SCIENCE FICTION MONSTERS (originally titled Monsters:) Not Only Dead Men; Final Command; War of Nerves; Enchanted Village; Concealment; The Sea Thing; Resurrection; Vault of the Beast

by A.E. van Vogt

Paperback

About the author

Alfred 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.

Reviews

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. He's a clever fellow with some intriguing ideas but he doesn't quite have the same storytelling genius that nails you to the page as Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke and Heinlein do. One thing that is strikingly good and classic SF is that in some of the stories you're not quite certain which side is the "monster". In some cases such as The Sea Thing he may have intended it to be clear cut but modern readers may swing the other way. Vault of the Beast is also notable for practically being an early version of "The Terminator 2", so much so I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't actually inspire that.

[Forked Radish]

"Not Only Dead Men"
"War of Nerves" (in TVOTSB):
"Concealment": ⭐️⭐️: Quite flawed perfection... Space commies ruin the future.
"The Sea Thing": ⭐️⭐️⭐️: Quite a fish tale. Not the most outrageous I've ever heard, but close.
"Resurrection" aka "The Monster" see Destination Universe!
"Vault of the Beast"