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Earth Factor X
Also published as "The Secret Galactics"
Reality twisted...slightly. Earth shivered in a momentary absence of vibration. For a split second the solar system wasn't. And then it was again. Less than a billionth of a second...but a time shift occurred for connected persons.
As the shadow ship started to emerge from the time jump, men and aliens were locked in a secret, undeclared war to rule Earth. The aliens, genetically changed, looked exactly like humans. They were everywhere -- in government, in business, in finance. Opposed to them were two women and one isolated brain in a mechanical body. But between them they possessed the one secret that the aliens had never discerned about the people of Earth....
Reality twisted...slightly. Earth shivered in a momentary absence of vibration. For a split second the solar system wasn't. And then it was again. Less than a billionth of a second...but a time shift occurred for connected persons.
As the shadow ship started to emerge from the time jump, men and aliens were locked in a secret, undeclared war to rule Earth. The aliens, genetically changed, looked exactly like humans. They were everywhere -- in government, in business, in finance. Opposed to them were two women and one isolated brain in a mechanical body. But between them they possessed the one secret that the aliens had never discerned about the people of Earth....
174 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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79 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 31, 2022
A really enjoyable read of one of my old paperbacks (70p from sphere books 1977).
In this typical AE van Vogt novel numerous sets of alien males on Earth (disguised as humans) are transfixed by Earth Women and chaos ensues as one group decides to take charge of all the Earth governments.
Complicated and poignant this novel shows the way some men treat women as property and how that affects the interaction between genders. Add to the mix of aliens; small time jumps, an invading space ship, early supercomputers, AI and a human male so badly injured he is now only a brain controlling a machine with 6 wheels.
Not the best of van Vogt, but enjoyable still if you like his style of writing.
In this typical AE van Vogt novel numerous sets of alien males on Earth (disguised as humans) are transfixed by Earth Women and chaos ensues as one group decides to take charge of all the Earth governments.
Complicated and poignant this novel shows the way some men treat women as property and how that affects the interaction between genders. Add to the mix of aliens; small time jumps, an invading space ship, early supercomputers, AI and a human male so badly injured he is now only a brain controlling a machine with 6 wheels.
Not the best of van Vogt, but enjoyable still if you like his style of writing.
March 31, 2019
I am a fan of van Vogt's writing but this is really one to avoid. The premise is a good one - aliens of various races born in human form, one species of which plans to take over the world. The structure of the story is typical of van Vogt, with events and conversations half explained, drawing to a conclusion which leaves you wondering and still trying to draw all the pieces together. (This is not a criticism - I appreciate a book which doesn't handle it all out on a plate).
The problem lies in the overarching ethos of the book which is horribly dated, would have been uncomfortable reading at the time of publication and is excruciating today. Setting out to examine (or explain) the relationship between men and women, van Vogt asserts interactions between the genders is solely based on automatic response and transactional sexual relationships, which demands the permeance of the dominant male and submissive female rolls in society.
Whilst the imaginatively created societal structures in books such as The Anarchistic Colossus, and The World of Null-A, add greatly to the story, in this case it does the reverse. If this book truly reflects his understanding of male female relationships I feel very sorry for him.
The problem lies in the overarching ethos of the book which is horribly dated, would have been uncomfortable reading at the time of publication and is excruciating today. Setting out to examine (or explain) the relationship between men and women, van Vogt asserts interactions between the genders is solely based on automatic response and transactional sexual relationships, which demands the permeance of the dominant male and submissive female rolls in society.
Whilst the imaginatively created societal structures in books such as The Anarchistic Colossus, and The World of Null-A, add greatly to the story, in this case it does the reverse. If this book truly reflects his understanding of male female relationships I feel very sorry for him.
March 21, 2015
Yes, it's an alien invasion story, but not like any one you've read before. In the past--perhaps recently, perhaps thousands of years ago, van Vogt is never quite specific--members of several alien races came to Earth, using advanced science to take on the forms of human males. Why? Well, conquest eventually, maybe, depending upon the race--different aliens have different views of the universe and their actions are dictated by their views; some are fairly easy going and fatalistic and others could only be described as mucho macho. Ultimately, though, no matter their natures, the one reason they have all found their way to Earth, infiltrating our society and fighting secret battles amongst themselves, is because they want Earth women. Why? Well, they're not quite sure, because they really don't understand what make women tick. Sort of understandable, when you think about it.
Van Vogt takes the motif of the alien invasion, hypes up a 1950's stereotypical meme (typified by numerous "B" movies and lurid sci-fi pulp magazine covers) and mixes them with themes he explored in many of his previous books--the violent man, repressed American culture, the illogical process of male and female relationships, the inability of people to fully communicate, and the shaping of society by inborn primal natures. As you might expect from the inventor of Dianetics (it's a secret), his forays into science fiction are not at all like those of any other writer, which often causes him to be misunderstood or dismissed. Van Vogt's way of writing is not for everyone--he's always several steps ahead of his characters, who are always one step behind the situation, but one step ahead of the readers. Not an easy read, but for readers up to the challenge it can be rewarding, even this minor book from his later period, when he began to decline.
Van Vogt takes the motif of the alien invasion, hypes up a 1950's stereotypical meme (typified by numerous "B" movies and lurid sci-fi pulp magazine covers) and mixes them with themes he explored in many of his previous books--the violent man, repressed American culture, the illogical process of male and female relationships, the inability of people to fully communicate, and the shaping of society by inborn primal natures. As you might expect from the inventor of Dianetics (it's a secret), his forays into science fiction are not at all like those of any other writer, which often causes him to be misunderstood or dismissed. Van Vogt's way of writing is not for everyone--he's always several steps ahead of his characters, who are always one step behind the situation, but one step ahead of the readers. Not an easy read, but for readers up to the challenge it can be rewarding, even this minor book from his later period, when he began to decline.
January 8, 2020
Aliens have landed and take the form of human males. They cannot seem to decode our local women. The story is a very sexist sort of intrigue but does end with one redeeming premise... "one day women will rule earth".
December 22, 2018
Very weird humans in this book. Also the book itself was quite confusing itself.
July 13, 2014
‘EARTH FACTOR X
Reality twisted... slightly. Earth shivered. For a split second the Solar System wasn’t. And then was again. Less than a billionth of a second – but a time shift had nonetheless happened.
As the shadow ship started to emerge from the time jump, men and aliens were locked in a secret, undeclared war for control of the Earth. Genetically altered, the aliens looked exactly like humans. And they were in positions of power everywhere. Opposing them were two humans and one isolated brain in a mechanical body. But between them they held the one secret that the aliens had never learned about the people of Earth...’
Blurb from the 1977 Sphere paperback edition
Three alien races, the Deeans, the Luinds and the Sleeles, have been living on Earth disguised as human males. Now it appears, the Deeans have plans to take over the Earth. A year previously, Dr Carl Hazzard was killed in a hit and run accident, but his brain was saved and housed in a robotic mobile body with six wheels and extensor arms. He also has a van which he can operate and drive around in.
One should point out from the outset that the plot makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, or rather, it does in a convoluted Van Vogtian way which is vaguely entertaining but ultimately irritating.
The majority of the book is taken up with the alienoids (as they are termed) and Carl’s obsession with the nature of the female psyche.
Women always seemed to baffle van Vogt, despite the fact that he was married to fellow writer E Mayne Hull for a goodly length of time. His female characters tend to be cold femme-fatales or wishy-washy women who scream or faint. They crave good strong men and have to be protected from terrible news in case they can’t cope with it and have a funny turn.
This seems to be van Vogt’s attempt to pin down the bare bones of the evolved male and female brains.
Dr Carl Hazzard, before he was nearly killed, was writing a book entitled ‘Women are Doomed’.
The alienoids, having taken on male human bodies and all that that entails, are just as baffled and enthralled by Earth women as Earth men are.
The novel begins when Carl gets a call from an ex-mistress (who is unaware that he is now just a brain on wheels).
She gives him an address and tells him there is a body there that he must examine. Carl duly drives his brain-van to the location and manages to get in. He discovers the body, along with a letter in the dead man’s jacket.
Just then, a group of men arrive. The body is searched and the letter is found. Carl, pretending to be a bit of machinery sitting in an alcove, overhears their evil alienoid plans and so gets himself and his wife embroiled in a cunning galactic plan. van Vogt seemed to be employing his usual stream-of-consciousness approach to the plot. Carl gets taken on board a Deean spaceship for instance, for no reason whatsoever and even rings his wife to tell her to pack her things as they will both be going to Deean to start a new life together.
The denouement is quite ridiculous and relies on the fact that Carl’s brain somehow made friends with the Deean warship’s computer and persuaded it to turn around and go home.
van Vogt’s final thoughts on the male/female issue is that women have four-ply brains and each woman can inhabit four different personalities, flowing from one to the other without herself realising.
If this had been written twenty years previously it would at least have been in context with current attitudes. By the time of publication we’d been through the Sixties and left van Vogt’s nervous women behind. One suspects that this might have been something van Vogt had found tucked in a bottom drawer and sent on to his publisher on a whim.
Reality twisted... slightly. Earth shivered. For a split second the Solar System wasn’t. And then was again. Less than a billionth of a second – but a time shift had nonetheless happened.
As the shadow ship started to emerge from the time jump, men and aliens were locked in a secret, undeclared war for control of the Earth. Genetically altered, the aliens looked exactly like humans. And they were in positions of power everywhere. Opposing them were two humans and one isolated brain in a mechanical body. But between them they held the one secret that the aliens had never learned about the people of Earth...’
Blurb from the 1977 Sphere paperback edition
Three alien races, the Deeans, the Luinds and the Sleeles, have been living on Earth disguised as human males. Now it appears, the Deeans have plans to take over the Earth. A year previously, Dr Carl Hazzard was killed in a hit and run accident, but his brain was saved and housed in a robotic mobile body with six wheels and extensor arms. He also has a van which he can operate and drive around in.
One should point out from the outset that the plot makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, or rather, it does in a convoluted Van Vogtian way which is vaguely entertaining but ultimately irritating.
The majority of the book is taken up with the alienoids (as they are termed) and Carl’s obsession with the nature of the female psyche.
Women always seemed to baffle van Vogt, despite the fact that he was married to fellow writer E Mayne Hull for a goodly length of time. His female characters tend to be cold femme-fatales or wishy-washy women who scream or faint. They crave good strong men and have to be protected from terrible news in case they can’t cope with it and have a funny turn.
This seems to be van Vogt’s attempt to pin down the bare bones of the evolved male and female brains.
Dr Carl Hazzard, before he was nearly killed, was writing a book entitled ‘Women are Doomed’.
The alienoids, having taken on male human bodies and all that that entails, are just as baffled and enthralled by Earth women as Earth men are.
The novel begins when Carl gets a call from an ex-mistress (who is unaware that he is now just a brain on wheels).
She gives him an address and tells him there is a body there that he must examine. Carl duly drives his brain-van to the location and manages to get in. He discovers the body, along with a letter in the dead man’s jacket.
Just then, a group of men arrive. The body is searched and the letter is found. Carl, pretending to be a bit of machinery sitting in an alcove, overhears their evil alienoid plans and so gets himself and his wife embroiled in a cunning galactic plan. van Vogt seemed to be employing his usual stream-of-consciousness approach to the plot. Carl gets taken on board a Deean spaceship for instance, for no reason whatsoever and even rings his wife to tell her to pack her things as they will both be going to Deean to start a new life together.
The denouement is quite ridiculous and relies on the fact that Carl’s brain somehow made friends with the Deean warship’s computer and persuaded it to turn around and go home.
van Vogt’s final thoughts on the male/female issue is that women have four-ply brains and each woman can inhabit four different personalities, flowing from one to the other without herself realising.
If this had been written twenty years previously it would at least have been in context with current attitudes. By the time of publication we’d been through the Sixties and left van Vogt’s nervous women behind. One suspects that this might have been something van Vogt had found tucked in a bottom drawer and sent on to his publisher on a whim.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2010
Supposedly about multiple alien races attempting to invade earth, this book was really about sex and the role of women. The book makes for uncomfortable reading, with its very misogynistic views on the roles and positions of women -- mainly as sex objects and things for men to worry about. What story there was was also disjointed and difficult to read. Not recommended.
February 3, 2013
I have great fondness for Van Vogt. The World of the Null-A was my first science fiction book ever, Slans is a one of the great SF novels of all times and his short stories still account among the best. But Earth Factor X is Van Vogt at his worst : obscure, unreadable, uninteresting. If you want to rediscover the master of American Golden Age, forget this book.
February 25, 2017
Strange story, focusing on gender issues from the point of view of male aliens inhabiting human bodies. The "X" factor is the fact that they are married to truly human women, and are affected by their relationships. A good start, but I have no idea what point (if any) van Vogt was trying to make.
November 10, 2014
Horrible. It went at a crawling pace through the first 85% of the book, and at then at the end tried to turn into every aspect of a scifi book, cramming in so much you wondered what the hell happened.
December 22, 2014
Not one of his better works, but as with all van Vogt, still well-written and very entertaining.
June 1, 2015
1981 grade D+
aka Earth Factor X
aka Earth Factor X
April 17, 2017
Not bad, crazy theories about women, pretty crazy in general but intriguing
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews