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Voyage of the Space Beagle | 
 enlarge | Author: A. E. Van Vogt
Publisher: Rosettabooks LLC
Category: Book
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Format: Import
Media: Unbound
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
ISBN: 0795304021
EAN: 9780795304026
ASIN: 0795304021
Publication Date: June 2002
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Not Free SF Reader July 19, 2008
The original scary Alien is Black Destroyer - the rest isn't up to that standard of this old space opera, as the crew tries to solve alien problems - best when they are desperately trying to do so, such as in War of Nerves, not sitting around scientisting at each other.
Although a 3.25, we'll round up for Black Destroyer.
Voyage of the Space Beagle : Black Destroyer - A. E. van Vogt
Voyage of the Space Beagle : Discord in Scarlet - A. E. van Vogt
Voyage of the Space Beagle : War of Nerves - A. E. van Vogt
Voyage of the Space Beagle : M 33 in Andromeda - A. E. van Vogt
A ship's crew lands on a planet and meets an alien with extraordinarily dangerous abilities.
3.5 out of 5
Can you boys agree on the aliens, please?
3 out of 5
"How in the name of all the hells can anything live in intergalactic space?"
Or, a guul you will be.
3.5 out of 5
Ethics and Anabis.
3 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
 Nexialism vs. far-flung complex aliens October 30, 2007
Written in 1959 - wiseguy, hard SF space novel readers don't knock it yet! A.E. van Vogt presents, carries and completes a beautiful presentation about a roaming scientific spaceship visiting worlds strewn acorss the glaxay. His vision of aliens don't have the normal Golden Age hokiness than many books at the time have. The Space Beagle meets four species which are so different from the normal "two-arm, two-leg, slimy" alien. These aliens can control wavelengths or exist as pure energy or can project hallucinations, etc. The way these aliens interact or deceive humans is an excellent read.
The crew of the Space Beagle are always on the brink of destruction, if it wasn't for Grosvenor and his mysterious science of Nexialism. Whole none of the crew understand his science, they view him as eccentric and unreliable. It's Grosvenor's struggle to have the others see that his science can work wonders between the other scientists sciences.
Into the Unknown October 15, 2007
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) is a standalone SF novel. The Space Beagle is a roving laboratory ship that is outward bound to another galaxy. Almost every human science is represented onboard the great ship, including one Nexialist. These scientists are searching for new and unusual data that they can use to evaluate and revise existing scientific theories.
In this novel, Ellott Grosvenor -- the Nexialist -- observes as the other scientists encounter a huge black cat-like animal on a previously unexplored planet. The creature is obviously intelligent, as is shown by its straight-forward, yet cautious, approach to the scientists. It even has manipulative tentacles around its neck.
Coeurl is hungry, but knows that it cannot directly attack the small strangers and survive. It acts friendly and later ambushes a lone individual among the ruins of the Builders. For the first time in weeks, it absorbs life sustaining id from the body. But its feeding is interrupted by the approach of a small flyer.
The strangers are suspicious of Coeurl after the body is found. Gregory Kent -- head of the chemistry department -- is very angry at the death of his friend Jarvey. He wants to terminate the creature immediately, but is overruled by Hal Morton, the expedition director.
The chemistry department analyses the remains and discovers a shortage of potassium. They prepare a soup of potassium suspended in an organic compound similar to its state within the human body and Kent presents a bowl filled with the substance to the alien creature. Before most of the department heads, Coeurl angrily dumps the contents of the bowl into Kent's face.
After being thrown off his feet by the forcefully thrown substance, Kent responds by drawing his vibrator gun and shooting the creature. He is quickly disarmed, but the whole incident results in a loud argument. Eventually one of the participants notes that Kent's shot struck Coeurl without harming the creature.
In this story, Grosvenor leads the creature into a specimen cage and the doors are locked from the outside. Grosvenor submits a report to the director about the incident and points out that, with the creature's known and suspected abilities, the current confinement has certain flaws. Later that night period, Coeurl manipulates the electrical lock with its control of electromagnetic energy and starts killing off the humans.
At first, the creature kills humans in individual bedrooms and returns to the cage in sufficient time to fool the roving guards. When it reaches a dormitory, however, Coeurl goes into a killing frenzy and returns late to the cage. As it is killing the guards, one cries out and sets off alarms throughout the ship. It throws the bodies far down the corridor and slips into the cage, locking the door behind it.
This story tells of the battle between Coeurl and the humans. It also relates the experiences of the ship's crew and passengers when they encounter the bird-like Riim espers, the almost unkillable space-living Ixtl, and the galaxy-spanning dispersed intelligence of the Anabis. As the ship's captain says, "scientists can find trouble where it never existed before."
This is one of the earliest novels by the author and is based on his first published short story -- "Black Destroyer" -- from the July 1939 issue of Astounding. It contains most of the elements that earned him a lofty reputation: high adventure, exotic science, and extraordinary individuals. While the book publication was almost sixty years ago, this story still seems to be as futuristic as the latest tales in SF magazines. The science of Nexialism could be announced anytime in the next year or so.
Obviously, the title and plot of this story refer to the voyages of the HMS Beagle. This nineteenth century brig was used for three voyages of exploration, but is remembered mostly for the second voyage. In 1831, the Beagle sailed from Plymouth with the naturalist Charles Darwin onboard. While visiting the Galapagos Islands, Darwin collected the data that eventually led to his theory of evolution.
This story, however, expands upon the voyages of the Beagle. Rather than a small vessel, the space version is a huge starship capable of tremendous velocities through intergalactic space. Moreover, the ship carries over eight hundred scientists and hundreds of tons of tools and instruments. The author doesn't think small.
Highly recommended for van Vogt fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high adventure, advanced mental training, and unknown worlds.
-Arthur W. Jordin
A classic... September 18, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
You hear that a lot. This is a classic, that is a classic. But this IS a classic.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle is one of those books that have inspirited many later authors and movies. A. E. Van Vogt is one of the Fathers of modern Sci-Fi. While the Black Destroyer may, or may not, have inspirited the makers of the movie Alien I do know that two of the aliens in the book also show up in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials along side such great aliens as the Puppeteers, The Thing, the Overlords, the Guild Steersmen and the Old Ones.
The book is four short stories put together. Or a novel that has been cut up into four short stories for other collections. But in the end this is the story of a huge spaceship on a deep space mission to explore and understand. The science is kind of soft, more of a space opera but also reminds me a tad of Star Trek. But remember this was first printed decades before Star Trek.
Classic Sci-Fi and the Basis for Alien June 12, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt is a book that could best be described as Classic Sci-Fi. Science Fiction in general is a genre that is very new to me, and I have never read any van Vogt. So I decided to go on a voyage!
This book was originally 4 short stories that were put together in a "fixup" by van Vogt. The stories are all about the crew of the Space Beagle (a Darwin reference) and its intergalactic expedition. The crew is made up of military personnel and scientists that are on board to study alien life in other galaxies. Eliot Grosvenor, is the books protagonist. He is the lone Nexialist aboard the ship. Nexialism is a relatively new science. It is one that encompasses ALL the other sciences and relates them together. It is more generalized than specific, but it also adds an element of hypnotism and mind control. At first, Grosvenor isn't given much thought. He is left to himself until trouble comes aboard and his skills are called into play.
Each story, or section, in the book describes contact with an alien race. In the first story, the crew members explore what they think is a seemingly deserted planet. The stumble across Coeurl, a cat-like creature that has tentacles and an incredible hunger. He pretends to be just another dumb animal, and the crew members "capture" him and take him aboard the ship to study. But Coeurl is hungry and he has an agenda. He quickly escapes and terrorizes the ship.
They also encounter the Riim, a bird-like creature that has great hypnotic power; the Ixtl, a devil-like alien that is keen on breeding, by implanting his eggs in the stomach of the crew members; and Anabis, who is galaxy-wide and is waiting to take over planets.
While the aliens are the main part of the storyline, what appealed to me even more was the relationships of the crew members. If the creatures outside don't get you, the people inside just might! There is a political undertone that reflects the climate on the ship. The military and the scientists always seem to be at odds with each other and underlies the harmony on the ship. It seems to be a pretty accurate assessment of ventures even today that involve the same types of people. While a lot of the "scientific" stuff is really dated, I was intrigued by the politicking going on inside the walls of the Beagle. This was a short, fun read. I can see a lot of present day science fiction that was influenced by this writer. Overall, I highly enjoyed it!!
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