Readers of Golden Age sf do understand Stirling's Weapons Shop of Isherman and Sons as a reference to a van Vogt title. See the Wiki article, which refers to Stirling.
We used to read anything that was sf, including van Vogt and Anderson. Now we value Anderson's lasting literary qualities. I could not possibly blog about van Vogt - and a van Vogt blog would not refer to Sherlock Holmes, Kipling, Shakespeare, the Bible or Scandinavian sagas. See here.
3 comments:
Paul:
Although, to draw a comparison with your "Hanno, Lazarus Long, and John Carter" post, van Vogt also had an immortal character, known in the "Weapons Shop" stories as Robert Hedrock, though that was only his most recent alias.
Another of van Vogt's books, *The House That Stood Still*, involved a concealed alien spaceship which had for millennia provided extended youth and rapid healing to those who lived within a certain proximity of it (in California!). If I recall correctly, the female lead was born in pre-Christian Rome, but she still looked like a twenty-something in the late 20th century.
Either PA or Gordon Dickson, in one of the *Hoka* stories, "Joy in Mudville", had a character use the last line from van Vogt's *The Weapon Makers* to express how impressive he found the Hokas (because of their booze): "...here is the race that shall rule the sevagram!"
Kaor, DAVID and Paul!
David, at least I HAVE read some of the works of A.E. van Vogt, if only when I was a boy. And his stories are among those in the back of my mind of looking up or rereading.
Ha! I recall that amusing line you quoted from Anderson/Dickson's "Joy In Mudville." Albeit, alas, I had not known it came from van Vogt.
Paul, darn, I missed the allusion to van Vogt in Stirling's use of "Weapons Shop of Isherman and Sons" in THE SCOURGE OF GOD. Drat!
And thanks for the flattering allusion to one of my combox remarks re the sources used by PA.
Sean
David,
And I find that I quoted the Hoka reference to the sevagram in "Tanni On Toka," Monday, 2 December 2013.
Paul.
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