About the Author
When he died at the age of 88 in Los Angeles in the year 2000 A.E. Van Vogt had published no new work of impact for more than fifty years...but his reputation in science fiction, based upon his landmark works of the l940's remained secure. Van Vogt, an emigrant Canadian (like Saul Bellow who was of the same generation), began as a writer of fiction for the confession magazines but at the age of 27 sold BlACK DESTROYER to ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION for the 7/39 issue and became at once John W. Campbell's most prolific and - with the arguable exception of Robert A. Heinlein - most important and influential contributor. In fact, Van Vogt's reputation in the l940's eclipsed Heinlein's because Heinlein, in war service, did not publish between l942 and l946 whereas Van Vogt filled the magazine with his most notable work during that period. Novels Van Vogt published in the l940's in addition to SLAN included THE WEAPON SHOPS OF ISHER, VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE, THE WEAPON SHOPS OF ISHER, THE WORLD OF NULL-A, THE PLAYERS OF NULL-A and THE WIZARD OF LINN. Van Vogt became by far the most prominent of many of Campbell's contributors to become involved with L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics Institute (originally propounded in ASTOUNDING) and published no fiction for l5 years, although all of his 40's work was reprinted during that period. He returned to science fiction in l965 and was reasonably prolific for almost two decades but he never appeared in ASTOUNDING again nor was his new work prominent. Van Vogt was married to the science fiction writer Edna Mayne Hull who died in the l970's, he remarried shortly thereafter and was survived by his widow, Lydia. He died in Los Angeles in January 2000.