Along with Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, A. E. van Vogt has long been regarded as one of the three pre-eminent writers in science fiction's "Golden Age" of the 1930s and 1940s. Although after the 1960s he expanded the range of his fiction beyond that of the 1940s, his stature as one of modern science fiction's "fathers" has continued to increase among many science fiction fans. His writings have attained world stature and have been translated into several languages; in France, his writings are especially popular, sometimes outselling those of even the most popular French authors. However, this popular esteem has not been echoed by all critics.

Born on a farm near Winnipeg, Canada, on April 26, 1912, Alfred Elton van Vogt spent his childhood in rural Manitoba and Saskatchewan. As an adolescent, he was shy, withdrawn, and an avid reader of hundreds of books per...