Customer Reviews

Away And Beyond (Medallion "New Edition", F812)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Again, as I wrote in my review for Destination: Universe, I would not pass over these short stories too lightly. Some fans consider his short pieces to be his BEST work. They are certainly powerful and do not get bogged down the way some of his novels do. This is well worth checking out.

Away and Beyond (1952) is vintage van Vogt, with 7 good stories:

"The Vault of the Beast" (1940) An implacable shape changing alien

monster from Mars is defeated by a flight of van Vogtian super mathematics.

The Great Engine (1943) is interesting, but not one of the great tales. **

The Great Judge (1948) is a brief P.K. Dickian tale ***

Secret Unattainable (1942) includes Hitler's secret weapon, a good story. ***

"The Harmonizer" (1944) A Stapledonian vignette which compresses eighty million years in a few pages.

The Second Solution (1942)- is a good beast tale. ***

"Film Library" (1946) A particularly vivid "hard SF" dream which is not about anything but itself. *

Asylum (1942) - not just a vampire tale, but a PK Dickian story! ****

I like the Master's novels much better than his short stories, I mean, He sometimes cut's a novel short - so just imagine his short stuff!
Still, pouring pure imagination and genius from every pore, this anthology get's only 4 stars compared to other works of Van Vogt, not the general sci-fi library.