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A. E. Van Vogt
Alfred Elton van Vogt ( ; April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000) was a Canadian-born American science fiction writer. His fragmented, bizarre narrative style influenced later science fiction writers, notably Philip K. Dick. He was one of the most popular and influential practitioners of science fiction in the mid-twentieth century, the genre's so-called Golden Age, and one of the most complex. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him their 14th Grand Master in 1995 (presented 1996). Early life Alfred Vogt (both "Elton" and "van" were added much later) was born on April 26, 1912, on his grandparents' farm in Edenburg, Manitoba, a tiny (and now defunct) Russian Mennonite community east of Gretna, Manitoba, Canada, in the Mennonite West Reserve. He was the third of six children born to Heinrich "Henry" Vogt and Aganetha "Agnes" Vogt (née Buhr), both of whom were born in Manitoba and grew up in heavily immigrant communities. Until he was four, van Vogt spoke only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gretna, Manitoba
Gretna is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality of Rhineland within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held town status prior to January 1, 2015. Just north of the Canada - United States border on PTH 30, Gretna had a population of 541 in 2016. It is bordered by Pembina County, North Dakota. The nearest American community to Gretna is Neche, North Dakota. History Once home to roaming Buffalo herds, the area around Gretna attracted European settlers as far back as the early 19th century. In 1889, Mennonite Collegiate Institute, a private high school, opened in Gretna. In 1897, Gretna and area was visited by Russian prince and anarchist Peter Kropotkin who praised the local Mennonites for their industriousness and communal lifestyle. On June 4, 2021, Gretna reached a temperature of , the highest recorded temperature in Manitoba since the 1980s and the earliest in the year occurrence of above temperatures in Canada. Demographics In the 2021 Census of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astounding Science Fiction
''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William Clayton, and edited by Harry Bates. Clayton went bankrupt in 1933 and the magazine was sold to Street & Smith. The new editor was F. Orlin Tremaine, who soon made ''Astounding'' the leading magazine in the nascent pulp science fiction field, publishing well-regarded stories such as Jack Williamson's '' Legion of Space'' and John W. Campbell's "Twilight". At the end of 1937, Campbell took over editorial duties under Tremaine's supervision, and the following year Tremaine was let go, giving Campbell more independence. Over the next few years Campbell published many stories that became classics in the field, including Isaac Asimov's ''Foundation'' series, A. E. van Vogt's '' Slan'', and several novels and stories by Robert A. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slan
''Slan'' is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer A. E. van Vogt, as well as the name of the fictional race of superbeings featured in the novel. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (September–December 1940). It was subsequently published in hardcover in 1946 by Arkham House, in an edition of 4,051 copies. In 2016, ''Slan'' was awarded the Retro-Hugo Award for Best Novel for 1941."1941 Retro-Hugo Awards" at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved October 2, 2016. Plot Slans are evolved humans, named after their alleged creator, Samuel Lann. They have the abilities to read minds and are super-intelligent. They ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Far Centaurus
''Far Centaurus'' is a science fiction short story by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt, first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' in 1944. Writer and critic P. Schuyler Miller called it "unforgettable and unforgotten." The story involves the crew of a spaceship that arrive at Centaurus after hundreds of years, only to find it settled by people who arrived in faster ships. The basic idea of technological progress rendering previous advances obsolete, has been explored in many works. Plot summary Pelham invents Eternity, a drug that puts the body into a hibernation-like state that can last decades. Realizing that this makes interstellar space travel possible, his rich college friend Jim Renfrew builds an atomically powered spacecraft capable of missions lasting hundreds of years. To fill out the crew, they are joined by two of their other college friends, Ned Blake and Bill Endicott. The ship is launched some time in the 23rd century making for Alpha Centauri, a 5 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Kramer (artist)
Frank Kramer (November 23, 1905 – July 10, 1993) was an American artist known chiefly for his illustrations for Jack Snow's two Oz books, '' The Magical Mimics in Oz'' and ''The Shaggy Man of Oz'', founded on and continuing the famous Oz stories by L. Frank Baum. He also illustrated Robert A. Heinlein's '' Solution Unsatisfactory'', Maureen Daly's '' Twelve Around the World'' (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1957), and many of Caary Paul Jackson's sports novels for children, including the Bud Baker series. Other than a short biography (with an incorrect birth date) in Jack Snow's reference work ''Who's Who in Oz'' (1954), almost nothing was written about Kramer. Recently, however, the Spring 2011 issue of ''The Baum Bugle'' featured articles discussing his life, career, and work. Snow notes that Kramer was born in New York City and lived in Brooklyn, and was a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, living as modestly as a "typical" (Snow's quotation marks) business man. He had indeed been a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy Book 1947 V1 N2
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or magical elements, often including imaginary places and creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, which later became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century onward, it has expanded into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animation, and video games. The expression ''fantastic literature'' is often used for this genre by Anglophone literary critics. An archaic spelling for the term is ''phantasy''. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by an absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these can occur in fantasy. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that reflect the actual Earth, but with some sense of otherness. Characteristics Many works of fantasy use magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Magic, magic practitioners (so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alien (movie)
''Alien'' is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon, based on a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett. It follows a spaceship crew who investigate a derelict spaceship and are hunted by a deadly extraterrestrial creature. The film stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. It was produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill through their company Brandywine Productions and was distributed by 20th Century-Fox. Giler and Hill revised and made additions to the script; Shusett was the executive producer. The alien creatures and environments were designed by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, while the concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the other sets. ''Alien'' premiered on May 25, 1979, the opening night of the fourth Seattle International Film Festival. It received a wide release on June 22 and was released on September 6 in the Unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extraterrestrial Life
Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially, aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms such as prokaryotes to Extraterrestrial intelligence, intelligent beings, possibly bringing forth civilizations that might be Kardashev scale, far more, or far less, advanced than humans. The Drake equation speculates about the existence of sapient life elsewhere in the universe. The science of extraterrestrial life is known as astrobiology. Speculation about the possibility of inhabited worlds beyond Earth dates back to antiquity. Early Christianity, Christian writers discussed the idea of a "plurality of worlds" as proposed by earlier thinkers such as Democritus; Augustine of Hippo, Augustine references Epicurus's idea of innumerable worlds "throughout the boundless immensity of space" in ''The City of God''. Pre-modern writers typicall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Destroyer
"Black Destroyer" is a science fiction short story by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt, first published in '' Astounding SF'' in July 1939. It has been marked as the story that represents the start of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. "Black Destroyer" was combined with several other short stories to form the novel '' The Voyage of the Space Beagle''. It was claimed as an inspiration for the movie '' Alien'' and van Vogt collected an out-of-court settlement of $50,000 from 20th Century Fox. Plot summary A Coeurl, a large, intelligent, tentacled black cat-like animal, considers its near-future starvation as its food source of id-creatures has been hunted to extinction. Just as all seems lost, a spaceship lands near an abandoned Coeurl city and id-creatures pour out ("id" turns out to be its phosphorus-based nutrient). He quickly surmises they are a scientific expedition from another star, which excites him as he considers scientists to be unlikely to harm him. He approac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vault Of The Beast
"Vault of the Beast" is a short story by Canadian writer A. E. van Vogt, published in the August 1940 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction''. Plot A shape-shifting construct created by malevolent extra-dimensional beings arrives on Earth as a stowaway on a freighter from Mars, having disguised itself as various inanimate objects during transit. The construct is capable of imitating any form of matter, passing through solid objects, controlling gravity, and reading human minds, but is also in constant physical pain; it has been sent to retrieve the "greatest mathematical mind in the Solar System." After landing, the construct kills and impersonates a clerk in the office of businessman and "Harvard graduate in mathematics" Jim Brender, whom it approaches with an offer: it will reveal the location of the lost Martian city of Li in exchange for Brender's assistance in gaining access to the "Tower of the Beast" said to be at its center. The Martians - extinct for between 25 and 100 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Thing (1982)
''The Thing'' is a 1982 American Science fiction film, science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster. Based on the 1938 John W. Campbell, John W. Campbell Jr. novella ''Who Goes There?'', it tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous "The Thing (character), Thing", an extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates, other organisms. The group is overcome by paranoia and conflict as they learn that they can no longer trust each other and that any of them could be the Thing. The film stars Kurt Russell as the team's helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady, with Wilford Brimley, A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney (actor), Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites in supporting roles. Production began in the mid-1970s as a faithful adaptation of the novella, following 1951's '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
