I dislike the term “genre fiction.” It’s pejorative, and is used to make a value judgment on works of art for their content, rather than their execution. There’s a reason why we don’t think of Poe as a genre writer of horror or detective fiction. Though others might disagree, I don’t think of Tolkein’s “Trilogy” (when I was a teenager we referred to it only as the “the Trilogy” and never as The Lord of the Rings) as fantasy genre fiction or Stanislav Lem’s Solaris as science fiction genre fiction, or Stephen King’s The Shining as horror genre fiction. Now, there is some value in having a term to differentiate between works of high quality and works written less well and according to a formula, but “genre fiction” seems ill suited to that. “Pulp fiction” (shorn of its Tarantinoness) would perhaps be more helpful.

A. E. van Vogt’s The Voyage of the Space Beagle, published 70 years ago, is neither genre nor pulp, but one of the most original and influential novels about space and monsters ever written.

The eponymous Space Beagle is an intergalactic spacecraft on a multi-year mission to explore new worlds (sound familiar?). Its central character and hero is Elliott Grosvenor, a young man trained in the techniques of a new science called “Nexialism” — think holism on steroids. Grosvenor’s ability to think and synthesize across multiple disciplines perfectly positions him, far more than more narrow-thinking scientists and military leaders, when the Space Beagle encounters the real stars of the show — space monsters. 

The Space Beagle confronts (and the novel is structured around) four progressively more dangerous monsters. It will give you some idea of how nasty these monsters can get when I tell you that the first, least deadly monster is widely considered to be the inspiration for the creature depicted in the Alien movies. His name is Coerl.  

On and on Coerl prowled . . . . His great forelegs twitched with a shuddering movement that arched every razor-sharp claw. The thick tentacles that grew from his shoulders undulated tautly. He twisted his great cat head from side to side, while the hairlike tendrils that formed each ear vibrated frantically, testing every vagrant breeze, every throb in the ether. There was no response. He felt no swift tingling along his intricate nervous system. There was no suggestion anywhere of the presence of the id creatures, his only source of food on this desolate planet.

See at least a family resemblance to Alien designer H. R. Giger’s nightmare beast? Coerl is also endowed with superhero strength and, being virtually immortal, and very hungry, becomes a bit of a problem when the Space Beagle lands and takes in the “nice kitty,” who proceeds to dine on the inhabitants and escape capture by crashing through foot-thick bulkheads. 

The second monster is the Riim, a telepathic bird-like race that can force the ship’s crew to experience dangerous hallucinations, even though the Rhim are light years away.

The scariest is the scarlet monster Ixtl, found floating in deep space, an immortal creature dating back to before the Big Bang, who, once he gets aboard the Space Beatle, wrecks havoc trying to reproduce by implanting eggs in the crew members’ bodies (another nice detail lifted for Alien).

The fourth is Anabis, an evil consciousness that is as large as a galaxy, whom the Space Beagle can’t simply flee because it might follow them back to the Milky Way. 

van Vogt’s achievement is that he can create a plausibly invincible enemy (each monster is bigger and badder than the one before) only to have Grosvenor just as plausibly defeat each one — and never so obviously as with blasting ray guns or jumping to light speed. 

Even less obviously, because the reader’s attention is so focused on the monsters, Grosvenor defeats a fifth enemy just as threatening — the scientific and military leadership of the Space Beagle. The monsters repeatedly bring out the worst in the crew, accentuating professional jealousies and power ambitions, and only Grosvenor is quick enough to circumvent his fellow crew members in order to save them from themselves. Without being in the least bit weak, physically or otherwise, he’s quite the heroic nerd. 

(Note: The section of The Voyage of the Space Beagle featuring Coerl was actually the first story he sold, to Astounding Science Fiction magazine, and was titled “Black Destroyer.” A. E. van Vogt went on to become a prolific and popular writer of science fiction, and many of his books remain in print.)   

Now Read This! appears every Monday. Learn about all the great books you wish you’d read. Then read them. 

• Author Bio
• Latest Posts

Christopher Guerin

Christopher Guerin is the author of two books each of poetry and short fiction, a novel, and more than a dozen children’s books. If he hadn’t spent 26 years as an arts administrator, including 20 years as President of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, perhaps he’d have worked a little harder getting them published. His consolation resides in his fiction and poems having been published in numerous small magazines, including Rosebud, AURA, Williams and Mary Review, Midwest Quarterly, Wittenberg Review, RE: Artes Liberales, DEROS, Wind, and Wind less Orchard. His blog, Zealotry of Guerin, features his fiction and poetry, including his sonnet sequence of poems after paintings, “Brushwork." He is the V.P. of Corporate Communications at Sweetwater Sound, Inc., the national music instrument retailer.

Latest posts by Christopher Guerin (Posts)

• A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (Seurat) - August 3, 2013
• Hyde Mill (Sandy Ellarson) - July 27, 2013
• Hands and Feet (Alice Bea Guerin) - July 20, 2013
• Cafe Terrace at Night (Van Gogh) - July 13, 2013
• Winter Landscape (Sesshu) - July 6, 2013

Tags: books & writing, now read this! // 1 Comment »