Lost: Fifty Suns

by A.E. van Vogt

Also published as The Book of Van Vogt.

It contains the following stories:

The Timed Clock (1972)
The Confession (1972)
The Rat and the Snake (1971)
The Barbarian (1947)
Ersatz Eternal (1972)
The Sound of Wild Laughter (1972)
Lost; Fifty Suns (1952)

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Collections, Anthologies

191 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1972

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 edition of the popular Astounding Science Fiction magazine.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of seven stories by van Vogt; four of them were original to this book when it appeared in 1972 under a different title (The Book of van Vogt), one was published in a semiprozine in 1970, and the other two were from Golden Age/WWII-era issues of John Campbell's Astounding Stories and both of them were better known as parts of fix-up novels. The titular novella was the beginning section of his novel The Mixed Men (which was also published as Mission to the Stars) but stands fairly well on its own, and The Barbarians was a section from Empire of the Atom (which preceded The Wizard of Linn in the Clane sequence) and doesn't. The newer story is The Rat and the Snake, an okay quite short piece from the obscure Witchcraft & Sorcery magazine. The original stories include a couple of all-right time travel stories, another very short idea-piece, and a novella length brain-in-a-box story called The Sound of Wild Laughter, which is a disturbing, sexist thing, definitely the most misogynistic story I've read in a long time. Van Vogt wrote some excellent science fiction (Slan, The Voyage of the Space Beagle, The Weapons Shop, etc.), but he's one of the most frustrating writers for bibliographers as well as for interested casual readers. Many of his books appeared under different titles, and many of his collections overlap a lot, and there were even cases of the same title representing entirely different books. It could have been his agent, Forrest J. Ackerman, who caused the mix-up and duplications, or just a general confusion from working with a very large number of different publishers. In any event, I'd recommend this title only to van Vogt completists; the good stories are more readily available in other books, and the others are as well forgotten.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

DAW Collectors #4

Carel Thole

In 1972, DAW Books was a brand new publishing company started by noted speculative fiction editor Donald A. Wollheim.

The first few books printed by DAW included on their very first page "A Statement to Science Fiction Readers" explaining what DAW was all about and bragging about who Donald A. Wollheim was, Among other things, Wollheim promises that every DAW book is one which never before appeared in paperback. "Thus, you can be assured that, besides being the selection of an expert, the DAW Book you buy will not be something you may have bought once before with a different cover." You have to wonder if perhaps Wollheim, in the very first year of DAW's existence, was already testing SF readers' trust when you realize that two of the seven stories in The Book of van Vogt, "The Barbarian" and "Lost: Fifty Sons," are excerpts from fix-up novels printed in paperback in the 1960s (the former as part of Empire of the Atom and the latter as part of"Mission to the Stars", an alternate title for the novel "The Mixed Men".) Presumably by 1979, when Lost: "Fifty Sons" was printed, this promise was long forgotten.

(April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000) Canadian author (both "Elton" and "van" were added much late)r in the USA from November 1944, after establishing his name as one of the creators of John W Campbell Jr's Golden Age of SF with a flood of material in "Astounding" Science-Fiction, starting with "Black Destroyer" (July 1939 Astounding), though he had been active for several years in various other genres. He was born Alfred Vogt and legally changed this to Alfred Elton van Vogt during the process of applying for US citizenship in 1945. Van Vogt was the first Canadian sf writer of real importance, and it is arguable that a Canadian studiousness colors his work throughout.

If you like van Vogt’s stuff, this isn’t his most famous work, but is pretty representative. Those who are new to him might want to try "Slan" or "The Voyage of the Space Beagle" instead.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1972, DAW Books was a brand new publishing company started by noted speculative fiction editor Donald A. Wollheim. Its mission statement was to publish quality science fiction books that had not previously appeared in paperback. (As opposed to reprinting old books with a new title, as often happened in the paperback market.) For their fourth publication, Mr. Wollheim reached out to A.E. van Vogt for a collection of old and new stories, trusting to name recognition to sell the book. I mention this because the inside front page is devoted to this information rather than a teaser for the contents.

There are seven stories in this collection, starting with a brand new one, “The Timed Clock.” It’s set at a dinner party, and the host tells the tale of how he became his own grandfather. Is he playing a joke on his guests, or does the clock in the hall have special powers?

“The Confession” is a weird story about a man who can’t quite remember why he doesn’t meet his girlfriend any more, or why he took a menial job sweeping floors when he used to be quite wealthy. And he has visions of a future where things are better, but it’s impossible to see how he got from here to there. Could it have anything to do with the hypnotist whose stage act he participated in? An ambiguous ending. Content note: attempted rape.

“The Rat and the Snake” is set on the homefront during World War Three. Mark Grey loves feeding rats to his pet python, especially hearing their tiny screams. But the availability of rats has dried up due to rat-catchers being drafted and pet stores put on rationing. Mark finds a government research station filled with lab rats, and doesn’t question how easy it is to get inside and steal some. Poetic justice ensues.

“The Barbarian” is a reprint from the 1940s. In the far future, the Linn Empire rules Earth, and has successfully conquered Mars and Venus. But now a new threat arises from Europa, a barbarian horde that looks as though it will sweep aside the decadent empire. Clane Linn, a priest-scientist and acting leader of Linn, is the only hope of dealing with Czinczar. Czinczar is far more intelligent than the title of “barbarian” would imply. Clane is despised by many in the empire (including his late uncle, the former leader) for being a “mutant.” We never learn the extent of his mutation, except that his clothing is designed to conceal the shape of his shoulders. He is, by 21st Century standards, the nicest guy in his government.

“Ersatz Eternal” concerns three men who have crashlanded on an alien world. One of them is insane, but that may make him the best suited to survive in this new environment.

“The Sound of Wild Laughter” concerns Marie Hazzard, a physicist who has been in a loveless (and sexless on her part) marriage with the philandering and maniacally jealous Carl Hazzard for over a decade. She is briefly relieved when Carl dies, only to learn that his brain has been kept alive and able to communicate. The situation winds tighter and tighter, as Dr. Marie must deal not only with her semi-deceased husband, but three greedy men who think they know what really happened.

That story is heavy on the misogyny, most directly from the noxious Carl, but also from the other men trying to manipulate Marie–and she has some internalized misogyny to deal with as well. There’s some dubious consent sex.

And we wrap up with “Lost: Fifty Suns”, reprinted from the 1950s. In the very far future, descendants of humans who fled to the Magellanic Cloud centuries past learn that the government of Earth has now reached their galaxy. While the representatives of Earth claim now to be more inclusive of genetic minorities, they will not stand for there being an independent star nation anywhere in the universe.

The Earth ship issues an ultimatum: Either the civilization of the Magellanic Cloud reveals itself and surrenders, or the Star Cluster will come looking for them with planet-destroying weapons.

This is especially relevant to Captain Maltby, as he is secretly the hereditary ruler of the “Mixed Men”, a new genetic minority that arose from crossbreeding different strains of humanity. Gifted with strange powers, the Mixed Men tried to take over their galaxy’s civilization, only to be beaten back by force of numbers. Some of the Mixed Men think this is a golden opportunity to make a deal with the Earthlings to become local satraps, while many others want to use the ultimatum to pressure their own civilization into giving them back civil rights. Captain Maltby must try to decide what is best for his people, and convince them to accept it.

We also get to see the viewpoint of Lady Laurr, commander of the Earth ship. Her crew has already been on this mission of mapping the Magellanic Cloud for ten years, and was looking forward to going home when they stumbled on evidence of the Magellanic civilization. While their technology is highly advanced, they’re still looking for maybe fifty inhabited star systems out of millions of suns; it could take another decade to locate the Magellanic civilization provided this ultimatum doesn’t flush them out. Lady Laurr faces legal mutiny if she doesn’t get results quickly.

The ending has one side’s efforts and infighting go all for naught. Somewhat surprisingly, this story passes the Bechdel Test.

Of the stories, I liked “The Rat and the Snake” best; to the point with no faffing about. “The Sound of Wild Laughter” goes on too long and has too much misogyny that isn’t challenged for my tastes.

If you like van Vogt’s stuff, this isn’t his most famous work, but is pretty representative. Those who are new to him might want to try Slan or The Voyage of the Space Beagle nstead.

[Philipp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads tells me I read The Book of Van Vogt back in 2013?? I just finished reading Lost: 50 Suns, the same collection of stories/novellas under a different title, after I found it for $2 at the booksale. It's relatively typical golden age SF, I already forgot most about it. Tech-optimistic, there's a twist in most stories, but relatively forgettable. As evidenced by me completely forgetting that I read this book before.

[Bogdan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Șapte mini-nuvele de diverse lungimi alcătuiesc această mică operă de colecție din imensa bibliografie a lui Van Vogt. Scriitorul canadiano-american este un reprezentant de seamă a Epocii de Aur a SF-ului, recunoscut eventual ca Grand Master, chiar dacă n-a fost onorat cu niciun premiu comercial de genul Hugo sau Nebula. Cu o carieră literară lungă de aproape jumătate de secol, nu este de mirare că diverșii săi editori au publicat și răs-publicat poveștile sale SF în tot felul de combinații, cu o calitate vizibil inegală. În acest caz cade și cărticica de față, în a cărei lungime de aproape 200 de pagini au fost îngrămădite cele șapte povestiri. Două alcătuiesc jumătate din volumul operei, alte 2 de-abia dacă au împreună 10 pagini, prezentându-se mai mult decât bancuri mai lungi sau schițe/idei de expandat pe viitor. Subiectele variază de la călătorii în timp și paradoxul bunicilor, la transmutații inter-ființe, creiere ținute artificial în viață în borcane și super-nave care amenință cu distrugerea totală a unui întreg sistem de planete. Din păcate, subiecții aleși nu reprezintă cele mai bune eforturi stilistice și literare ale lui Van Vogt, spre evidenta neplăcere a cititorilor (mai ales a celor contemporani care ar putea găsi niște sexism a la anii '50 și în aceste scurte texte).

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good collection of short stories. The first two are time travel related stories: The Timed Clock and The Confession. The former I think being the best. The Rat and the Snake was a very short story and rather unexpected in the ending. I kind of liked it. The Barbarian depicts an invasion on Earth by people who I assume we're once from Earth. An interesting story. Ersatz Eternal was probably the least liked story in the book. The Sound of Wild Laughter was pretty good. Brain of a husband living on after the body is dead, and a whole lots of problems for the wife. Definitely became a sordid affair for her. Lost Fifty Suns was probably the largest story in the bunch. I really liked it but was disappointed with the ending. Talk about an overpowered ship.

[Răzvan Ursuleanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spre deosebire de culegerea “Destinația Univers” în care, fără excepție, povestirile sunt de calitate, în volumul de față există un număr neașteptat de mare de rateuri. Am citit cu sentimentul că van Vogt mi-a trântit în brațe un vraf de experimente literare, fără să fie preocupat de valoarea acestora. Sau poate că experimente literare este mult spus... Cred că mai curând “Cartea lui van Vogt” e un fel de pungă cu lozuri. N-am câștigat și am pierdut vremea citind un text, nu-i nimic, mai încerc, poate e cu noroc...

Orologiul timpului
Unul dintre textele ce pot fi considerate de referință în universul literar al călătoriilor în timp. Van Vogt combină “efectul fluture” (conform căruia un călător temporal poate altera sau chiar modifica dramatic prezentul prin acțiunile sale) cu o variantă mai puțin letală pentru “paradoxul bunicului” (personajul central nu-și omoară bunicul, anulându-și astfel propria existență, ci se căsătorește cu bunica lui, devenind prin urmare propriul său bunic).
Nota 8,4

Mărturisirea
Tot despre... defazaje temporale... dar povestirea e slabă, seacă...
Nota 6,7

Șobolanul și șarpele
O ciornă? O schiță? Ce avem aici? Autorul a tușit pe o coală de hârtie și a publicat rezultatul? Ideea transferului de personalitate într-un animal e un cal bun de bătaie, dar nu așa, sub formă de bilețel.
Nota 6,9

Barbarul
Mai curând un studiu despre război decât un text SF. De fapt tema SF este prezentă doar formal și înghesuită în ultimele pagini, fiind probabil strecurată în lucrare doar pentru a alinia “Barbarul” la genul literar din care face parte culegerea. Dar razboiul este tratat cu măiestrie de van Vogt. Confruntări armate, tactică și strategie, ambuscade, propagandă de război, totul expus într-o formă pe care probabil că ar invidia-o orice reporter de front.
Nota 8,6

Surogat etern
Pe o planetă stranie, trei oameni încearcă să-și dea seama dacă nemurirea pe care au primit-o în dar reprezintă un blestem sau o recompensă...
Nota 8

Un râs nebun
Din nou, la fel ca în povestirea “Barbarul”, elementele SF sunt prezente doar pentru a încadra textul în genul literar respectiv. “Un râs nebun” este în primul rând o încercare de analiză a psihologiei feminine, la fel de… reușită… precum au fost, de-a lungul timpului, toate încercările făcute de barbați de a înțelege cum funcționează mintea unei femei.
Nota 8,5

Pierdut : Cincizeci de sori
Una din cele cinci povestiri scurte pe care ulterior van Vogt le-a transformat în romanul “Star Cluster”. “Pierdut : Cincizeci de sori” este pilonul central pe care se sprijină atât romanul, cât și culegerea de față. Excelentă lucrare.
Nota 9,3

http://www.bucurestifm.ro/2022/04/28/...

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

— Căsătoria este o instituţie sacră, spunea Terry Maynard, ori de câte ori era în vervă. Ştiu prea bine ce spun. Am fost căsătorit de două ori: prima dată, de mult, în 1905, şi apoi în 1967. Un asemenea interval de timp între două căsătorii îţi dă posibilitatea să judeci corect. Şi spunând aceste vorbe, se uita cu drag la nevasta lui, Joan. Numai că, în seara aceea, ca niciodată, ea oftă, îşi aprinse o ţigară, se lăsă pe spătarul scaunului şi murmură:
— Terry, copil fără minte ce eşti, iar o iei de la capăt… Apoi sorbi din cocteil, privi roată, cu ochii ei de un albastru limpede, pe toţi musafirii de faţă, şi zise:
— Terry e pe punctul să vă spună povestea iubirii noastre. Dacă aţi mai auzit-o, poftiţi în sufragerie unde găsiţi sandvişuri şi tot ce vă mai pofteşte inima.
Doi bărbaţi şi o femeie se ridicară şi ieşiră din cameră. Terry strigă în urma lor:
— Oamenii au râs de bomba atomică până în clipa când le-a căzut în cap. Mai devreme sau mai târziu, cineva o să descopere că povestea mea nu e doar o poveste şi atât. Ceea ce am să vă spun s-a întâmplat în realitate şi, la urma urmei, i s-ar putea întâmpla oricăruia dintre voi. Când mă gândesc la ucigătoarea lume a posibilului, bomba atomică mi se pare un soi de feştilă fumegândă…

[Khardiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed “The Timed Clock”. If that was the entire book, I would have given it 5 stars.

I hated “The Sound of Wild Laughter”. If this was the entire book, I would’ve given it 1 star. This wasn’t a story about a “brain in a jar” as others have noted. Yes, there is a brain in a jar but that not the main story. This is a story about a woman who is gaslighted, mentally abused, physically abused, and raped. This story contains the worst misogynistic and sexist writing that I’ve seen in a long time. And there is no “happy ending” where she gets her revenge or gets even. No, at the end she accepts her role as play-thing for 3 men (one of which is a brain in a jar). Absolutely horrible story, but annoyingly well written despite the context.

“The Barbarian” felt rushed thru, like it was meant to be a larger story. “Lost: Fifty Suns” felt like there was no ending; like van Vogt thought “hmm, I’m at 50 pages, guess I should wrap it up” but didn’t wrap it up well, just added a paragraph saying “so and so won”. From what others have said, both of these stories were expanded in fixup novels later on, so I’d suggest reading those instead.

The other 3 stories were ok but fairly forgettable.

All in all, van Vogt’s writing is fantastic, but the stories themselves were lackluster.

[Leonid Martynyuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most interesting stories are:

- The Timed Clock - it's a variation of "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells, but still funny and interesting, and has some twists. This story was never published in hardcover, it's sad.
5 stars

- The rat and the snake - very funny short story.
5 stars

- Ersatz Eternal - this story has a close idea to "Mars Is Heaven!" by Ray Bradbury and even to novel "Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem. But the final is reminded me about the movie "Inception" (2010 neo-noir science fiction heist film written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan) Are we all live in someone dream?
5 stars

[Jonathan Waugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories:
The good stories make the book excellent, even though there are a couple that aren't so great.

The Timed Clock - Brilliant, 5/5 (The best of the bunch)
The Confession - 5/5
The Rat and the Snake - 3/5 (Very short, twist not that good)
The Barbarian - 5/5 (Good story)
Ersatz Central - 3/5 (Very short, only ok)
The Sounds of Wild Laughter - 3/5 (An odd story, rather dated gender roles; rambles a bit and ending isn't great - I think it's the weakest of the bunch)
Lost: Fifty Suns - 5/5 (Good story, interesting ideas behind the characters)

[Abe Something · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for the shorts being neat in their construction and for their ideas, which must have felt fresh and alive 60 years ago. This collection reads like how watching the Twilight Zone feels today, it’s classic, and fun, and you recognize it’s influence, but it’s rarely gripping and when it is, you can see the turn coming. This is no fault of Van Vogt’s, obviously, and I’m keen to give one of his novels a go, as he’s clearly got ideas and is capable of clean execution.

[Sir Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book of van vogt was a collection of stories.
The first one delt with time traveling to see yourself in the past.
Then a man who feeds mice to a snake finds himself being fed to a snake.
A powerful with a twist si fi story.
Then there battling barbarians on a desert world.
Then a man becomes a brain in a jar and still suspects his wife of cheating.
Then earth ship the star cluster finds an empire of 50 suns hiding in space.
The proto aliens are defeated.

[Steve Rainwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of lesser-known A.E. van Vogt stories.

Another used bookstore find. I don't think I'd ever read any of these stories in other anthologies. There were a couple of memorable ones, most were average. They range from older pulp stories to pieces from the 1970s. Probably worth a read if you're an A.E. van Vogt fan.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated collection of mostly previously unpublished stories circa 1972. Mostly of interest to fans of Van Vogt.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this novel. I can say there maybe one story that interested me, but most are just boring little tales. The Barbarian is the only one I did care and not that much. The Lost: Fifty suns is also good but I believe it's not compelted. Maybe there is a sequel?
I will not dwell much on this...

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up from the bookstore where I work for ten whole cents, because I figured such an investment couldn't go wrong. I was right. This turned out to be a remarkable, if not altogether amazing, book, with a few notable exceptions. I will review each story on its own, and the star rating will be the average of those.

The Timed Clock ****
As a starting tale, this was perfect. It took a common sci-fi trope (a time traveler becomes his own ancestor), and then turned it on its head AND provided a twist ending. I was suitably impresed.

The Confession ***
Time travel again, handled in a very clever way, but with a bizarre subplot about hypnotism that felt out of place in such a collection. It was very strange, but not bad.

The Rat and the Snake *
The definite low point. At four pages, it hardly starts before it ends, yet in that amount of time manages to telegraph its sadly moral-cliche ending.

The Barbarian ****
An excellent example of how science fiction ought to be written: not about worlds or aliens or technology so much as people. The characters in this novelette are well-defined and their relationships, emotions and struggles are real.

Ersatz Eternal **
This suffers from the same issue of shortness as The Rat and the Snake, but it did at least make me think a bit, even if the initial setup was something I'd seen before.

The Sound of Wild Laughter **
In short, this has not aged well. The entire plot seems to revolve around misogyny and domination of women, out of place in today's mindset. I feel like the author perhaps thought he was writing a strong female character, but was sorely mistaken, at least from my lofty, futurist opinion. This is a shame, because the female protagonist of Lost: Fifty Suns IS a strong character, and that story was published decades before this one. At least the science fiction elements were again handled properly, as part of the story rather than the the driving force.

Lost; Fifty Suns *****
A fantastic space opera, again with amazingly real charaters and some really exciting worldbuilding. Pure science fiction from a master.

I recommend this to anyone interested in science fiction, with a nod to those who appreciate the more modest visions of the future from our past. I will definitely have to look for more from the late Mr. Van Vogt.

[Scott Golden · Rating 3 out of 5]

For Van Vogt completists only.
Story by story:
"The Timed Clock" is an interesting time-travel story, sloppily written in parts, with a framing narrative that suggests the whole thing may be an elaborate, if clever, prank. Entertaining.
"The Confession" is a better-written story of a man suffering time-slips, which ends with a tortured and confused (and rather unnecessary) science-fictional explanation for events.
"The Rat and the Snake" reads like a story treatment for an episode of The Twilight Zone -- obvious and inconsequential.
"Ersatz Eternal" is an interesting little sketch of a story; IF, that is, you've never read "Mars Is Heaven!" from Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles," of which this story is very much reminiscent.
"The Barbarian" was previously used as part of the fix-up novel "Empire of the Atom"; "Lost: Fifty Suns" was originally written as part of the fix-up novel "The Mixed Men". Here, they feel like filler -- but it's entertaining filler.
"The Sound of Wild Laughter" is a fascinating, if ultimately not great, story to read. A soap opera of psychology and sexual politics, with a disembodied brain as one of the protagonists; it gets props for its ambition, but not for its execution or conclusions. Still, it makes you think, and deserves some credit for doing so.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Timed Clock was perhaps the most accomplished of the less than stellar stories in this collection. Unlike some of the other stories collected it felt complete and fully fleshed out. An amusing read.

Lost; Fifty Suns is one of those science fiction stories from the golden age of scifi that has a great premise but fails to really create a complete world for it. I'm struck at how much I enjoyed filling in some of the possibilities opened by the story, and can only wish that perhaps it will yet be turned into a good script.

[Robert Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are seven short stories in this book - a couple of them are only a few pages. A couple of them have been published before as parts of various fix-up novels, but this was my first time reading any of these stories. I have to say I found them all to be very enjoyable. One, Erzatz Eternal, is, as others have stated, a bit too reminiscent of Mars Is Heaven by Ray Bradbury. Definitely worth reading. I haven't read anything by Van Vogt for many years but this little sampler made me want to read more of his stuff - which sounds like a good definition of a good book to me!

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://gnomeship.blogspot.com/2019/0...

[Chinook]

I only have Ersatz Eternal

[Kimb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the stories about people, time travel and science. I hated the stories about space.