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Future Glitter
Originallly published as Future Glitter.
Dictator Lilgin held the entire Earth firmly under his thumb. Government-controlled science ruled: a superb communications network constantly monitored the population, and anyone who dared to question the regime or Lilgin's supremacy was instantly and tidily eradicated. But the regime had reckoned without Professor Dun Higenroth. Higenroth had developed a radically new communications system that took no account of distance, that operated in the mind of its creator, without the need for equipment of any kind-and he intended to use it to expose Lilgin's every move to the entire world. Lilgin had to learn the secret of that system if he was to remain in power. And so the subtle and deadly process of extracting the information from Higenroth's mind began. But the full resources of the world government were to prove useless - FOR HIGENROTH HAD HIDDEN THE SECRET IN THE GENES OF A CHILD NOT YET BORN!
Dictator Lilgin held the entire Earth firmly under his thumb. Government-controlled science ruled: a superb communications network constantly monitored the population, and anyone who dared to question the regime or Lilgin's supremacy was instantly and tidily eradicated. But the regime had reckoned without Professor Dun Higenroth. Higenroth had developed a radically new communications system that took no account of distance, that operated in the mind of its creator, without the need for equipment of any kind-and he intended to use it to expose Lilgin's every move to the entire world. Lilgin had to learn the secret of that system if he was to remain in power. And so the subtle and deadly process of extracting the information from Higenroth's mind began. But the full resources of the world government were to prove useless - FOR HIGENROTH HAD HIDDEN THE SECRET IN THE GENES OF A CHILD NOT YET BORN!
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
2 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
A.E. van Vogt
648 books459 followersAlfred 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 21, 2016
In the introduction, Mr. van Vogt goes on to explain, as he did with his half decent 1962 non-genre novel, that he had done much research for this novel, citing such volumes as "Khrushev Remembers", "Let History Judge" and "The First Circle". The subject here is of a dictator that solves problems by 'fiat', and that we, the reader, must decide for ourselves if we'd care to pay the price of living in a world ruled by such a method.
He concludes the intro with an explanation: "In order to dramatize what might seem "heavy" stuff, I decided on a very bizarre opening sequence, and to continue with other bizarre techniques. The result is a far-out fantastic novel without a visible trace of intellectuality. But it's there."
That bit is the most interesting passage in the novel. He was absolutely correct in stating that the "heavy stuff" is invisible due to bizarre writing techniques.
As the story goes, in a future society, a rebel group is at work to overthrow a dictator's rule, but even that group is suspiciouly suspected to be controlled by that very dictaor... Our protagonist must expose all of this before his scheduled decapitation the very next day.
At least, that is what I thought was going on.
Published in 1973, this is considered a 'late' van Vogt work, and unfortunately, I found this to be one of the most uninteresting and cringe-worthy novels I've read by this author.
What a bummer. I usually enjoy van Vogt's work, regardless of how poorly it is executed. This one was just... bleh. And horribly dated.
He concludes the intro with an explanation: "In order to dramatize what might seem "heavy" stuff, I decided on a very bizarre opening sequence, and to continue with other bizarre techniques. The result is a far-out fantastic novel without a visible trace of intellectuality. But it's there."
That bit is the most interesting passage in the novel. He was absolutely correct in stating that the "heavy stuff" is invisible due to bizarre writing techniques.
As the story goes, in a future society, a rebel group is at work to overthrow a dictator's rule, but even that group is suspiciouly suspected to be controlled by that very dictaor... Our protagonist must expose all of this before his scheduled decapitation the very next day.
At least, that is what I thought was going on.
Published in 1973, this is considered a 'late' van Vogt work, and unfortunately, I found this to be one of the most uninteresting and cringe-worthy novels I've read by this author.
What a bummer. I usually enjoy van Vogt's work, regardless of how poorly it is executed. This one was just... bleh. And horribly dated.
January 2, 2013
While i really enjoyed the basic political experiment proposed by the persistent surveillance concept, i just couldn't really get into the writing style. I found myself re reading whole passages because of strange punctuation or grammar, which diminished my enjoyment.
April 19, 2025
Typiquement le genre de roman de SF pour lequel il ne faut pas être un débutant pour apprécier. Connaissant l'auteur, je retrouve bien sa plume très cynique et ses personnages aussi bien complexe que creux. Cependant, le roman reste (comme ses autres) assez inégal, avec un début et un dénouement hyper rapide, et un centre trop long. Mais globalement, ça a été pour moi une bonne lecture.
July 23, 2016
Le sujet est intéressant mais le livre a un peu vieilli.
November 18, 2014
Mal écrit. Mal traduit. Pénible et incohérent
April 6, 2021
Profesorul Dun Higenroth citi scrisoarea oficială cu buzele strânse:
„…Norocul pe care l-aţi avut câştigând Acolada în domeniul dumneavoastră… De aici şi decapitarea pentru beneficiul studenţilor din cadrul programului de educaţie avansată… va avea loc în Ziua Patrioţilor. Felicitări…”
Desigur, scrisoarea era mai lungă, dar aceasta era esenţa ei.
Tăcut, Higenroth întinse documentul spre soţia sa, Eidy. Fără un motiv anume, rămase să privească atent cum tânăra doamnă citea vestea despre decapitarea iminentă a soţului, un savant mult mai bătrân decât ea. Dar chipul ei nu era tulburat de niciun fel de emoţie. Eidy îi înapoie scrisoarea şi-i spuse:
— E important să-ţi aminteşti că moartea prin decapitare nu este deloc dureroasă. E un fapt dovedit.
Higenroth descoperi, atunci când citi mica notă de subsol redactată cu litere mici, ce se cerea de la el în vederea ordinului de execuţie:
„…Este de la sine înţeles că un câştigător al Acoladei nu va permite ca anxietatea legată de momentul decapitării să se manifeste deschis sau să-i tulbure cu ceva gândurile. Asemenea reacţii învechite nu sunt demne de un savant modern şi matur care înţelege valoarea decapitării Acoladei pentru studenţi şi care ştie că pentru el este un pas din lumea noastră spre o altă lume mai bună, aşa cum a stabilit Religia Oficială.”
Premiul îl pusese pe profesorul Higenroth în faţa unei dileme. Pe de-o parte – trebuia să admită – era o victorie. Bătălia lui cu dr. Heen Glucken se sfârşea dintr-o singură lovitură – ca să spunem aşa – care avea să-i pună adversarul la podea. Câştigătorii Acoladei erau aleşi dintre cei ce se aflau în primul pluton în cursa pentru eminenţa ştiinţifică.
„…Norocul pe care l-aţi avut câştigând Acolada în domeniul dumneavoastră… De aici şi decapitarea pentru beneficiul studenţilor din cadrul programului de educaţie avansată… va avea loc în Ziua Patrioţilor. Felicitări…”
Desigur, scrisoarea era mai lungă, dar aceasta era esenţa ei.
Tăcut, Higenroth întinse documentul spre soţia sa, Eidy. Fără un motiv anume, rămase să privească atent cum tânăra doamnă citea vestea despre decapitarea iminentă a soţului, un savant mult mai bătrân decât ea. Dar chipul ei nu era tulburat de niciun fel de emoţie. Eidy îi înapoie scrisoarea şi-i spuse:
— E important să-ţi aminteşti că moartea prin decapitare nu este deloc dureroasă. E un fapt dovedit.
Higenroth descoperi, atunci când citi mica notă de subsol redactată cu litere mici, ce se cerea de la el în vederea ordinului de execuţie:
„…Este de la sine înţeles că un câştigător al Acoladei nu va permite ca anxietatea legată de momentul decapitării să se manifeste deschis sau să-i tulbure cu ceva gândurile. Asemenea reacţii învechite nu sunt demne de un savant modern şi matur care înţelege valoarea decapitării Acoladei pentru studenţi şi care ştie că pentru el este un pas din lumea noastră spre o altă lume mai bună, aşa cum a stabilit Religia Oficială.”
Premiul îl pusese pe profesorul Higenroth în faţa unei dileme. Pe de-o parte – trebuia să admită – era o victorie. Bătălia lui cu dr. Heen Glucken se sfârşea dintr-o singură lovitură – ca să spunem aşa – care avea să-i pună adversarul la podea. Câştigătorii Acoladei erau aleşi dintre cei ce se aflau în primul pluton în cursa pentru eminenţa ştiinţifică.
December 27, 2018
VOTO: 2,4
Uno dei romanzi più sconclusionati che abbia mai letto.
L' epilogo è uno dei più confusi e incoerenti che mi sia capitato di leggere: decisamente uno dei romanzi peggiori di Vogt, a mio avviso.
Uno dei romanzi più sconclusionati che abbia mai letto.
L' epilogo è uno dei più confusi e incoerenti che mi sia capitato di leggere: decisamente uno dei romanzi peggiori di Vogt, a mio avviso.
September 2, 2011
Excellent dystopia.
June 1, 2015
1980 grade B+
2007 grade A-
2007 grade A-
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews