The Universe Maker

by A.E. van Vogt

MORTON CARGILL IS ABOUT TO DIE FOR A CRIME HE COMMITTED 400 YEARS AGO.
Lieutenant Morton Cargill was brought from the past to be punished for his crime, an accidental murder that took place centuries before. Now he is in a world ruled by the Shadows, an evil people who can pass through solid walls and remain untouched by weapons. But the Shadows are being threatened by the Planiacs, a celestial race that lives high above the earth and to whom the preservation of Cargill's life means their own existence.
Now Cargill is hunted by one race, held captive by the other, caught in a deadly clash of minds and machines- in a terrifying world where he doesn't know the rules!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Science Fiction Fantasy

127 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

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

[Maria Dobos · Rating 3 out of 5]

1953. Aflat în permisie, locotenentul Morgan Cargill se lasă convins să însoțească spre casă o tânără abia întâlnită într-un bar, Marie Chanette. Amețiți după câteva pahare, cei doi sunt implicați într-un accident rutier care duce la moartea fetei și fuga lui Morgan de la locul accidentului. Cu mintea învăluită în ceață și chinuit de remușcări, Morgan este trimis să lupte în Coreea, de unde se întoarce peste un an cu gradul de căpitan și conștiința anesteziată de experiența războiului.

Ei bine, nimic extraordinar până aici, dar, la câteva luni după revenire, Morgan primește o scrisoare de la... Marie Chanette, prin care i se propunea o întâlnire. Confuz dar și curios, căpitanul acceptă întâlnirea, necunoscuta dovedindu-se o descendentă a Mariei Channette care îl "trage" la aproximativ 400 de ani în viitor, în Orașul Umbrelor, unde Societatea Inter-Temporală pentru Ajustări Psihologice a decis că singura modalitate de remediere a dezechilibrului cauzat de uciderea Mariei este condamnarea la moarte a ucigașului ei.

Și iată cum totul o ia razna: Morgan e salvat, evadează, este capturat de "planiaci", evadează din nou, pune la cale niște conspirații pentru răsturnarea Umbrelor, primește mesaje de la mii de ani distanță din viitor, plănuiește un mic război, este condiționat să acționeze spre anihilarea Umbrelor și, în cele din urmă, ajunge chiar unde trebuia să fie.

Confuză uneori, cu un stil care lasă de dorit și personaje nu prea convingătoare (atitudinea autorului față de personajele feminine creionate neglijent, unidimensional și fără nici un alt rost în afara de a gravita în jurul lui Morgan și a-i leșina la picioare, mi-a lăsat un gust amar), cartea lui A.E. van Vogt are totuși părțile ei bune: societatea viitorului împărțită în Umbre, intermezi și planiaci, paradoxurile temporale și mai ales conceptul de "umbre", oameni care se pot detașa de forma lor materială și călători în timp.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review is actually based on van Vogt's "The Shadow Men", which appeared in the January 1950 issue of Startling Stories magazine, and has never been published in book form. In 1953 van Vogt published "The Universe Maker', a rewritten and extended version of the "The Shadow Men".

In the story we follow WWII army Lieutenant Morton Cargill, who is abducted into the 24th century to face justice in a bizarre and deadly system of psychological "therapy". This is an unfamiliar world, where what's left of the US has stagnated and the population dwindled. Society is comprised of three main groups - the migrant "floaters" who appear content to drift around the country enjoying their freedom and not much else; the smaller group of city dwelling "tweeners"; and the even smaller group of ruling "shadow men", possessing strange and powerful technologies for tapping vast amounts of energy, manipulating thoughts, teleportation, time travel, and the ability to physically alter their forms ... plus just about anything and everything else.

Cargill spends time with each group, attempting to discover the real reason he was abducted from his time, and getting caught up in their struggles for domination and ultimately a revolution to restore human society onto a path of progress and growth. For some reason, some of the groups seem to value his WWII combat experiences for tactical reasons, even though he was infantry and they are tapping him for aerial combat tactics. The motivations and intentions of these groups, and Cargill's understanding of them, shifts quite a bit and is confusing, to say the least. Also confusing are the abrupt transitions, where Cargill is apparently whisked from place to place with no explanation as to how or why or wtf?

The future society van Vogt describes is fascinating, though quite ludicrous, as is the pseudo psychological flimmflammery he uses to describe the reasons for its state of decline. This perhaps reflects concerns over liberal attitudes that were becoming more prevalent in the post-war period. His descriptions of, and reliance on, time travel paradoxes in the story are perplexing and make me glad it's not something he makes use of frequently in his writings. To be sure, van Vogt is a big fan of having his heroes whisked into the distant future. But not typically interacting with different versions of himself at different points on the timeline.

Not one of van Vogt's most stimulating stories, but it's generally consistent, has some interesting ideas and is good fun.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Morton Cargill is pulled into the future by the descendent of a woman he killed in a drunk driving accident by the Inter-Time Society for Psychological Adjustment so that her descendent can see him die. Once he gets there, things quickly become more complicated as he gets caught up in the struggle between three factions, The Floaters, The Tweeners, and The Shadows. Each group wants him for a different nefarious purpose. Which cause will Cargill join and what is his mysterious connection to The Shadows?

First of all, I should have liked this book more than I did. It features lots of concepts that I like: time travel, time paradoxes, and an underlying conspiracy. So why wasn't I a big fan? For one thing, the plot moves fairly slowly, strange considering the short length of the book. Secondly, Cargill isn't very likeable. Thirdly, none of the characters are very developed. It's very easy to forget which is which. The writing style isn't anything to write home about and the attitude toward women is straight out of 1954.

That isn't to say The Universe Maker is bad. It isn't. There are a lot of good ideas within and I loved the revelation of Grannis's identity. The ending was also good and bumped the rating up to 2.5 stars.

I suppose I'd be able to give it a three back when it was first written but a two is all The Universe Maker gets from me these days.

[Denis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another long complicated way to tell a simple story. This was an expanded shorter work, one of his last during his 'first wave' published in Startling Stories Jan. '50 under the title “The Shadow Men.” http://icshi.net/sevagram/biblio/shad...

Starts out nicely. The year is 1953 and Morton Cargill, a lieutenant on leave serving in the Korean war had apparently had several too many a drink with a woman (Marie Chanette) in a bar. There is talk about him driving her home in her Chevrolet coupe or whether or not to cab it... The next morning, he reads in the paper that the woman he was with had died in the car crash. Naturally, it was all a blur to him but the article in the paper was quite clear...

After a year or so, he is sent a letter signed Marie Chanette requesting a meeting. Though the name means nothing to him, he agrees to go. It turns out that she is Marie’s descendant from four hundred years in the future and wants him to be prosecuted for the crime he had committed and own up. He is then ‘taken’ to this future..

There he learns that there are three types of human beings: The Floaters, The Tweeners, and The Shadows. All these in one way or another are in a sort of conflict. Cargill has a part to play in each one of these as they determine he can lead them either in revolution or defense and so on...

From there the story is twisted and tangled up in the usual van Vogt fashion with the odd vignette of his usual dated views on politics and men / women relationships. Although it comes to a satisfactory conclusion, he takes us on a screwy road to get there. It’s as if you were following someone out of the woods who is as lost as you are. However, like I said, you do eventually make it home before almost dying of exposure.

[blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long before Clarke formulated his three laws, van Vogt was busy proving (as in "testing") the third one, and the Universe Maker is a pretty far-out test indeed. It's essentially a time-travel story about a soldier who gets a woman killed in a drunk-driving accident, only to find himself hundreds of years in the future where "therapy" for the woman's ancestors involves murdering him, as being the one who set that whole genetic line on a path to misery.

The Lamarckian concept of, not sure exactly what you'd call it, "inherited trauma" was pretty well discredited in the 20th century, though it does seem to be making some small comeback lately, as we see the life conditions of one generation echo through to their children and grandchildren. This aspect of the story is almost a shaggy dog, and I sussed it out almost immediately.

The rest of the story concerns time-travel shenanigans as our hero is rescued by one of the three tribes (the "Tweeners") of future earth to be pressed into service to destroy one of the other tribes (the "Shadows"). (The "Planeiacs", the third tribe, will be made to assimilate, apparently.) Something special about our hero makes him immune to the future vision of the "Shadows".

He escapes the Tweeners quickly and ends up spending time with the rustic Planeiacs, only to be captured by the Tweeners again and send among the Shadows, where he's expected to perform some dirty deed. (Let the energy barrier down so they can be attacked, a la Return of the Jedi.) He also gets snatched into the far future where he's told he must to this or that to ensure that said future comes into being.

It creates some nice tension. And the wrap-up, while getting very woo-woo indeed, is tightly constructed and in such a way that is interesting and revelatory. I think the story could've been better served reining in the far out stuff but, hey, it's van Vogt. Whaddaya expect?

[Cristian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Povestea nu e chiar asa de rea cum arata nota mea.
Daca ne uitam totusi la anul cind a fost publicata aceasta lucrare, cred ca daca ne teleportam in acea vreme era o super carte.
Un om e teleportat in viitor si de aici se intimpla multe lucruri. Si viitor si trecut si...
E acceptabila.

[Iulia Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pff, greu cu van Vogt. Aș zice așa: ideile și imaginația lui îi depășeau abilitățile de scriitor.

În plus, mă întristează că o minte capabilă să privească în viitor, să se joace cu paradoxuri temporale, de-a creația și distrugerea, să jongleze cu universul, să conceapă posibile căi de evoluție a speciei umane, nu a reușit să depășească stereotipurile și prejudecățile sociale ale vremii: femeia rămâne, în cel mai bun caz, un obiect sexual al fanteziei masculine, nu are ce discuta despre război, rebeliuni și concepte abstracte. Iar dacă o face, e redusă la tăcere repejor de personajul principal, care este un cuceritor de inimi, cum altfel, și preia el tot ce-i de făcut, ea poate să-l aștepte în dormitor.

Spre deosebire de alți autori de SF care mi-au livrat dezamăgiri similare, la A.E. van Vogt voi reveni. Cărțile lui sunt suficient de dubioase și ideile transcend în cele din urmă limitele de care ziceam.

[Lisa Henner · Rating 3 out of 5]

histoire envoûtante, écriture captivante, ethnocentrisme dérangeant et sexisme dégoûtant

[Dylan Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super depressing and makes you want to give up!

[Roddy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morton Cargill, a veteran of the Korean War, is drinking in a bar and gets friendly with a young woman who is as drunk as he is. Driving her back home, they crash and she is killed. Morton escapes unscathed and flees the scene.
Later he receives a letter purportedly from the dead woman, arranging a meeting. When he turns up he is abducted and wakes up in a room divided by a glass partition on the other side of which is a woman resembling the dead woman.
Cargill has been transported to the future where he is to be killed as part of a therapeutic process to rid his victim's descendant of her race-memory issues.
However, he is later awakened by a woman called Ann Reece who has a portable time-travel device and persuades him to escape further into the future with her as he is important to a future political faction.
van Vogt has a recurring motif of different 'classes' of humans interacting to a greater or lesser degree with each other. In 'Slan' we have the humans, the Slans and the tendril-less Slans. 'Mission to The Stars' features Dellians, non-Dellians and the rest of humanity.
Here, Humanity has divided into three groups, the Tweeners, who continue to live normal lives in the cities, Floaters, who live a gipsy/nomad existence in solar powered ships, and the Shadows, a race of supermen who can alter the physical structures of their own bodies and appear insubstantial to everyone else.
van Vogt brings in the Lamarckian concept of race memory, since the descendant of Chanette is suffering mental instability because of the inherited effects of her murder.
The time travelling psychologists believe that witnessing the murderer's death will cure her and negate her of the possibility of passing on any further angst to her offspring. van Vogt manages to make this seem plausible although I am sure that even in Nineteen Fifty Three it didn't bear very close scrutiny.
It would appear that the author was attempting one of those time paradox novels which were done far better by Charles L Harness, Clifford Simak and Harry Harrison. van Vogt was never very good on structure and to construct such a novel would depend very much on a cohesive structure and a strong sense of internal logic, neither of which is the case. As is well-known, he tended to employ a 'make it up as you go along' style of writing which usually doesn't make for a balanced structure.
He also brings in the concept of the soul, a subject he employed later in 'Computerworld' although here the examination is muddy even by van Vogt's standards and not explored or exploited to any great degree. This is linked to an examination of reality which has its interesting moments such as a very Dickian moment when Cargill is transposed to a future civilisation which only exists in potential until Cargill has carried out a specific action.
The author's attitude to women is again here sadly prevalent. It is sad that compared to his peers who, although the sexism was evident, tended to ignore or marginalise female characters, he actively promotes the concept of female inferiority and subservience.
van Vogt's women can never resist the power of a dominant male and here, the two major female characters fall in love with Cargill for no apparent reason. Women are there to be subdued and used, as is clear from Cargill's willingness to seduce Anne Reece simply because he has been asked to in order to further a convoluted plan. He does not even seem to acknowledge the fact that she has saved his life twice.
Oddly Cargill is not your usual van Vogt intelligent and logical hero, since his actions from the outset appear to be quite stupid and ill-thought out.
The Shadows, a faction of human 'Supermen' who can make their bodies insubstantial but many times more efficient, are interested in Cargill because his future can not be determined.
Cargill later discovers he has the ability to affect the structure of reality and can if he wishes, restructure the Universe.
In essence, van Vogt struggles with too many concepts here and it all ends up being a bit of a mess. There are glimmers of brilliance here and there but this is way short of van Vogt at his best.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

All fiction has constraints, whether it's Joyce's desire to break all the rules or the familiar shape of the "cosy" mystery. If you read "The Universe Maker" today, you'll wince at the turn of phrase and sigh at the straight-jawed simple characters. In its day, though, this book played by the rules of its genre and is no disgrace. I'm enjoying it for what it is, enjoying the glimpse into pre-60s sexual attitudes and finally beginning to get a sense of the literary continuum between 1880s prolixity and 1970s gonzo. Edwardian is when it begins to get readable for me, and this book is a curious next step from, say, the gushy too-muchness of "Brave New World". I'm fascinated by the realization that Huxley's dystopia is dated, whereas 1984 isn't. Van Vogt's writing is similarly dated--more modern, less flowery, than Huxley, but still guilty of the same "in three hundred years we'll all be dancing to jive (or jazz, or whatever music was making old men think the world was ending)" mistake.

For all its flaws, I'm interested in the story too. Time travel used in a way I'm not accustomed to seeing, which is always nice.

[Dakota Sillyman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I often found reading 'The Universe Maker' to be like doing a complex math problem without all the relevant information.

The first half of the novel plays as an exciting adventure story, and I enjoyed the unfolding conflict between Floaters, Tweeners, and Shadows. Even that enjoyment however was thrown off by all the blatant misogyny. The second half of the novel feels like it may have made a good short story, but upon expansion it fell apart completely. Trying to figure out what the broader plot was as well as Cargill's role in it, felt rather like a chore. All of his decisions feel arbitrary and I don't think I ever got a full sense of what was going on or who Cargill was/ why I should care.

Overall I find Vogt's writing interesting, but his characters lack the depth to get me invested in such a complex story.

[Ruskoley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Moves from mystery to social-commentary to time-travel and parallel times without much storyline, interesting event, or dynamic characterization. In fact, this stuff is so bad, I really, really can't believe anyone read it the whole way through and gave it more than 2-stars for a rating. First two chapters might be two stars - the rest of the book is awful. Make serious effort to avoid.

[David Thornley · Rating 1 out of 5]

van Vogt is not, in most respects, a particularly good writer. He tosses in small new ideas frequently, which I like. When the ideas blend to form something greater, I have a lot of fun with it. In this one, they didn't.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorite authors - always a lot of fun

[Răzvan Ursuleanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

În 1992, colecția de povestiri științifico-fantastice „elibera” doar un singur număr în fiecare lună și nu aveam niciun chef să citesc romanul lui A. E. van Vogt pe parcursul a patru luni, sub formă de felii. Însă am cumpărat toate fasciculele (adunam tot ce găseam SF, să fie în casă, pentru vremuri tulburi) și le-am depozitat în bibliotecă, uitând apoi cu desăvârșire de existența lor.

Treizeci de ani mai târziu, într-o zi în care dădeam cu mătura ca să îndepărtez plasele și osemintele zecilor de generații de păianjeni care mi-au citit cărțile, am descoperit fasciculele despre care tocmai ce v-am povestit. Le-am aruncat imediat, bineînțeles, pentru că cele două sau trei inundații care mi-au vizitat casa de-a lungul anilor le distruseseră în întregime dar, din fericire pentru efortul literar al autorului, aveam și dublura, sub formă de roman integral, pe care editura Lucman îl republicase la sfârșitul anilor ’90.

Așadar, facem cunoștință cu Morton Cargill, care practic ocupă toate rolurile principale ale cărții. Acest model de personaj omniprezent și omnipotent nu reprezintă o noutate pentru textele lui van Vogt. Îmi amintesc că Robert Hedrock din „Făuritorii de arme” fusese creat pe același tipar, un individ oarecare la începutul acțiunii și stăpânul spațiului și al timpului la final.

Nu sunt chiar un fan al subiectelor SF care se învârt în jurul temei călătoriilor în timp, dar trebuie să recunosc că ideea folosirii protagonistului pe post de yoyo temporal mi-a oferit o lectură aparte. Cargill se mișcă atât de repede prin timp, înainte și înapoi încât, după o vreme, am amețit și am ajuns să mă uit cruciș la rânduri, așa că mi-a luat cam o lună de zile să ajung la ultima pagină.

Autorul nu a avut mari pretenții de la carte, așa că nici cititorii nu ar trebui să aibă. „Universul umbrelor” este o lucrare de linie, de escort, pe parcursul căreia, amețit sau nu, te poți opri oricând din citit, chiar și în mijlocul unei fraze, și nu te deranjează cu nimic dacă reiei lectura a doua zi, sau după câteva săptămâni, sau nu o mai reiei niciodată.

Nota acordată romanului : 6,9

http://www.bucurestifm.ro/2022/09/07/...

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Locotenentul Morton Cargill părăsi barul şi se împiedică de ceva. Se opri şi se întoarse instinctiv, căutând un lucru de care să se ţină. Aşa văzu o femeie ieşind din acelaşi bar, care se împiedică la rândul ei şi aproape căzu peste el.
Se sprijiniră unul de altul, păstrând un echilibru precar. Ea îşi reveni mai repede şi murmură:
— Domnule Membru, ai promis că mă duci acasă cu maşina.
— Poftim? spuse Cargill şi fu pe cale să adauge: „Păi nu te-am văzut în viaţa mea!”
Dar se abţinu, pentru că brusc îi trecu prin cap că de fapt nici beat nu fusese în viaţa lui. În plus, ultima oră trăită de el în acea zi fusese atât de vagă, încât se gândi că spusele ei au totuşi o noimă.
În mod sigur, intenţionase să-şi „tragă” o fetiţă la sfârşitul serii. Atunci, ce mai conta? Doar erau în 1953, iar el era bărbat şi mai avea doar trei zile de permisie de pe navă. Ce rost avea să mai despice firul în patru legându-se de faptul că nu o cunoştea pe femeia aceea?
— Şi unde spuneai că e maşina ta?
Fata se îndreptă clătinându-se spre un Chevrolet coupe, roşu. Îl lăsă să o ajute să descuie uşa. Apoi se prăbuşi pe scaunul din dreapta, cu capul aplecat într-o parte. Cargill urcă la volan şi aproape alunecă la podea.
Reuşi să scape o clipă de mintea tulbure şi se gândi uimit: „Nu sunt destul de treaz ca să conduc o maşină. Mai bine chem un taxi”.

[Serafina Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gem of a paperback I picked up at a local used book store that has just the best book selection in town. I liked the length and thought to myself this would be a quick and interesting read when I bought it for $1.

Thing is, this book is amazing. The writing is not the best at times - jumping from scene to scene in a jarring way at times. However, the book explains very clearly some challenging concepts related to physics and time travel with science type language. It left me wondering if these were actual feasible ideas. Will we eventually be able to harness the suns energy for space ships? Will we eventually be able to harness our mind's energy to create things?

This is a great book and I highly recommend it. Even though it was short it was a good read with a compelling and complex storyline.

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, started well with a protagonist of dubious character catapulted through various vividly described times and places, but eventually it utterly confused me.
I should probably have given it more stars because I was often amused and fascinated with the convoluted plot, and with the plethora of weird technology and engineering. It also included speculation about the scientific nature of reality, and later, over the existence of a soul, given that time travel is possible. Interesting, especially to me was the now quaint idea (expressed as Steady State in Prof. Fred Hoyle’s non-fiction “The Nature of The Universe” (it convinced me in 1970s)), of our universe already being trillions of years old. So.. not quite satisfying, despite the attempt to solve the paradoxes and produce a happy ending.

[Radu Harabula · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inclin sa ii dau dreptate lui Damon Knight care spunea ca A. E. van Vogt "nu este uriaș; este un pigmeu care a învățat să folosească o mașină de scris prea mare”.
Mai spunea ca: “Din punctul meu de vedere, van Vogt eșuează continuu în a fi scriitor din următoarele motive: 1. Intriga cărților sale nu rezistă în fața celei mai elementare analize. 2. Cuvintele și frazeologia alese de el sunt neîndemânatice și lipsite de sensibilitate. 3. Nu este capabil nici să vizualizeze o scenă, nici să creeze personaje reale.”

Revin cu mai multe detalii despre carte...

[Francesco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nonostante abbia letto e apprezzato altri lavori di Van Vogt, questo non mi è piaciuto per nulla.
La trama è lentissima ma soprattutto crea una confusione inimmaginabile per la presenza di troppi temi interessanti, che finiscono per non essere sviluppati in nessun modo.
Viaggi nel tempo, modificazioni della materia e della coscienza, paradossi e guerre condotte su differenti piani temporali sono tutti argomenti affascinanti ma se concentrati assieme e guarniti da personaggio scialbi e per nulla interessanti lasciano solo un gran mal di testa.

[Richp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was first published in 1953, and by the standards of that era it rates a solid 4 on the GR scale (3 is good). Alas, the standards of that era often do not pass muster today. (On the other hand a lot of today's popular stuff is crap*.) This is not one of this author's top 5 novels, but those too 5 are considered classics of the genre.

* 90% of everything is crap, known as Sturgeon's Law. This is the centenary of Theodore Sturgeon's birth.

[Ramiro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Both stories in this book start out good, but both are overkilled with ideas on top of ideas. I had to go back and reread more than once to see what they were actually talking about. Small details constantly got lost for me. I am not sure I completely understood either story or at least I didn't understand why a lot things were necessary for the story, it was like "Am I missing something, or is this just overkill?"

[Randall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful

Weapon Shops of Usher was a seminal book in my early SF exploration so I thought i would read another of van City's books. I was shocked at how nonsensical and trite this book was. It reads like someone writing on LSD who tries to describe deep insights but all that comes out is gobbledygook. I'll never get back the time I wasted reading this book but maybe I can save someone else.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in my Junior High years, along with the author's "The World of Null-A" with which it is paired in the Ace Double Novel edition which my father had purchased in the 1950's. This is a time travel story published in 1953.

[Bob Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but kinda disjointed.

[Kyle Haselton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's old sci-fi and gives you an idea of where the genre came from. Yeah, definitely not perfect, but if you're into time travel and the origins of sci-fi this is a great book.

[Claudio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Proprio non mi ha preso. Caotico e inconcludente. Sono stato un avido lettore di Urania negli anni ‘70, ma questi romanzi vintage non mi dicono molto.

[Matteo Pellegrini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un giovane ufficiale in licenza prima di ripartire per il fronte vuol passare una serata in compagnia di una bella ragazza. Desiderio umanissimo. Così, quando una elegante sconosciuta, che dice di chiamarsi Marie Chanette, gli chiede di accompagnarla a casa, il tenente Morton Cargill non si fa troppo pregare. Ma il giovane ha bevuto eccessivamente, di conseguenza la macchina che la donna ha affidato alla sua guida va a schiantarsi contro un albero. Il giorno dopo Cargill si tormenta per ricordarsi cosa è successo, e se i giornali non riportassero la notizia della morte in un incidente di una giovane donna di nome Marie Chanette, giurerebbe di aver sognato tutto, di non aver mai conosciuto una ragazza di quel nome, di non essere affatto salito su una macchina. Questo accade nel 1953. Un anno più tardi, quando Morton Cargill ritorna in patria, gli viene annunciato che una misteriosa Associazione lo ha condannato a morte per l'omicidio di Marie Chanette. L'avventura di Cargill assume aspetti che da strani diventano paradossali quando il giovane sfugge all'esecuzione e si trova proiettato nel futuro... Il magico nome di A. E. Van Vogt non ha bisogno di presentazioni per i nostri lettori che conoscono i precedenti romanzi di questo affascinante autore, e sanno che le sue opere sono sempre un eccitante insieme di azione, ragionamento e concettosa inventiva. "Gli Uomini Ombra" segna un deciso passo avanti nella produzione di A. E. Van Vogt, e un nuovo motivo di ammirazione per tutti i suoi appassionati.

[A. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This particular lousy book features time travel so rather than being an actual book it is more diarrhea of the fingers. I feel bad for Mr. Van Vogt and wish for his sake that he had managed to get some Immodium AD. Instead, we get The Universe Makers, which reads more like cliff notes than an actual book.

This is how this book was written: Mr. Van Vogt sat down and pounded his fists on his typewriter for several hours. He looked at the resulting collection of words the next day, decided it wasn't good enough, so decided to stir a good helping of misogyny into the plot. Then he retired to his drawing room in his best robe, lit his pipe, and called out for his boy to put on one of those new-fangled long-playing recording discs. Man, it must be nice to put your feet up by the fire, letting the stinky sweat steam away from your socks, after a long hard day of beating your fists upon a typewriter rather than typing actual words.