few years since I read The Voyage of the Space Beagle which I gave 3 stars. I've heard this held up to be one of his better books, but never got around to it. He writes space opera, which has some almost magical fixing & plenty of convenience to the plot, but it's fun. This wasn't.
The biggest problem was that he tried to cover too much territory in too short a time. From evolution to revolution, racism, mob psychology, fantastic science & even a love story all wrapped up in a coming of age story. It started out pretty well, but there was just so much going on by the end that none of it worked well. The great reveals weren't & some just sucked. Everything else was too convenient & magically solved to make the hero out to be wonderful, while much of his reasoning was ridiculous.
This was an audio book in 6 files. By the end of the third one, I was getting close to my limits. Halfway through the 5th, I almost quit. Luckily, the 6th was shorter, so I managed to finish it. A few more minutes & I would have yakked, though.
The biggest problem was that he tried to cover too much territory in too short a time. From evolution to revolution, racism, mob psychology, fantastic science & even a love story all wrapped up in a coming of age story. It started out pretty well, but there was just so much going on by the end that none of it worked well. The great reveals weren't & some just sucked. Everything else was too convenient & magically solved to make the hero out to be wonderful, while much of his reasoning was ridiculous.
This was an audio book in 6 files. By the end of the third one, I was getting close to my limits. Halfway through the 5th, I almost quit. Luckily, the 6th was shorter, so I managed to finish it. A few more minutes & I would have yakked, though.
May 20, 2023
Even if I grant that this is really early sci-fi, I don't understand why the Hugo went out of its way to award it a "Retro-Hugo" because it is just not that well-written. The prose is sloppy and the dialog very wooden. The whole Slan thing falls apart when we learn about the tendril versus tendril-less slans and the narrative kind of falls apart when I couldn't figure out (or care) whether the action was taking place on Mars or on the Earth or the Moon...Just, no. Maybe some hardcore sci-fi readers could explain the interest of this one to me, because I just didn't find it interesting or entertaining.
March 23, 2011
In Slan, Van Vogt (say: 'vote') combines a number of popular sci fi themes, some intriguing, others silly, to create a work that is interesting and influential, if sometimes ill-conceived.
The political tone of the work, focused on dictators, secret police, and shadowy struggles for power mark this as one of the earlier Dystopian works. Slan is a decade before 1984, though Brave New World and It Can't Happen Here are earlier.
Van Vogt's Dystopia is much more fantastical than most of the genre, relying heavily on telepathy and 'Tom Swift' gadgeteering. The use of super-gadgets is so pervasive that there are few situations our protagonist can't get out of with the use of lovingly-described technology.
There are some twists of the plot that are beyond the powers of his machines, but happily, all of these are solved by coincidence. The author has no trouble placing his protagonist in sticky situations, but can't get him out again without contrivance or Clarke Magic. Despite being told of our hero's brilliance and will, he remains passive, drifting where the plot carries him.
The writing itself is alright, but not impressive. Occasionally, Van Vogt tries for a flowery passage, and these do not serve him well. Likewise, his technobabble serves only to justify things that we, as sci fi readers, have already taken for granted. We understand that his use of Atomic Power allows him to make impenetrable steel, we don't need a speech about 'super bonding'.
Van Vogt is lost somewhere between the overt fantasies of pulp sci fi and the more reasonable predictions of harder science, like Heinlein's. When an author tries to justify a fantasy, all it does is cause the reader to question his own disbelief.
This especially evident in Van Vogt's explanation for telepathy, where he drags out that old gernsbackian chestnut about the evolution of the Future Man. Van Vogt demonstrates ably that the chief difference between hard and soft sci fi is whether the author has the least grasp of the science he's attempting to predict.
The use of evolution as 'magic plot fixer' is always laughable, and it's no wonder the layman has no conception of what the Theory of Evolution actually refers to (it has nothing to do with Nietzsche's 'Superman', and neither does eugenics).
His use of telepathy also highlights another of Van Vogt's authorial weaknesses. We often get long description of how characters feel, of how they are reacting, and of what they are thinking, which is usually a sign that the author feels a need to tell us what he is incapable of demonstrating with plot, character, scene, and dialogue.
At first, I thought that it made sense to live in the heads of telepathic characters, and was looking forward to seeing how Van Vogt would use telepathy to give us different insights into the characters and their interactions. Unfortunately, he rarely uses it this way. Indeed, most of the people have 'mind shields' which prevent the protagonists from having any such insights.
What I appreciate about sci fi is the greater scope and variability the author has to explore humanity and possibility. When a sci fi author fails to find all the interesting nooks that his alien world suggests, it is all the more disappointing.
I can also appreciate sci fi as a pure, tightly-plotted adventure, taking science as magic. Unfortunately, Van Vogt is stuck between these extremes, neither as psychologically interesting as Huxley nor as imaginative and unpredictable as Burroughs.
He does a fair enough job holding up both ends at once, but combines not only the strengths but also the weaknesses of both styles. He hits a lot of promising points here, and there is something unique about how he hybridizes ideas, but he never takes advantage the possibilities lying everywhere beneath the surface.
The political tone of the work, focused on dictators, secret police, and shadowy struggles for power mark this as one of the earlier Dystopian works. Slan is a decade before 1984, though Brave New World and It Can't Happen Here are earlier.
Van Vogt's Dystopia is much more fantastical than most of the genre, relying heavily on telepathy and 'Tom Swift' gadgeteering. The use of super-gadgets is so pervasive that there are few situations our protagonist can't get out of with the use of lovingly-described technology.
There are some twists of the plot that are beyond the powers of his machines, but happily, all of these are solved by coincidence. The author has no trouble placing his protagonist in sticky situations, but can't get him out again without contrivance or Clarke Magic. Despite being told of our hero's brilliance and will, he remains passive, drifting where the plot carries him.
The writing itself is alright, but not impressive. Occasionally, Van Vogt tries for a flowery passage, and these do not serve him well. Likewise, his technobabble serves only to justify things that we, as sci fi readers, have already taken for granted. We understand that his use of Atomic Power allows him to make impenetrable steel, we don't need a speech about 'super bonding'.
Van Vogt is lost somewhere between the overt fantasies of pulp sci fi and the more reasonable predictions of harder science, like Heinlein's. When an author tries to justify a fantasy, all it does is cause the reader to question his own disbelief.
This especially evident in Van Vogt's explanation for telepathy, where he drags out that old gernsbackian chestnut about the evolution of the Future Man. Van Vogt demonstrates ably that the chief difference between hard and soft sci fi is whether the author has the least grasp of the science he's attempting to predict.
The use of evolution as 'magic plot fixer' is always laughable, and it's no wonder the layman has no conception of what the Theory of Evolution actually refers to (it has nothing to do with Nietzsche's 'Superman', and neither does eugenics).
His use of telepathy also highlights another of Van Vogt's authorial weaknesses. We often get long description of how characters feel, of how they are reacting, and of what they are thinking, which is usually a sign that the author feels a need to tell us what he is incapable of demonstrating with plot, character, scene, and dialogue.
At first, I thought that it made sense to live in the heads of telepathic characters, and was looking forward to seeing how Van Vogt would use telepathy to give us different insights into the characters and their interactions. Unfortunately, he rarely uses it this way. Indeed, most of the people have 'mind shields' which prevent the protagonists from having any such insights.
What I appreciate about sci fi is the greater scope and variability the author has to explore humanity and possibility. When a sci fi author fails to find all the interesting nooks that his alien world suggests, it is all the more disappointing.
I can also appreciate sci fi as a pure, tightly-plotted adventure, taking science as magic. Unfortunately, Van Vogt is stuck between these extremes, neither as psychologically interesting as Huxley nor as imaginative and unpredictable as Burroughs.
He does a fair enough job holding up both ends at once, but combines not only the strengths but also the weaknesses of both styles. He hits a lot of promising points here, and there is something unique about how he hybridizes ideas, but he never takes advantage the possibilities lying everywhere beneath the surface.
September 4, 2019
281218 later addition: just read interesting lit crit work on intersections of surrealist and sf work/theory mostly in france in early 20th to midcentury, of which van vogt was greatly admired. he translates well. (arguments are from the lit crit/art crit world not mine...) his plots are confused on purpose, plots against baudelairian 19th century realism, plots skeptical of freudian modern mythology, plots linked to the (french) ‘new novel’ as well etc... not enough on r-g and friends for me, but intellectually different way of looking at this work...
161118 first review: i am greatly surprised by how enjoyable this is. as sf it might be nothing much but as adventure it reads kind of like script for cable miniseries. i have read (somewhere) that van vogt had this quite deliberate writing idea that something (new idea, character, situation...) must happen every chapter ending on the cliff, works for pulp, works here. this is not four star 'good' as much as very good history both of form, expected readers, techno-thrillers. also explains why his plots veer widely plot accelerates theme kind of dissolves.... anything but constant. i had only read two books by van vogt with decreasing interest and many years ago (decades...) as a kid i read a hall of fame short story (weapon shops of...). do not read this for ideas. know what you are reading: this is 1940, the peak of pulp, beginning of the golden age... exactly the sort of sf say lem hated, no science, no philosophy, not much poetry- nothing but adventure... fast, short, easy read...
161118 first review: i am greatly surprised by how enjoyable this is. as sf it might be nothing much but as adventure it reads kind of like script for cable miniseries. i have read (somewhere) that van vogt had this quite deliberate writing idea that something (new idea, character, situation...) must happen every chapter ending on the cliff, works for pulp, works here. this is not four star 'good' as much as very good history both of form, expected readers, techno-thrillers. also explains why his plots veer widely plot accelerates theme kind of dissolves.... anything but constant. i had only read two books by van vogt with decreasing interest and many years ago (decades...) as a kid i read a hall of fame short story (weapon shops of...). do not read this for ideas. know what you are reading: this is 1940, the peak of pulp, beginning of the golden age... exactly the sort of sf say lem hated, no science, no philosophy, not much poetry- nothing but adventure... fast, short, easy read...
June 24, 2010
1.5 to 2.0 stars. While certainly an important "classic" science fiction story and worth while for gaining an understanding of the evolution of the science ficiton novel featuring the "superhuman" I did not really enjoy the novel. I am glad I read it and it was in the neighborhood of okay, but can not recommend it.
April 1, 2019
The golden age of science fiction produced many works that have stood the test of time. Fahrenheit 451, I Robot, the Foundation trilogy, Ring Around The Sun, the Lensman series, the Skylark series and many others continue to shape science fiction today and thrill modern readers. Unfortunately, some works that were groundbreaking at the time haven't aged as well, Slan being one of them. While the concepts are interesting (racism, eugenics, evolution, political espionage), the execution fails the novel completely. The plot is simplistic enough, however without developed characters and by jumping time periods too much, the forward momentum is lost. With very little action and too many plot holes, Slan becomes a tedious mess, the reader wishing it to end instead of looking forward to the next revelation. The dialogue is amateurish at best, new tech introduced conveniently when a significant plot hole occurs, and the missions make no sense in their execution. A big question is still unanswered; how can fleet of ships be built and take off for the moon and Mars without the government and military noticing? At one time a landmark in the genre, Slan, over the course of time, becomes just another throwaway pulp, its concepts more coherently explored in many better novels.
November 25, 2017
It is an fine example of the good fun these magazine serials must have been as an escape for the wartime youngsters it was targeted for.
March 22, 2017
Поредният емблематичен роман от ван Вогт, който е надскочил съвремието си. Макар да не блести със стил, Слен е положил темелите на цял поджанр във фантастиката, чиито плодове, като X-Men и цялото творчество на Сандърсън, берем и днес.
Писана преди повече от 75 години, книгата се опитва да побере десетки идеи в малкия си обем, което направо пръска повествованието по шевовете. Засяга нетрадиционни за времето си теми като расизъм, психология на тълпата, еволюция, революция и дори се опитва да вкара, за съжаление неуспешно, силни женски образи.
Джоми е слен – еволюирало човешко същество, прес��едвано и заплашвано от нормалните хора и себеподобните си – в един свят, деградирал до индустриалната епоха, забравил за електроника и атомна енергия. Благодарение на интелекта и особените си дарби, момчето ще се опита да открие съмишленици и да промени света.
Романът показва един умиращо човечество, което се е вкопчило в закостенелите си идеи и е управлявано от ирационални страхове и злобна пропаганда. Една фракция „несъвършени” мутанти се е внедрила в редиците му и планира революция. Един единствен, може би последен от вида си, слен е предопределен да преобърне статуквото, с помощтта на познания наследени от родителите му (една забавна и много сбъркана употреба на атомна енергия).
Много любим автор ми е Алфред ван Вогт и няма как да не съм пристрастен. Всеки път надскача пълп сюжетите на съвремието си и чертае нови пътеки в жанра. Та сигурно раздувам оценките, когато става въпрос за неговите книги.
Писана преди повече от 75 години, книгата се опитва да побере десетки идеи в малкия си обем, което направо пръска повествованието по шевовете. Засяга нетрадиционни за времето си теми като расизъм, психология на тълпата, еволюция, революция и дори се опитва да вкара, за съжаление неуспешно, силни женски образи.
Джоми е слен – еволюирало човешко същество, прес��едвано и заплашвано от нормалните хора и себеподобните си – в един свят, деградирал до индустриалната епоха, забравил за електроника и атомна енергия. Благодарение на интелекта и особените си дарби, момчето ще се опита да открие съмишленици и да промени света.
Романът показва един умиращо човечество, което се е вкопчило в закостенелите си идеи и е управлявано от ирационални страхове и злобна пропаганда. Една фракция „несъвършени” мутанти се е внедрила в редиците му и планира революция. Един единствен, може би последен от вида си, слен е предопределен да преобърне статуквото, с помощтта на познания наследени от родителите му (една забавна и много сбъркана употреба на атомна енергия).
Много любим автор ми е Алфред ван Вогт и няма как да не съм пристрастен. Всеки път надскача пълп сюжетите на съвремието си и чертае нови пътеки в жанра. Та сигурно раздувам оценките, когато става въпрос за неговите книги.
February 10, 2018
Unless I’m mistaken, I haven’t read anything by A.E. van Vogt, so this is me rectifying that. Reading so-called Golden Age is always interesting. Some of it holds up to the test of time; some of it … does not. Slan, while it has its moments, falls into the latter camp in my opinion. Nevertheless, for contemporary readers, Golden Age SF never fails to provide an invaluable view not of our future but of our own past. Slan was first published in 1940, pre-dating electronic computers as we know them and so many other technologies we now take for granted as the backdrop to our science fiction. Its chief novum is atomic energy, and even so this story predates the first atomic bombs and nuclear reactors. For van Vogt, what he was writing was cutting edge, even if it seems to us somewhat laughably naive. And the ways in which he envisions this technology and others being used tells us so much about the way we saw science and technology in this era.
Slan is set in our future. The world is ruled by an authoritarian but not particularly oppressive (if you’re human) regime headed up by Kier Gray. The slans are an offshoot of humanity, mutants with tendrils on their heads that allow them to read minds. As such, so the propaganda goes, they see themselves as superior to humans. Centuries prior to the story, there was a war between slans and humans. Humans barely prevailed, leading to a dark age, and now slans are hunted and killed wherever they have found. Our slan protagonist, Jommy Cross, watches his own mother hunted down in the middle of a busy city street when he is only nine years old. He narrowly escapes with his own life and spends his early adolescence educating himself and mastering his thought powers so that he can carry on the legacy of his parents—for, you see, his father invented an ingenious way to use atomic energy to disintegrate matter. But there are other powers out there, powers who are suspicious of Cross, and they might make a move first.
Some of the blurbs on this book praise van Vogt for Slan’s “headlong, breakneck pacing” and “electric, crackling paranoid tension” … and I … guess I kind of see it? I mean, the story does open with fugitives on the run—and this particular set piece gets a reprise several times throughout this fairly short novel. There are definitely instances where almost all seems lost, as Cross’ plans are foiled and he has to think quickly to regain the upper hand. Yet there are also moments where the tension seems to fizzle out, or where it never existed in the first place. Slan is, in many ways, a psychological thriller, yet some of its characters’ psychology is incredibly flimsy.
Perhaps not surprising considering its age, Slan has a dearth of good female characters. Van Vogt sets up Kathleen Layton as a secondary protagonist very early in the story, then pages after she finally crosses paths with Cross, he fridges her! I know she comes back at the very end—hello, cliffhanger—but that’s irrelevant. It’s a shock-and-awe tactic that leaves much to be desired. Granny is … helpful … I guess, but the extent to which she is willingly helping Cross and how much is the result of his mental meddling (more on that in a moment) is an open question. That leaves Joanna Hillory. Although in her first appearance she proves a fine match as antagonist to Cross, when she reappears towards the end, it’s to suddenly turn face and tell Cross that she (despite the gross age difference) is the only logical choice of intimate companion for him. Um … OK? So he sends her off to retrieve his magic spaceship while he returns to Earth, and we basically don’t hear from her again.
Don’t even get me started on the random council member who decides he wants to fuck teenage Kathleen so badly that he proposes using her for a human/slan “breeding experiment”.
Anyway, my issues with this book’s portrayal of women and with its characterization in general are actually wrapped up entirely in the plot. I wonder how much of this comes from Slan’s origin as a serial, and the way in which writing serial fiction sometimes leads to repetition and inconsistencies (though there’s no reason those couldn’t be corrected when it was finally published in novel form). But basically, the plot is a hot mess. It’s kind of your basic revenge plot, except Cross is also trying to protect the slans from genocide, except it also turns out the slans are secretly in control of everything anyway, except when they’re not. And most of the book is basically Cross building himself a really cool secret hideout with atomic technology, then posing as someone who looks like him so he can get himself caught. It’s … dull.
Cross himself is not a great or sympathetic protagonist. Indeed, I’m not sure I’m on board with Team Slan here. Don’t get me wrong … I don’t advocate genocide or oppression of the slans. But if you’re claiming you want to coexist in harmony and then go around hypnotizing and mind controlling people with crystals—well, yours is not a moral ground I want to stand on, because it’s liable to collapse at any moment. And keep in mind this is a dude who has access to atomic disintegration technology.
If it sounds like I’m hating on this book, then I apologize, because that really isn’t my intention. I’m just trying to catalogue its various flaws and critique the elements I find particularly unsatisfactory. Because there are many intriguing elements to this story. Aside from van Vogt’s use of the then-nascent prospects of atomic power, this is an early story to feature the spectre of genetic engineering on a mass scale. I can only imagine that the origin story of the slans has some inspiration in the eugenics movement that was mixed up in the fascism and Nazism of the day. The central “what if” here, “what if a strain of humanity involves that truly does have superior capabilities in some fashion?” is as pressing and interesting now as it was in 1940.
Indeed, I think it’s somewhat silly that so much Golden Age SF, from van Vogt to Asimov to Heinlein, is social/soft SF, yet somehow that only becomes a problem when women start writing it. So many of these famous male authors are ultimately writing stories about the future psychology of humanity, not our technological tribulations. Slan reminded me more of something from Nancy Kress than, say, Arthur C. Clarke. And that isn’t a bad thing—I just wish we would stop pretending that women writing SF is somehow problematic because of all the icky feels they supposedly mix in with the technology. Slan is much more about society than it is about science. Science fiction has always been socially conscious.
I’m glad this was as short as it is, because I don’t think I could have enjoyed 400 pages of this. At its present length, Slan is an adequate diversion. I wouldn’t say it’s a great novel, and I have zero desire to read the sequel finished by Kevin J. Anderson (though that has more to do with my opinion of Anderson, I’d wager). If, like me, you’re interested in delving more deeply into the back-catalog of Golden Age SF, then sure, this is a novel you might want to check out. For the neophytes or the readers with more particular tastes, I’d say there is little here. The themes van Vogt explores crop up, and are dealt with much better, in later works. This is a wonderful piece of history but not a compelling vision of our future.
Slan is set in our future. The world is ruled by an authoritarian but not particularly oppressive (if you’re human) regime headed up by Kier Gray. The slans are an offshoot of humanity, mutants with tendrils on their heads that allow them to read minds. As such, so the propaganda goes, they see themselves as superior to humans. Centuries prior to the story, there was a war between slans and humans. Humans barely prevailed, leading to a dark age, and now slans are hunted and killed wherever they have found. Our slan protagonist, Jommy Cross, watches his own mother hunted down in the middle of a busy city street when he is only nine years old. He narrowly escapes with his own life and spends his early adolescence educating himself and mastering his thought powers so that he can carry on the legacy of his parents—for, you see, his father invented an ingenious way to use atomic energy to disintegrate matter. But there are other powers out there, powers who are suspicious of Cross, and they might make a move first.
Some of the blurbs on this book praise van Vogt for Slan’s “headlong, breakneck pacing” and “electric, crackling paranoid tension” … and I … guess I kind of see it? I mean, the story does open with fugitives on the run—and this particular set piece gets a reprise several times throughout this fairly short novel. There are definitely instances where almost all seems lost, as Cross’ plans are foiled and he has to think quickly to regain the upper hand. Yet there are also moments where the tension seems to fizzle out, or where it never existed in the first place. Slan is, in many ways, a psychological thriller, yet some of its characters’ psychology is incredibly flimsy.
Perhaps not surprising considering its age, Slan has a dearth of good female characters. Van Vogt sets up Kathleen Layton as a secondary protagonist very early in the story, then pages after she finally crosses paths with Cross, he fridges her! I know she comes back at the very end—hello, cliffhanger—but that’s irrelevant. It’s a shock-and-awe tactic that leaves much to be desired. Granny is … helpful … I guess, but the extent to which she is willingly helping Cross and how much is the result of his mental meddling (more on that in a moment) is an open question. That leaves Joanna Hillory. Although in her first appearance she proves a fine match as antagonist to Cross, when she reappears towards the end, it’s to suddenly turn face and tell Cross that she (despite the gross age difference) is the only logical choice of intimate companion for him. Um … OK? So he sends her off to retrieve his magic spaceship while he returns to Earth, and we basically don’t hear from her again.
Don’t even get me started on the random council member who decides he wants to fuck teenage Kathleen so badly that he proposes using her for a human/slan “breeding experiment”.
Anyway, my issues with this book’s portrayal of women and with its characterization in general are actually wrapped up entirely in the plot. I wonder how much of this comes from Slan’s origin as a serial, and the way in which writing serial fiction sometimes leads to repetition and inconsistencies (though there’s no reason those couldn’t be corrected when it was finally published in novel form). But basically, the plot is a hot mess. It’s kind of your basic revenge plot, except Cross is also trying to protect the slans from genocide, except it also turns out the slans are secretly in control of everything anyway, except when they’re not. And most of the book is basically Cross building himself a really cool secret hideout with atomic technology, then posing as someone who looks like him so he can get himself caught. It’s … dull.
Cross himself is not a great or sympathetic protagonist. Indeed, I’m not sure I’m on board with Team Slan here. Don’t get me wrong … I don’t advocate genocide or oppression of the slans. But if you’re claiming you want to coexist in harmony and then go around hypnotizing and mind controlling people with crystals—well, yours is not a moral ground I want to stand on, because it’s liable to collapse at any moment. And keep in mind this is a dude who has access to atomic disintegration technology.
If it sounds like I’m hating on this book, then I apologize, because that really isn’t my intention. I’m just trying to catalogue its various flaws and critique the elements I find particularly unsatisfactory. Because there are many intriguing elements to this story. Aside from van Vogt’s use of the then-nascent prospects of atomic power, this is an early story to feature the spectre of genetic engineering on a mass scale. I can only imagine that the origin story of the slans has some inspiration in the eugenics movement that was mixed up in the fascism and Nazism of the day. The central “what if” here, “what if a strain of humanity involves that truly does have superior capabilities in some fashion?” is as pressing and interesting now as it was in 1940.
Indeed, I think it’s somewhat silly that so much Golden Age SF, from van Vogt to Asimov to Heinlein, is social/soft SF, yet somehow that only becomes a problem when women start writing it. So many of these famous male authors are ultimately writing stories about the future psychology of humanity, not our technological tribulations. Slan reminded me more of something from Nancy Kress than, say, Arthur C. Clarke. And that isn’t a bad thing—I just wish we would stop pretending that women writing SF is somehow problematic because of all the icky feels they supposedly mix in with the technology. Slan is much more about society than it is about science. Science fiction has always been socially conscious.
I’m glad this was as short as it is, because I don’t think I could have enjoyed 400 pages of this. At its present length, Slan is an adequate diversion. I wouldn’t say it’s a great novel, and I have zero desire to read the sequel finished by Kevin J. Anderson (though that has more to do with my opinion of Anderson, I’d wager). If, like me, you’re interested in delving more deeply into the back-catalog of Golden Age SF, then sure, this is a novel you might want to check out. For the neophytes or the readers with more particular tastes, I’d say there is little here. The themes van Vogt explores crop up, and are dealt with much better, in later works. This is a wonderful piece of history but not a compelling vision of our future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2017
Ever wonder what the term forced means? "They're following us Jommy," her brain telegraphed, "they're not sure, but they suspect, we've risked once too often coming into the capitol. Though I did hope that this time I could show you the old Slan way of getting into the catacombs where your Father's secret is hidden." People just don't speak this way, but apparently Slan live only to make it from one plot point to another, info-dumping things everyone in their culture already knows, like some galactic diarrhea of the telepathic waves.
Sometimes I take one of these old classics for the team, so I can write terrible, yet funny reviews, but Not in Solitude was genius compared to this low hanging fruit.
Somewhere there is a giant living computer recording all this, and sometime in Earth's future, someone will experience genuine Galactic Diarrhea of the Telepathic Waves. They will query the brain banks for any and all references to a cure, and the Livicom will spit out this review, and humanity will have good ol' Van Vogt to thank, once again. Like the ewok said, "Ee-chi-wah-wa."
Sometimes I take one of these old classics for the team, so I can write terrible, yet funny reviews, but Not in Solitude was genius compared to this low hanging fruit.
Somewhere there is a giant living computer recording all this, and sometime in Earth's future, someone will experience genuine Galactic Diarrhea of the Telepathic Waves. They will query the brain banks for any and all references to a cure, and the Livicom will spit out this review, and humanity will have good ol' Van Vogt to thank, once again. Like the ewok said, "Ee-chi-wah-wa."
December 9, 2020
"He was on the run, and there could be no turning back--for behind him was swift death!"
More like 1.5 stars...
When we're not being arrested at COVID super-spreader sex parties, what do we do? We read. I love reading. I love books, too, because without them reading would feel empty. I enjoy lists of things, especially lists of books that other people decided that they have the power to tell me to read. I've been going through a top 100 sci-fi novel list for a couple of years now and I finally got to this little awful gem of the 1940s: the story of mutant Jommy Cross. (That name! It sounds like a brand of pornographic chewing gum. Say it really fast and you'll see what I mean.)
Anyway, Jommy, as you can see from the cover of the edition I read above, is a kind of Aryan mutant running around wielding a glowing space dildo. In our highly litigious society, this would get you arrested in minutes! (Less, if you're in a Starbucks. Trust me. Damn you, barista!)
Jommy is the titular "slan", which isn't a kind of tire grime, but a psychic mutant with weird tendrils in their hair. Jommy was orphaned when the authoritarian racist state murdered his parents and he spends most of his time wandering around in the company of an alcoholic old woman and building advanced technology on various farms, all the while seeking his own kind and maneuvering through some thickly-plotted miasma of other mutants and the humans who do not love them.
I admit, this stupid novel has that kind of wacky charm that all old science fiction novels do, hence the one star I did give it, but what might have seemed groundbreaking then nowadays just had me cursing Jommy's goddamn name every time I went to pick up the book. It's hard to believe that there were once obsessive fans of this novel ("fans are slans!" was their hideous cry) who actually thought of themselves as the titular morons. I'm sure glad that doesn't happen these days!
More like 1.5 stars...
When we're not being arrested at COVID super-spreader sex parties, what do we do? We read. I love reading. I love books, too, because without them reading would feel empty. I enjoy lists of things, especially lists of books that other people decided that they have the power to tell me to read. I've been going through a top 100 sci-fi novel list for a couple of years now and I finally got to this little awful gem of the 1940s: the story of mutant Jommy Cross. (That name! It sounds like a brand of pornographic chewing gum. Say it really fast and you'll see what I mean.)
Anyway, Jommy, as you can see from the cover of the edition I read above, is a kind of Aryan mutant running around wielding a glowing space dildo. In our highly litigious society, this would get you arrested in minutes! (Less, if you're in a Starbucks. Trust me. Damn you, barista!)
Jommy is the titular "slan", which isn't a kind of tire grime, but a psychic mutant with weird tendrils in their hair. Jommy was orphaned when the authoritarian racist state murdered his parents and he spends most of his time wandering around in the company of an alcoholic old woman and building advanced technology on various farms, all the while seeking his own kind and maneuvering through some thickly-plotted miasma of other mutants and the humans who do not love them.
I admit, this stupid novel has that kind of wacky charm that all old science fiction novels do, hence the one star I did give it, but what might have seemed groundbreaking then nowadays just had me cursing Jommy's goddamn name every time I went to pick up the book. It's hard to believe that there were once obsessive fans of this novel ("fans are slans!" was their hideous cry) who actually thought of themselves as the titular morons. I'm sure glad that doesn't happen these days!
April 17, 2011
I've read lots of classic SF, but now, at last, I've found the missing link between Isaac Asimov and E.E. Smith, the transition stage between thoughtful, character driven science fiction and the Atomic! Age! of Super! Science! Van Vogt's prose is just far enough on the clunky side of pulp to make it jarring to modern ears, but the main thing that might hold a modern reader back from this book is that so many of the ideas Vogt introduces have since passed into the realm of cliche. If you put the book in its historical context, it becomes clear how much of a debt Van Vogt is owed.
Super-powered mutants fighting to protect a world that hates and fears them? Check. An oppressive totalitarian government that uses fear to control the populace? Check. A eugenics program aimed at creating the perfect super-being, destined to one day avenge his parents and come into his ultimate power? I could go on, and that's without even getting to the underground cities, hypnosis crystals, disintegration rays, conspiracies within conspiracies, and the secret colony on Mars.
What I enjoyed most in Slan is that, while there is a clear-cut protagonist, the sides of "right" and "wrong" are murky and indistinguishable right up to the very end - a far cry from the pulp adventures of the Lensmen or John Carter. My one complaint is that the hero, Jommy Cross, lacks anything like an equal or counterweight to play against. Still, it's a quick, enjoyable, Slam! Bang! and yet surprisingly thoughtful read.
Super-powered mutants fighting to protect a world that hates and fears them? Check. An oppressive totalitarian government that uses fear to control the populace? Check. A eugenics program aimed at creating the perfect super-being, destined to one day avenge his parents and come into his ultimate power? I could go on, and that's without even getting to the underground cities, hypnosis crystals, disintegration rays, conspiracies within conspiracies, and the secret colony on Mars.
What I enjoyed most in Slan is that, while there is a clear-cut protagonist, the sides of "right" and "wrong" are murky and indistinguishable right up to the very end - a far cry from the pulp adventures of the Lensmen or John Carter. My one complaint is that the hero, Jommy Cross, lacks anything like an equal or counterweight to play against. Still, it's a quick, enjoyable, Slam! Bang! and yet surprisingly thoughtful read.
September 19, 2018
Take a drink every time the word Slan is used to make this book enjoyable. Also, Jommy is a dumb name.
September 20, 2018
Meh. The book broached some interesting topics but didn't actually resolve anything about the complicated issues. It ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger, but I'm not interested enough to keep going.
September 8, 2018
I read a couple of books by this author way back in my youth and have no recollection what they were like. This one came up a book club read so it was a good opportunity to revisit.
The main theme of this book is the prejudices towards a slightly different race of humans, a prejudice that goes in both direction incidentally. There is some nostalgic hand wave science typical of the era, but other than that the book does not seem dated at all. The majority of the story holds up very well although I did find myself trying to figure out the various factions motives a few times. A nice twist at the end rounded it off.
Not bad considering it's age. The numerous mentions of 'atomic power' were a surprise since this was written in 1940 when this science was in it's infancy. Makes me wonder where van Vogt got his information from.
The main theme of this book is the prejudices towards a slightly different race of humans, a prejudice that goes in both direction incidentally. There is some nostalgic hand wave science typical of the era, but other than that the book does not seem dated at all. The majority of the story holds up very well although I did find myself trying to figure out the various factions motives a few times. A nice twist at the end rounded it off.
Not bad considering it's age. The numerous mentions of 'atomic power' were a surprise since this was written in 1940 when this science was in it's infancy. Makes me wonder where van Vogt got his information from.
January 18, 2009
(Going on memory here but I just wanted to put my thoughts down before I gave this book away.)
This book is an expansion of an earlier short story/novella that Van Vogt published in one of the famous sci-fi mags of the early 20th century. I don't know how much revision there was or how much time elapsed between each version but to me it felt apparent at about the half-way point, where there's a break of several years. I'd enjoyed the first half, with the young protagonist on the run and discovering the world and his powers and the history of his "race"; but where the first portion of the story had a lot of emotional interaction between the characters and you could empathize with "Jommy", the second half became cold and didactic. The now grown "Slan" executes his master plan perfectly and even as he rescues his female counterpart, he seems to take no joy in it. Our ubermensch main character just narrates his every action and puts everyone in their place. I felt like Ayn Rand had taken over the book or something.
This book is an expansion of an earlier short story/novella that Van Vogt published in one of the famous sci-fi mags of the early 20th century. I don't know how much revision there was or how much time elapsed between each version but to me it felt apparent at about the half-way point, where there's a break of several years. I'd enjoyed the first half, with the young protagonist on the run and discovering the world and his powers and the history of his "race"; but where the first portion of the story had a lot of emotional interaction between the characters and you could empathize with "Jommy", the second half became cold and didactic. The now grown "Slan" executes his master plan perfectly and even as he rescues his female counterpart, he seems to take no joy in it. Our ubermensch main character just narrates his every action and puts everyone in their place. I felt like Ayn Rand had taken over the book or something.
September 24, 2018
This is a classic SF novel, originally published as a series in 1940. It won Retro-Hugo for 1941 that can be an indicator of its importance for the SF genre.
The novel is short, easy to read and is definitely the product of its time, with for example women thinking chiefly about romance and being out of political power, the prerogative of men. It follows the life of Jommy Cross, starting from the murder by police of his mother when he was only nine. He is the Slan, a homo superior, whom homo sapiens hunt down mercilessly, for Slans are both intellectually and physically better than ordinary men.
Now it can be seen as a story of an oppressed minority (and maybe influenced by chiefly European, but actually global, anti-Semitism of the time) and was replayed many times after, from X-Men to Darwin's Radio.
The novel is short, easy to read and is definitely the product of its time, with for example women thinking chiefly about romance and being out of political power, the prerogative of men. It follows the life of Jommy Cross, starting from the murder by police of his mother when he was only nine. He is the Slan, a homo superior, whom homo sapiens hunt down mercilessly, for Slans are both intellectually and physically better than ordinary men.
Now it can be seen as a story of an oppressed minority (and maybe influenced by chiefly European, but actually global, anti-Semitism of the time) and was replayed many times after, from X-Men to Darwin's Radio.
September 23, 2018
I'm forgoing my usual format because I don't have a lot to say on this book. I've long since known that most classic sci-fi just isn't for me, and sadly this one was no different.
I found this book had a few interesting ideas, but little else to hold my interest. I felt the characters were very thin and uninteresting and the plot seemed disjointed at times. Overall, just not really my type of story.
I found this book had a few interesting ideas, but little else to hold my interest. I felt the characters were very thin and uninteresting and the plot seemed disjointed at times. Overall, just not really my type of story.
December 19, 2021
Ever been to one of those writing circles that desperately wanted to imitate the Inklings? I've been invited to a few different ones over the years, and they almost always boil down to a group of neckbeards and legbeards sharing their half-baked attempts at SFF grandeur. Despite every writer present being an adult, the shared works are overwhelmingly juvenile and maladroit, leaving me with douche chills that last for years.
Slan is like something from an amateur SFF writers' Friday night get-together: a tale about a Gary Stu set in a ham-fisted extended metaphor about Jewish people and the horrors of anti-Semitism. Essentially, Jommy Cross is the best Slan/X-Man/Jewish guy ever, and he's going to show that the true Slans/Jews are amazing to the unenlightened sorta-Slans and unevolved regular humans. (I'm guessing "humans" is code for Gentiles in this scenario.) There's even a weird nod to blood libel. But then it turns out that the true Slans were all along in charge of the anti-Slan global government, but this is somehow a good thing, because reasons. Honestly, with the way the whole plot unfurled, it's not surprising Slan started out as a serial: van Vogt gives the impression he was just winging it with each episode. That's probably why the plot twist at the end accidentally undermines his entire messaging of anti-Semitism = bad---van Vogt wasn't thinking that hard about it when he penned that the Slans had indeed infiltrated the elites and were secretly ruling everything.
I feel mean giving Slan a 1/5---it's probably more accurately rated a 1.5/5, since it wasn't a total train wreck, but whatev. It had enough doodoocaca tidbits to justify the 1/5, such as when our intrepid hero has a woman about 15 years his senior thirstily beg to be part of his future harem.
EDIT: I've slept on it, and the more I think about it, the dumber Slan becomes.
How are you supposed to sympathize with the Slans when van Vogt won't shut up about how they're so perfect? He has no understanding of how to craft likeability. Droning on and on about how I gotta be wowed by a bunch of people hiding weird doodads on their heads just makes me disinterested at best.
Why should I like Jommy when he hypnotizes an entire town? Isn't that weird and creepy and unethical? Van Vogt's answer: don't think about it, just go with it. -The secret Slan organization caused all these weird social problems years ago---doesn't that just prove some of the in-universe conspiracy theories correct? -Don't worry about it. -Wait, so Slans are kinda inbred? -Shhhhhh....
If van Vogt's writing wasn't so sophomoric, I'd almost say he was shooting for a nuanced theme on the nature of truth kernels in (at least some) conspiracy theories, but there's no way he pre-meditated any of his bafflingly ClAsSiC novel.
Slan is like something from an amateur SFF writers' Friday night get-together: a tale about a Gary Stu set in a ham-fisted extended metaphor about Jewish people and the horrors of anti-Semitism. Essentially, Jommy Cross is the best Slan/X-Man/Jewish guy ever, and he's going to show that the true Slans/Jews are amazing to the unenlightened sorta-Slans and unevolved regular humans. (I'm guessing "humans" is code for Gentiles in this scenario.) There's even a weird nod to blood libel. But then it turns out that the true Slans were all along in charge of the anti-Slan global government, but this is somehow a good thing, because reasons. Honestly, with the way the whole plot unfurled, it's not surprising Slan started out as a serial: van Vogt gives the impression he was just winging it with each episode. That's probably why the plot twist at the end accidentally undermines his entire messaging of anti-Semitism = bad---van Vogt wasn't thinking that hard about it when he penned that the Slans had indeed infiltrated the elites and were secretly ruling everything.
I feel mean giving Slan a 1/5---it's probably more accurately rated a 1.5/5, since it wasn't a total train wreck, but whatev. It had enough doodoocaca tidbits to justify the 1/5, such as when our intrepid hero has a woman about 15 years his senior thirstily beg to be part of his future harem.
EDIT: I've slept on it, and the more I think about it, the dumber Slan becomes.
How are you supposed to sympathize with the Slans when van Vogt won't shut up about how they're so perfect? He has no understanding of how to craft likeability. Droning on and on about how I gotta be wowed by a bunch of people hiding weird doodads on their heads just makes me disinterested at best.
Why should I like Jommy when he hypnotizes an entire town? Isn't that weird and creepy and unethical? Van Vogt's answer: don't think about it, just go with it. -The secret Slan organization caused all these weird social problems years ago---doesn't that just prove some of the in-universe conspiracy theories correct? -Don't worry about it. -Wait, so Slans are kinda inbred? -Shhhhhh....
If van Vogt's writing wasn't so sophomoric, I'd almost say he was shooting for a nuanced theme on the nature of truth kernels in (at least some) conspiracy theories, but there's no way he pre-meditated any of his bafflingly ClAsSiC novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2009
Today I finished Slan by A.E.van Vogt and hated it. I just finished it as a personal pride thing. I think there were maybe 10 fiction books in my entire life I absolutely couldn't stand to finish.
It's considered one of the classics of science fiction, originally published in 1940, thought to be an inspiration for The X-Men, but even if I try to set my modernity aside it sucks. It has cardboard characters I took no interest in or liking to, a truly useless ingenue, mutants who aren't all that different from humanity despite all their talk of their superiority, and two weird twists at the end. It lingers on dull events and glosses over events I actually want to read.
As for writing it in the 40s, the author doesn't really imagine a whole future well. There are spaceships and "atomic" weapons side by side with cars, telephones, and newspapers that are made of paper. (A few thousand years in the future... I don't believe there will be a profusion of paper newspapers then.)
[mild spoilers:] One of the mutants says their kind is anti-violence, anti-murder, etc. in between talking about all the people he killed to protect his secret. Also, our hero is too merciful to kill unless highly threatened, yet he has no problem with "hypnotizing" hundreds, possibly thousands, of people into his control. I can see taking action to protect yourself but would be less of a hypocrite about it.
In the end, I rather hoped the coming conflict killed everyone. I wished it could happen sooner. [end of mild spoilers:]
My copy had a preview of Kevin J. Anderson's completion of van Vogt's sequel, Slan Hunter, at the end, and I felt that it's more of the same.
At least it was a library book.
It's considered one of the classics of science fiction, originally published in 1940, thought to be an inspiration for The X-Men, but even if I try to set my modernity aside it sucks. It has cardboard characters I took no interest in or liking to, a truly useless ingenue, mutants who aren't all that different from humanity despite all their talk of their superiority, and two weird twists at the end. It lingers on dull events and glosses over events I actually want to read.
As for writing it in the 40s, the author doesn't really imagine a whole future well. There are spaceships and "atomic" weapons side by side with cars, telephones, and newspapers that are made of paper. (A few thousand years in the future... I don't believe there will be a profusion of paper newspapers then.)
[mild spoilers:] One of the mutants says their kind is anti-violence, anti-murder, etc. in between talking about all the people he killed to protect his secret. Also, our hero is too merciful to kill unless highly threatened, yet he has no problem with "hypnotizing" hundreds, possibly thousands, of people into his control. I can see taking action to protect yourself but would be less of a hypocrite about it.
In the end, I rather hoped the coming conflict killed everyone. I wished it could happen sooner. [end of mild spoilers:]
My copy had a preview of Kevin J. Anderson's completion of van Vogt's sequel, Slan Hunter, at the end, and I felt that it's more of the same.
At least it was a library book.
May 27, 2019
Actual rating is 3.5 stars.
This book is a science fiction novel that was written well over seventy years ago. In this one, mutants have developed telepathic powers and these mutants, also known as slans, are being hunted by humans. Our main character is a slan as we follow him through loss and him trying to survive.
Right away I was blown away by this book. This was X-Men but written twenty five years earlier. As with X-Men, the persecution of mutants is an allegory for racial tensions. I loved the fact of when this was written and I love when science fiction reflects the real world. As with most books that were written during this time period, it has a breakneck pace with a limited amount of pages. This was a detriment to this novel as I wish everything was fleshed out a little more including the characters. This was especially the case with the ending as I felt like it didn't hit the mark. Other reviews have stated that this is dated because of the science and it is but I took it with a grain of salt and it did not affect my enjoyment of this book.
This is one of the earlier science fiction novels that was written and it shows. That being said, it has a very strong message and I believe it to be an important science fiction book. I am really glad that I read it and I will look into this author's other works.
This book is a science fiction novel that was written well over seventy years ago. In this one, mutants have developed telepathic powers and these mutants, also known as slans, are being hunted by humans. Our main character is a slan as we follow him through loss and him trying to survive.
Right away I was blown away by this book. This was X-Men but written twenty five years earlier. As with X-Men, the persecution of mutants is an allegory for racial tensions. I loved the fact of when this was written and I love when science fiction reflects the real world. As with most books that were written during this time period, it has a breakneck pace with a limited amount of pages. This was a detriment to this novel as I wish everything was fleshed out a little more including the characters. This was especially the case with the ending as I felt like it didn't hit the mark. Other reviews have stated that this is dated because of the science and it is but I took it with a grain of salt and it did not affect my enjoyment of this book.
This is one of the earlier science fiction novels that was written and it shows. That being said, it has a very strong message and I believe it to be an important science fiction book. I am really glad that I read it and I will look into this author's other works.
December 14, 2011
The concept of this book is 'old hat,' but, of course, that's now, nearly seventy years later. I see the legacy of Slan in many books and films I've read, and the main fear of the humans, being superseded by a genetically engineered race, the Slan, is one that lurches ever closer to our reality, now.
The main thing I dislike about the book is the dialogue. Too often even some of the humans sound all too much like Star Trek's Data imitating Spock. I suppose this is meant, especially for the Slan, to create the impression of remote, icy intelligence, but sometimes all it does is make half the characters appear to be equipped with Teleprompters.
Still, if anyone is a fan of say, I Robot the films Gatica (which is sort of reverse take on this novel), Blade Runner and so on, on down, I suppose, to the unfortunate Witch Mountain films Disney churns out every so often, Slan is for you. And if you consider yourself an aficionado of the Science Fiction genere, it may well be a must.
The main thing I dislike about the book is the dialogue. Too often even some of the humans sound all too much like Star Trek's Data imitating Spock. I suppose this is meant, especially for the Slan, to create the impression of remote, icy intelligence, but sometimes all it does is make half the characters appear to be equipped with Teleprompters.
Still, if anyone is a fan of say, I Robot the films Gatica (which is sort of reverse take on this novel), Blade Runner and so on, on down, I suppose, to the unfortunate Witch Mountain films Disney churns out every so often, Slan is for you. And if you consider yourself an aficionado of the Science Fiction genere, it may well be a must.
May 11, 2015
I love these old SF classics that are jammed full of ideas, action and vision. This is no exception. Paper thin characters and light on world building it may be but one can't help forgiving it because of it's fast pace and brevity. This is full of Van Vogt's far fetched notions and mind bending plot developments that one will have come to expect if one has read any of his other works.
My main disappointment was the suddenness of the ending which left the story feeling unfinished. There being no proper sequel one can only imagine where he might have gone with the story had he ever tried to conclude it. I know there was an unfinished draft for a sequel that was later developed by his widow and Kevin J. Anderson but I don't want to read that for fear that it won't be very good.
Ultimately, a classic piece of golden age SF that captures the ideals and mood of the time in which it was written very well.
My main disappointment was the suddenness of the ending which left the story feeling unfinished. There being no proper sequel one can only imagine where he might have gone with the story had he ever tried to conclude it. I know there was an unfinished draft for a sequel that was later developed by his widow and Kevin J. Anderson but I don't want to read that for fear that it won't be very good.
Ultimately, a classic piece of golden age SF that captures the ideals and mood of the time in which it was written very well.
August 10, 2016
[written in my book lover's journal; possibly a couple months after reading it]
Aghast that people acclaim Van Vogt at all, in any way, even a little bit. "Jommy"?! for fvck's sake "Vee Vee," think of something that actually smacks of a futurity -- the 1950s in 2100 and to write an entire book as if not ONE of the true Slans would vary from all others and not ONE human would, that implies that they can NOT. This opinion of sentient beings annoys me more than any other i can think of presently.
[10 years later: i wish i'd never wasted the hours on this book, and wish i could recoup the minutes it took to write (originally) and type (now) these comments about it...but if just ONE person decides NOT to read this book because of my review, then i've done good by the world. Trust me, you ain't missin nothin if you never read it.]
Aghast that people acclaim Van Vogt at all, in any way, even a little bit. "Jommy"?! for fvck's sake "Vee Vee," think of something that actually smacks of a futurity -- the 1950s in 2100 and to write an entire book as if not ONE of the true Slans would vary from all others and not ONE human would, that implies that they can NOT. This opinion of sentient beings annoys me more than any other i can think of presently.
[10 years later: i wish i'd never wasted the hours on this book, and wish i could recoup the minutes it took to write (originally) and type (now) these comments about it...but if just ONE person decides NOT to read this book because of my review, then i've done good by the world. Trust me, you ain't missin nothin if you never read it.]
August 14, 2013
Classic Pulp Fiction from one of the masters of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. I have to confess that ‘Slan’ has to be my all-time favourite Science Fiction novel if only for the fact that it is probably the one book which got me hooked on SF back in the early Nineteen Seventies.
AE Van Vogt, partly due to the quality of his later work and his involvement with Dianetics and the Scientology movement was, to a certain extent discredited by the SF community. Thus he was never really given the credit he should be due for his contribution to SF as a whole and the influence he subsequently had on the genre.
It’s high time that Van Vogt’s work was reassessed and I’m surprised that this novel at least has not been republished by one of the companies who tend to reprint classic works of SF.
‘Slan’ is the story of Jommy Cross, one of a race of telepathic superhumans – recognisable only by the tendrils on their foreheads - living in hiding within human society, a race which ordinary humans seem determined to exterminate. The novel begins when the nine-year old Jommy’s mother assists his escape from the police just before she herself is captured and murdered. Jommy survives to grow and slowly learn the secret of who and what Slans really are.
Obviously this is a novel which is bound to appeal to anyone who feels they have suffered persecution for their minority status. Certainly, as a gay teenager, I found many parallels with Jommy, who was forced to hide his true nature from the community around him and spent much of his waking time attempting to find others like himself, fearful of the repercussions should the truth emerge of what he really was.
It also says a lot about ignorance, misinformation and propaganda. There are chilling echoes of Nazi Germany in the cold and casual way in which John Petty and his Police Organisation (and indeed, seemingly ordinary and intelligent members of the human public) talk of killing the Slans, in terms of solutions and statistics.
It’s interesting that Van Vogt does not present this as a one-sided issue. The Slans themselves are a mysterious race who have allegedly been responsible for attacks upon the tendril-less Slans (a non-telepathic variant race), while the TL Slans themselves are building their forces on Mars in preparation for an invasion of Earth.
‘Slan’ also makes some very good points about the fallibility of history, and our tendency to accept myth as fact, something which both humans and the TL Slans seem to be guilty of in this novel.
It’s a flawed novel in many ways. Jommy himself, in contrast to the implicit idea of the Slan’s philanthropic nature, at one point imposes a form of mental slavery on the humans in the community in which he settles. His proposed ‘solution’ to the human problem is mass-hypnosis of the human race to remove their hatred of the superior species. One could argue he has little choice as the alternative would undoubtedly be inter-species war when humanity eventually discovers that the human race is becoming sterile and doomed to extinction. It’s a shame that Van Vogt never took the time to explore the ethics of either potentiality.
Overall, the novel – which covers a period of about fifteen years, following Jommy’s development from a nine-year old to an adult – is fast-paced, inventive and full of Van Vogt’s emotive imagery. One always feels that Van Vogt writes in Technicolor.
There’s his trademark futuristic city at the centre of which is the Slan Palace, built by the telepaths during their brief moment of ascendancy, and now occupied by the human regime.
The building is, of course, bigger and more beautiful than anything humans could build, and stands as a symbol of both human jealousy and impotence (the fifteen hundred foot central spire may or may not have phallic implications) since human researchers know that whatever they discover has probably already been discovered and developed by Slan super-scientists.
The novel also features some of Van Vogt’s idiosyncratic machines (something which, I think may have influenced Dick’s writing) such as the Porgrave Transmitters and receivers, a kind of thought recording and playback device.
The transmitters are used to direct telepaths to safe-houses and hideouts, while the receivers are used by their non-telepath cousins to guard the Martian cities against telepath infiltrators, whom they term ‘Snakes’. (Maybe it might be an idea for someone to examine the use of phallic symbols in the work of Van Vogt at some point)
Eventually, through unfailing faith in the essential ‘good nature’ of Slans, Jommy wins the trust of one of the leaders of the non-telepaths, and through her, finally gains access to the Slan Palace, where all is revealed.
The importance of this novel to me is in its emphasis on a society which blindly accepts rumour and unfounded belief as fact, something which is just as relevant, perhaps even more so, today than it was in the 1940s.
In the 1930s propaganda was used to turn public opinion against Jews in Austria and Germany, usually by having the media stating unfounded allegations as fact.
One only has to listen to a speech in The House of Lords to realise that little has changed. In order to try and scupper the abolition of Thatcher’s Section 28 (which prohibits local authorities from ‘promoting homosexuality’ in education) people such as Baroness Young and Thatcher have attempted to promulgate the idea that homosexuality is something one catches, like a disease, or else is a condition one is bullied into.
Sadly, these arcane notions are seldom challenged.
In ‘Slan’ there is a general belief that the telepaths are somehow experimenting on human babies, attempting to create more of their own kind. This often results in malformed or mutated children. It is later discovered that that this is a natural process of evolution, a process which has produced the Slans, and one which spells an end for Homo Sapiens.
One might argue that the parents in the novel would see the illogic of such beliefs, but then, one only has to look at the real-life parallels to see that such absurd convictions are all too common, even at the highest levels.
AE Van Vogt, partly due to the quality of his later work and his involvement with Dianetics and the Scientology movement was, to a certain extent discredited by the SF community. Thus he was never really given the credit he should be due for his contribution to SF as a whole and the influence he subsequently had on the genre.
It’s high time that Van Vogt’s work was reassessed and I’m surprised that this novel at least has not been republished by one of the companies who tend to reprint classic works of SF.
‘Slan’ is the story of Jommy Cross, one of a race of telepathic superhumans – recognisable only by the tendrils on their foreheads - living in hiding within human society, a race which ordinary humans seem determined to exterminate. The novel begins when the nine-year old Jommy’s mother assists his escape from the police just before she herself is captured and murdered. Jommy survives to grow and slowly learn the secret of who and what Slans really are.
Obviously this is a novel which is bound to appeal to anyone who feels they have suffered persecution for their minority status. Certainly, as a gay teenager, I found many parallels with Jommy, who was forced to hide his true nature from the community around him and spent much of his waking time attempting to find others like himself, fearful of the repercussions should the truth emerge of what he really was.
It also says a lot about ignorance, misinformation and propaganda. There are chilling echoes of Nazi Germany in the cold and casual way in which John Petty and his Police Organisation (and indeed, seemingly ordinary and intelligent members of the human public) talk of killing the Slans, in terms of solutions and statistics.
It’s interesting that Van Vogt does not present this as a one-sided issue. The Slans themselves are a mysterious race who have allegedly been responsible for attacks upon the tendril-less Slans (a non-telepathic variant race), while the TL Slans themselves are building their forces on Mars in preparation for an invasion of Earth.
‘Slan’ also makes some very good points about the fallibility of history, and our tendency to accept myth as fact, something which both humans and the TL Slans seem to be guilty of in this novel.
It’s a flawed novel in many ways. Jommy himself, in contrast to the implicit idea of the Slan’s philanthropic nature, at one point imposes a form of mental slavery on the humans in the community in which he settles. His proposed ‘solution’ to the human problem is mass-hypnosis of the human race to remove their hatred of the superior species. One could argue he has little choice as the alternative would undoubtedly be inter-species war when humanity eventually discovers that the human race is becoming sterile and doomed to extinction. It’s a shame that Van Vogt never took the time to explore the ethics of either potentiality.
Overall, the novel – which covers a period of about fifteen years, following Jommy’s development from a nine-year old to an adult – is fast-paced, inventive and full of Van Vogt’s emotive imagery. One always feels that Van Vogt writes in Technicolor.
There’s his trademark futuristic city at the centre of which is the Slan Palace, built by the telepaths during their brief moment of ascendancy, and now occupied by the human regime.
The building is, of course, bigger and more beautiful than anything humans could build, and stands as a symbol of both human jealousy and impotence (the fifteen hundred foot central spire may or may not have phallic implications) since human researchers know that whatever they discover has probably already been discovered and developed by Slan super-scientists.
The novel also features some of Van Vogt’s idiosyncratic machines (something which, I think may have influenced Dick’s writing) such as the Porgrave Transmitters and receivers, a kind of thought recording and playback device.
The transmitters are used to direct telepaths to safe-houses and hideouts, while the receivers are used by their non-telepath cousins to guard the Martian cities against telepath infiltrators, whom they term ‘Snakes’. (Maybe it might be an idea for someone to examine the use of phallic symbols in the work of Van Vogt at some point)
Eventually, through unfailing faith in the essential ‘good nature’ of Slans, Jommy wins the trust of one of the leaders of the non-telepaths, and through her, finally gains access to the Slan Palace, where all is revealed.
The importance of this novel to me is in its emphasis on a society which blindly accepts rumour and unfounded belief as fact, something which is just as relevant, perhaps even more so, today than it was in the 1940s.
In the 1930s propaganda was used to turn public opinion against Jews in Austria and Germany, usually by having the media stating unfounded allegations as fact.
One only has to listen to a speech in The House of Lords to realise that little has changed. In order to try and scupper the abolition of Thatcher’s Section 28 (which prohibits local authorities from ‘promoting homosexuality’ in education) people such as Baroness Young and Thatcher have attempted to promulgate the idea that homosexuality is something one catches, like a disease, or else is a condition one is bullied into.
Sadly, these arcane notions are seldom challenged.
In ‘Slan’ there is a general belief that the telepaths are somehow experimenting on human babies, attempting to create more of their own kind. This often results in malformed or mutated children. It is later discovered that that this is a natural process of evolution, a process which has produced the Slans, and one which spells an end for Homo Sapiens.
One might argue that the parents in the novel would see the illogic of such beliefs, but then, one only has to look at the real-life parallels to see that such absurd convictions are all too common, even at the highest levels.
April 22, 2019
I like A.E. van Vogt's old sci-fi "novels" precisely because they're of a time when Science Fiction was relatively young and exiting and full of gee whiz wonder. But if you're going to dive into one of van Vogt's "novels" (novel being usually a patched together group of individual stories from his ASTOUNDING days) then you're going to have to take the good with the bad. The good: the plots are breathless and fast-paced, with lots of careening twists and action. The bad: the plots often make no sense. The heroes just do stuff purely because van Vogt was typing fast and wanted to keep the reader from getting bored. Thankfully, the novels are short, and you can tolerate this kind of style and enjoy them just for the entertainment factor. SLAN is one of van Vogt's better novels from this era, and originally serialized in ASTOUNDING magazine back in 1940. A Slan is a mutant with tendrils, who is sort of a super-human with telepathy and a 150 life-span. Of course, normal human beings have determined that all Slans must be exterminated, due to a war between the two races centuries ago. It's an interesting novel, and early look at what happens with a race of mutants in hiding among the human species. And it goes all over the place as van Vogt's novels will do. For the most part it's smooth sailing, but then sections of it have all the logic of a wild dream, and stuff's poppin' all over the place and you're not really sure what the hell is going on. Like how did we end up on Mars anyway, when just a few pages ago we were hiding our spaceship underneath a river on Earth? Ah never mind. It's an A.E. van Vogt book and that kind of stuff is going to happen. Look out for that atomic blaster, Pops!
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