Moonbeast

by A. E. van Vogt

Hardcover, 1970

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

SF & F

Publication

Panther. (1970), Edition: 2nd THUS, Mass Market Paperback

Description

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Well, Jim Pendrake is about to find out.Little does Jim Pendrake imagine, when he stumbles across an engine the like of which he's never seen before embedded in a hillside near his ranch, that he will soon be sucked into government conspiracies; have a complete memory reboot with a different life and a different wife (all part of the conspiracy); be kidnapped and sent to the moon, barely escaping the Neanderthal who rules the moon colony with an iron hand and a saber-tooth tiger; and more -- all because of that cursed engine, which caused Jim to become toti-potent . . . and the power that Jim's blood can give U.S. President Dayles, who's counting on it to hijack the election and gain a third term . . .… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member JNagarya

This is a fascinating book, as it is an expansion of a prior short story of the same title -- something Van Vogt did fairly often. One can learn much about form from evaluating such practices.

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LibraryThing member TheOtherJunkMonkey

The Beast (1964) by A E van Vogt. I am I'm afraid an unashamed Vogt fan. He is one of my favourite writers. I'm not saying his books are good, I'm just saying I enjoy them. The Beast is another of his post-Slan evolving superhuman stories.

This time our hero gets slugged unconscious four times,

loses his memory twice - but lucky develops the ability to acquire other people's telepathically, looses two arms (not at the same time and it may be the same arm twice, I'm not sure) but grows them/it back, and at the end of the book renounced absorption into the Universal Wholeness for the love of a good woman. (His other wife has previously renounced her absorption with him so he can do this).

This all sounds all pretty usual van Vogtian fare but add in -big deep breath - noiseless Aeroplanes that can fly to (and crash on) the moon, multiple kidnappings, off-screen sex riots, gaol breaks, presidential elections, secret tunnels (at least two lots), American presidents disguising themselves with lifelike 'flesh masks' and leading his all women secret service agents on desert operations, two rival secret organizations: one of evil space Nazis, the other of possibly beneficent immortal human anti-vampires (they have the power to grant long life to normal humans by giving them a transfusion of their blood), a million year old Neanderthal who rules an underground city on the moon... - gasp - and then cram it all into 160 pages.... thrillingly bewildering stuff.

There are more stupidly bonkers ideas per chapter in the average van Vogt novel than most authors cram into a lifetime of writing. Of course, with all those bonkers ideas jostling for very limited space, there's not much left for luxuries like coherent plot development and character but what the hell, you can get those anywhere, by the yard; books with immortal sabre tooth tigers fed on a diet of cowboys are very rare and to be treasured.

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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

While the lot line is roughly that of the "Alien" movie, this was the earlier form by some decades. Imported by a time travel accident the beast ravages the moon base of a secret society, until our dauntless hero puts it down. Often copied, and seldom bettered by other writers.

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