Rogue Ship

by A.E. van Vogt

Science Fiction. A very nice vintage collector's item. Number # UJ1536 (385). Originally $1.95.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera

172 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

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

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Expendables, which makes up a central part of this fix-up novel, was the cover story in the September 1963 issue of IF Science Fiction, and the first science-fiction story van Vogt wrote after a nearly 15 year hiatus. It is a fairly unremarkable and pedestrian effort for van Vogt, with quite a few blaring incongruities and some ill conceived pseudo-science dealing with the time dilation effect of space travel at near light speed velocities. Plus... telepathic robots?! The tone of the story is rather cynical, which is a bit of a departure for van Vogt.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it in an afternoon. I wouldn't recommend it, it was a bit plodding, this happened then this other thing happened etc. No character development, no one very likeable or hateable.

[Roddy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘A mighty space cruiser coasts through the dreadful emptiness of space on its voyage of human survival. Multimillionaire Averill Hewitt built her, crewed her with handpicked men and women, and had her launched on a one-way trip to the planets clustered around Centaurus.
But he had not counted on radical changes developing in the social hierarchy on board – on mutiny and revolution, on the madness of space – nor on the astounding scientific advances made in that awful isolation…

A tension-packed novel of interstellar adventure and intrigue’

Blurb from the 1975 Panther paperback edition.

Reading some of van Vogt’s work becomes increasingly surreal as the decades pass. In his day he was a major force in SF and a unique writer, painting his visions of space on huge Technicolor canvasses and peopling them with creative, stylish aliens, various forms of superhumans with improbable if quite believable bizarre philosophies, or intelligent machine life. Sadly, his extrapolations of the future were often a little slapdash and seldom extended to social change, particularly in relation to the status of women. In the first section, ‘Centaurus II’, there are no female characters at all, and any mention of women is in terms of subservient wives who have no say, it would appear, in any aspect of their lives. One could argue that the whole crew of ‘The Hope of Man’ is in the same position, the premise being that the ship is heading for the Centaurus system hoping to find a habitable planet after scientific predictions suggest that the solar system is about to be destroyed. Once into space it is discovered that the journey is going to take far longer than expected, something which causes increasing unrest among the crew. Although financed by a multimillionaire, the ship is technically under military rule. The Captain has therefore set up a hereditary hierarchical system, and foils at least two attempts at mutiny.
‘The Expendables’ is a section in which a later Captain attempts to abandon rebels on an alien planet, but only succeeds in allowing a machine-intelligence to infiltrate the ship. van Vogt here employs his trademark character of the logical rational scientist, in this case John Lesbee, the great-great grandson of the original Captain. By virtue of some fantastic gadgets, Lesbee outwits both the alien machines (who have in the meantime conveniently reconfigured the ship’s engines to achieve near light speed) and the usurping Captain.
In the ‘Rogue Ship’ section there is another onboard coup and Lesbee is deposed. The ship, heading back for Earth, is thrown beyond lightspeed and travels back in time to arrive six years after it left.
It is here that female characters briefly appear, the four subservient Captain’s wives. Hewitt, the multimillionaire, eventually finds himself on board his long lost ship and is shocked by the social system that has developed.

'Ruth next indicated the sullen young brunette beauty at the table. ‘Marianne is Captain Gourdy’s first wife. Naturally, Ilsa and I will now be taken over by him.’
Hewitt was discreetly silent. But as he glanced from one to another of the women and saw their agreement with what Ruth had said, he felt an inner excitement of his own.
These women, he realized, amazed, were the male fantasy come alive. Throughout history, men periodically manoeuvred the State so skilfully that women were motivated to accept multiple wife roles, at least in connection with the top leaders. A percentage of men dreamed of having a harem of compliant females all in the same household, at peace with each other, free of that jealous madness which men normally found so painfully ever present in women outside of their own fantasies. The desire for so many women was probably some deep psychological need, which those who were possessed by it did not even want to have explained.
Hewitt had never had such needs as an adult. So he could look at these women as would a scientist confronted by a phenomenon of nature.'

van Vogt seems to be trying to make a moral point (if a rather patronising one) about this polygamy, but what his point is in reality is harder to determine since other books such as ‘The War Against The Rull’ have portrayals of women as being naturally subordinate and inferior.
Again we see the recurrence of the rational, logical leader figure, in control of his emotions.
For a van Vogt novel it is interesting only in that we see this recurring archetype, a concept which van Vogt exploited brilliantly in ‘The World of Null-A’, less brilliantly in ‘The War Against the Rull’, and here very poorly indeed.
It’s also interesting from an academic point of view to see the progression of quality of the writing (none of it anywhere near van Vogt’s best) improve from the 1947 story, through to the 1950 section and on to the 1963 denouement.

[Steven Kjar · Rating 2 out of 5]

That may be the most disjointed book I have ever read.

[Faith Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

An imaginative book from the author who was paid-off when he sued Hollywood for lifting a plot from his earlier novel which they turned into the film Alien. I would have given this 5 stars as it was good for most of the book but there are some trite and annoying ideas in the latter chapters.

The first cheat was giving a character a way 'as if by magic' to travel and vanish (time ratio manipulation by a device in his pocket), which sounded like putting a thin veneer of scientific explanation on a way out of a cul-de-sac to keep the character's mobility in the story.

The second annoyance was the overt and total male hedgemony - even taking into account the caveman societal expectations around the author when this was written in 1975 - where it is excrutiating to read in 2022 that no women of the future are given the responsibility of jobs, all hang around the bedrooms, make 'soft movements', have 'bright eyes', sob frequently, cower in packs for comfort when not needed, are totally submissive to the males and the captain can have 4 wives but replacement captains can take wives over by rite of inheritance. The job of captain is passed on by regular revolutions; and the bigger rooms and wives are bonus chattle. Essentially, females of the future are male property, exist to be protected and silently serve food in domestic stuations. His dolls don't have the brain power to understand anything that is going on. Even in grandpa's time, the four female character stereotypes were The Fawn, The Bitch, The Matron and The Witch but this author only writes fawns.

A.E. van Vogt died in 2000 from Alzheimer's, so it is now much too late to defeat him at chess, force-feed the pieces and strangle him. Then again, he has one plausible defence: If a five-generational ark vessel were to voyage into outer space with no external communication possible, its society's norms and conventions would diverge from the acceptable standard back on Earth. There would no longer be that 'anchor to reality' or frame of context that would make slow divergence visible. A category of people could become subdued and their children would continue the tradition because it is all that they know. Therefore, I have to allow for the possibility that A.E. van Vogt might have been describing a dystopian outcome which is not something he agrees with. On balance of probability though, I think that the dismissal of female characters as being capable of serious consideration in this story has a direct connection to what the author was like.

Setting this insulting 70s male-chauvanist content aside (bearing in mind that Isaac Asimov did it too in Foundation), the book definitely includes the science in the sci-fi and that meets my expectations (plenty of observed relativity theory), it clearly rattles along as an imaginative and entertaining journey (travel, star ships, an alien called Bziing, futurology) and there's a philosophical nod as the author re-works Plato's allegory of the cave (context of down a well vs the larger reveal of surfacing to a meadow). The temporal conundra is the main challenge in the narrative and I think he conveys that aspect quite well.

The other theme that stays in the mind is the paranoid backdrop of threat from above, where the captain can only maintain his position with henchmen, deceit and the police-state-style removal of rivals. No one at the top dies of natural causes or hands over their role willingly. I was about to say that publicly tolerated authortarianism in peace-time was of its era too (50s to 70s), but all these things still happen today in countries like Russia, North Korea and the European Union so maybe it is still very effective for an unelected minority to subdue and farm a public majority with propoganda and the implied fear of midnight punishment beatings. We're a horrible species, aren't we? I shall now completely reverse Hamlet's intended meaning (originally a question, not a statement) by concluding: What a piece of work is man. Just that. For veracity's sake, the rest of the quote I have helpfully deleted.

[Randy Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great, classic sci-fi, jam-packed with theoretical concepts about light speed travel and it's effect on space time. Van Vogt gives a sweeping overlook of generations aboard a spaceship, launched for Earth intended to save humanity by traveling close to light speed, to another inhabitible planet. Unfortunately, the ship ends up not working and what was intended to be a few years turns into a few generations aboard the ship. After that things get weird as politics, and life, aboard the ship evolve. The journey of this rogue ship are chronicled in depth with a healthy dose of very deep scientific theories explored the closer we get to the end of the book. A great blend of society and science. A good read for any true sci-fi fan.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd story and quite difficult to describe. It’s essentially about the rise of totalitarianism within the confines of a closed environment - a spaceship. Different men vying for power and overtaking others’ command through force and often murder. The “science” is bonkers, and the gender relations are about as sexist as they come. Women have no agency in this book and barely feature except as the property of men. On the one hand, I’d say that this all feels terribly dated, but on the other hand, it seems pretty reflective of the horrible future we may be hurtling toward. Strangely, I felt compelled to keep reading and found the book unexpectedly gripping. So, there’s definitely something in it.

[Cherie Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 | I had a lot of hope in this book! The idea was so intriguing and I was routinely let down by the execution. So many potentially juicy scenes and conversations were replaced with what boiled down to “these people talked. they decided this. it took a while, then they went to this other part of the ship to continue their plan”

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set way way into the future , a giant space cruiser sets off from earth with many many people on board who are searching for a new planet to inhabit.This journey is so long they go through five generations of people,captains ,crew members and involves power struggles and control of the ship as well infighting and murder and meeting new Alien life on the way .Interesting story that holds up well.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

A few spoilers-






Meh... It had some interesting elements, but the successive mutinies on the ship started to have a Benny Hill, "Yakety Sax" flavor in the back and forth power swings. The "science" explanations, even for the time was solid gibberish. I'm not clear what role women played in Van Vogt's life, but in this story, they are basically cattle and chattel by turns.

The decisions by the Captains are so ludicrous you stop reading for a second just to make sure you read it right. Best way to introduce yourself to an unknown alien civilization? Hmmm.. let's launch a nuke at their planet on no pretext whatsoever. A character effectively obtains the power of a God to travel time and space so ...what to do? Oh, I know ... take over the ship.... again! And it goes on from there. "The Flying Man" was pretty good, so I had hopes for this, but it's a slog and a mess. Avoid.

[SciFiOne · Rating 3 out of 5]

1981 grade C+
2017 grade C+

According the the title page, the stories Centaurus II, Rogue Ship, and The Expendables were completely rewritten into this novel form. The odd thing is I have an Ace double novel with the short story Twisted Men, which I think is a version of Rogue Ship or The Expendables. It is sure similar to parts of the combined story.

For what it is worth, I was curious enough to see how it ended. But it is a rather ponderous. A hundred years on the generation ship are covered in the first 100 pages. The explanations of the made up science at the end are tedious enough that I skipped a lot of it. I also speed read through a lot of the inner thoughts. Overall, it is too long. I'm glad I read it again but I won't read it another time and don't recommend it.

[James Kinsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A farcical merry-go-round of ship-board revolt and counter-revolt, a healthy amount of ludicrous and incomprehensible science, paper-thin characterisation and some breath-taking misogyny - this is a heady blend of 40s/50s sci-fi. On top of this, the novel's a cut-and-paste blend of three short stories, making for a lurching chronology that does it no favours. Yet, taken in 2 or 3 concentrated bursts, it has a period charm, from an era when sci-fi's biggest heroes were be-cardiganed boffins with pipes, and Very Big Sums ruled over Very Big Guns. Golden age.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel made by combining three earlier stories: "Centaurus II" (1947), "Rogue Ship"(1950), and "The Expendables (1963). The spaceship, "The Hope of Man" is heading to the Centaurus system in hopes of finding an habitable planet, which will take several generations. But the later generations lose faith in the original goals and there are mutinies.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space opera of a sort but with Van Vogt's unique touch.

[Socrate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cu coada ochiului, tânărul Lesbee îl zări pe Ganarette pe scara care ducea spre puntea de comandă. Se simţi oarecum iritat: Ganarette era un băiat de nouăsprezece ani, înalt, voinic, cu bărbia pătrată şi cu un fel de a fi agresiv. Ca şi Lesbee, se născuse pe navă. Nu făcea parte dintre ofiţeri şi, ca atare, nu avea acces pe punte. Acesta era motivul pentru care prezenţa lui îl deranja pe Lesbee, şi nu antipatia personală faţă de Ganarette.
Pe lângă asta, garda lui lua sfârşit peste cinci minute.
Ganarette trecu pe ultima treaptă şi puse piciorul cu precauţie pe podeaua elastică a punţii. Probabil că fusese atent numai la mersul pe scară, căci acum, privind în sus şi dând cu ochii de cerul imens, negru, ţintuit cu stele, tresări şi se opri brusc, la vreo trei metri depărtare de Lesbee. Stătea şi se minuna, holbându-se către întunecimi.
Reacţia lui îl ului pe Lesbee. Nu-i trecuse prin cap până acum că pe navă erau oameni ce nu văzuseră spaţiul decât pe ecranele video. Desigur că îi lua ameţeala când nimereau acolo, pe puntea din plastiglas transparent, care-ţi dădea impresia că păşeşti direct în spaţiul întunecat şi gol. Pe Lesbee îl încercă un vag sentiment de superioritate. Lui i se îngăduise să vină pe punte încă de când era copil mic.
Pentru el, universul care se întindea dincolo de pereţii din plastiglas părea la fel de normal şi de obişnuit ca şi nava însăşi.
Îl văzu pe Ganarette că-şi revine din şoc.
— Aşa, zise Ganarette, deci aşa arată în realitate. Care e Centaurus?
Glacial, Lesbee îi arătă cu degetul steaua strălucitoare, vizibilă în spatele liniilor de direcţie ale aparatelor de astronavigaţie. Întrucât personalul civil nu era niciodată admis pe punte, se întreba dacă era sau nu cazul să raporteze despre abaterea tânărului.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great cover, but a disappointing read. The first half of the book takes us through a century on board the giant ship The Hope of Man, launched from Earth to explore distant galaxies in search of a habitable planet for colonization in order to avoid extinction due to a predicted devastating solar event. The scientists leading the mission had a plan for light speed travel that didn't work out, so the going was much slower than anticipated. As generations pass, the faction that wants to return to Earth and the faction that wants to continue the mission clash, even as less and less people on board have any memory of Earth itself. When they do reach the far-off galaxies, there is some neat stuff around their interactions with the beings on the other planets, but for the most part, this is choppy and, honestly, kind of boring writing. The second half spices up a bit after an alien encounter changes the physics of their travel at the same time that a rogue faction takes over the ship. When the ship reappears in an altered space/time state near earth six years after it took off, the ship's owner (a very rich Musk / Bezos type), goes on board to investigate. The science-y discussions of space and time are neat here, but that is about it. Things roll to a conclusion with slightly more interesting characterization throughout the second half, but mega negative points for dismal female characters and treatment of women in general and for ham-fisted points about political systems. That is all a bit par for the course for mid-60s sci-fi, but this one isn't even that fun to read. This was what Van Vogt deemed a "fixup" -- three separate stories mashed together into one novel, and it shows.

[Paolo Rotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ed eccolo un altro gioiellino trovato a Casale da Libro Idea. Settimo di otto edizioni, qui l’altairano folle ci riporta alcuni racconti scifi.

Universo Trappola di A.E. Van Vogt é il racconto principale.
Mi é piaciuto, ma mi ha un po’ deluso sul finale perché avrei voluto avere un po’ più di spiegazioni. É la storia di un uomo che prevede un dramma sul sole e decide di organizzare una spedizione per colonizzare dei pianeti su Alpha Centauri usando un astronave con nuovi potenti motori che permettono quasi di raggiungere la velocità della luce. Dopo 6 anni dalla partenza però l’astronave sembra ricomparire vicino alla terra con alcuni aspetti fisici alterati. Da qui parte l’avventura…

Dopo il racconto principale sono presenti altri racconti:
- Invasione Postale di Luigi Naviglio. Lo definirei un fantasy. Mi é piaciuto.
- Oggi + Domani = Ieri di Franco Tamagni. Bellissimo racconta sulla rivolta umana dopo un invasione aliena.
- Servomeccanismi di Pietro Prosperi. Un racconto di 5 pagine di quelli che quando arrivi alla fine dici “ah” e ti partono mille pensieri. Bello

Dopo questi abbiano una rapida biografia di Van Vogt e lo spazio delle lettere dei lettori.

Come sempre, queste letture mi piacciono molto.

Trovi le mie recensioni su IG @paolo_legge_fanta

[Steve LaForest · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a big fan of A.E. van Vogt long ago, when I was a teenager. I doubt I would gain much by re-reading any of the old classics now, though.

I rated this novel ~B+ when I read it. This translates to a Goodreads score of 4 stars.

My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.

[Ivan Izo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's one adventure after another on this privately owned ship sent on a mission to the Centauri system. They visit several systems, get a ship upgrade (as mentioned in the back blurb), and go through many changes of command, some of them non-violent. There's also some theoretical physics applied to the ship and crew's adventures. Emphasis on theoretical.

As usual so far for me, van Vogt doesn't disappoint. This the fourth or fifth of his books I've read and they're always interesting.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Somehow made it through this laughably bad book (must've been the post-op vicodin). At least four protagonists, one of whom is "forced" to take two of the previous protagonist's five wives to save the ship. Don't worry, they all eagerly wanted to be a wife, but he only took two because otherwise it "wouldn't be right." A book for today's incel, who wishes he were born in a simpler time.

[Earl Truss · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even for a book written in 1965 the attitude toward women was to strictly treat them as property. The "science" was just wrong. There were many things that don't even exist now so they won't exist in this future time. At one point a man uses a slide rule to calculate something. Just a terrible book.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rogue Ship was the first book that gave me a clear understanding of the implications of the mass-acceleration equations. Remember when the ship was moving "slow" and couldn't be stopped? Yeah, that did it for me.

[Sir Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theres a space mission to
Travel for generations
On a space ship to a new planet.
100 of yrs the ship mutinys
They want to return to earth
A captain and his family
Must regain control to
Reach new earth

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clumsy fix-up of a few van Vogt short stories. Big ideas strangely presented. Disjointed. Interesting. Not recommended unless you are already a fan of the author.

[Ralphio Dutton]

good story

[Alan]

Would rather have read the original short stories that this was based on. The only pro is that it felt like a prototype Battlestar Galactica prior to the series existance.

[Maria Mercè · Rating 3 out of 5]

No m'ha acabat d'entusiasmar.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://gnomeship.blogspot.com/2017/10...

[B. Zedan · Rating 1 out of 5]

After the pain in my ass that was The Battle of Forever , I thought "Hey, you have that other random book by Vogt, let's see if it was just sub-par like you remember it, or if reading that other piece of junk helped you pinpoint all of Vogt's self-indulgent fancies." Can you guess the outcome? It did not make me as violently hateful as The Battle of Forever, but man, I finished this only out of spite.

Again, Vogt has good ideas and sometimes a nice theme, but he handles them with all the delicacy and finesse of a turtle gluing bone china back together.

[bluetyson]

Rogue Ship by A.E. Van Vogt (1985)