Golden Age Sci-Fi 75 (10)
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June 21, 2016
One in a series of 75 posts about the best science fiction novels published during the genre’s so-called Golden Age (from 1934–63, according to HILOBROW’s Josh Glenn’s periodization schema). For the complete Golden Age Sci-Fi 75 list, click here.
A.E. van Vogt’s Slan (serialized 1940; as a book, 1946).
A teenage mutant bildungsroman, a jeremiad against racial prejudice and mob psychology, and something of a hot mess — this was Van Vogt’s first completed novel. Nine-year-old Jommy Cross, a telepathic Slan and heir to his father’s brilliant inventions, is orphaned when his mother is killed by anti-Slan human vigilantes. The Slan, a mutant human species that is smarter, faster, and stronger than “normals,” come in two varieties, we discover: those capable of reading other Slan minds, and having their own minds read in turn; and those who can shield their thoughts. In his quest to survive the anti-Slan mania sweeping the nation, Jommy discovers that the leader of his species’ persecutors — Keir Gray — is himself a Slan! A Magneto-like mutant, that is to say, whose ultimate goal is to eradicate all of humankind….
Fun fact: Serialized in Astounding Science Fiction and published in book form by Arkham House. Includes an early conjuring-up of computers: “electric filing cabinets that yielded their information at the touch of a button.”
GOLDEN AGE SCIENCE FICTION at HILOBROW: Golden Age Sci-Fi: 75 Best Novels of 1934–1963 | Robert Heinlein | Karel Capek | William Burroughs | E.E. “Doc” Smith | Clifford D. Simak | H.P. Lovecraft | Olaf Stapledon | Philip K. Dick | Jack Williamson | George Orwell | Boris Vian | Bernard Wolfe | J.G. Ballard | Jorge Luis Borges |Poul Anderson | Walter M. Miller, Jr. | Murray Leinster | Kurt Vonnegut | Stanislaw Lem | Alfred Bester | Isaac Asimov | Ray Bradbury | Madeleine L’Engle | Arthur C. Clarke | PLUS: Jack Kirby’s Golden Age and New Wave science fiction comics.
JOSH GLENN’S *BEST ADVENTURES* LISTS: BEST 250 ADVENTURES OF THE 20TH CENTURY | 100 BEST OUGHTS ADVENTURES | 100 BEST RADIUM AGE (PROTO-)SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST TEENS ADVENTURES | 100 BEST TWENTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST THIRTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST GOLDEN AGE SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST FORTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST FIFTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST SIXTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST NEW WAVE SCI FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST SEVENTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST EIGHTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST DIAMOND AGE SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST NINETIES ADVENTURES (in progress) | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | NOTES ON 21st-CENTURY ADVENTURES.