Reviewed by Ted Gioia
During the period in which A.E. van Vogt was
writing this novel, electric pinball machines were
showing up in drugstores, taverns and arcades
throughout America, and the pinball flipper was
introduced. Now players
with fast flipper fingers could
keep the action going, with
lights blinking and bells ringing.
I like to think of van Vogt's
stories as the literary equivalent
of those postwar pinball
machines. The science fiction
writers of the Golden Age wrote
for an audience of teenage males
—or for those of older years
who still retained an adolescent's
fascination with the strange and fantastic. These
readers weren't looking for psychological insights
or Proustian prose. They wanted action and more
action, and van Vogt was the kind of writer who
delivered exactly that. In 1947, the same year the
first flipper appeared on a pinball machine, readers
polled by Gerry de la Ree picked van Vogt as their
favorite science fiction author. No one who
understood the tastes of the pulp fiction sci-fi
audience could have been the least bit surprised.
Like so many of A.E. van Vogt's novels, The Mixed
Men takes place in a time of political upheaval.
Interest groups vie for power. Age-old tensions
rise to the fore. The exploited minority aims to
turn the tables and seize control of government.
Alliances and counter-alliances tilt the balance,
and—invariably with this author—advanced
weapon systems eventually enter into the equation,
and tilt it some more.
That said, van Vogt's own political allegiances
usually come across as a helpless muddle, a
mixture of populist demagoguery and elitist
authoritarianism. In The Mixed Man, as in van
Vogt's better known novel Slan, he wants to have it
both ways. His heroes belong to an ostracized and
downtrodden group of outsiders—who are also
presented as a master race with grand ambitions of
conquest and dominance of its own. When it comes
to political ideology, most people either side with
winners or the losers—but leave it to van Vogt to
refuse to acknowledge that these two groups might
be different. If forced to summarize his own
allegiances, I would say that van Vogt sympathizes
with the underdog who dreams of becoming the
übermensch.
These superior outsiders, in this novel, are the so-
called 'mixed men'—a group who are the offspring
of normal humans and a group of robots
constructed from organic materials (known
respectively as non-Dellians and Dellians in van
Vogt's typically grandiose terminology). The mixed
men combine the best of these two species,
incorporating the advanced physical and mental
skills of the robots with the imagination and
creativity of humans. Yet their failed attempt to
seize power has led to reprisals, and the mixed men
have gone into hiding—although their hereditary
leader Peter Maltby leads a double life as a captain
in the space navy of the ruling power, known as the
government of the Fifty Suns.
The arrival of a huge spaceship from Earth
heightens the conflict between these groups. The
mixed men realize that they may gain some political
advantage by siding with the visitors, while the
Dellian and non-Dellian citizens hope to preserve
the status quo. Maltby has torn allegiances, and his
ties are further complicated when he falls in love
with the female commander of the terrestrial
mission, the imperious Lady Laurr.
As with so many of van Vogt's book, The Mixed
Men was what the author called a 'fix-up'—a novel
constructed from previously published shorter
works. The opening section of The Mixed Men
draws on "Concealment," a 1943 short story about
a starship on an intergalactic exploratory mission.
The next section of the book incorporates new
material written for the novel, but also published
separately as "Lost: Fifty Suns." The middle
portion of the novel recycles "The Storm," a
novelette from 1943, while the concluding section
was originally published as the 1945 novelette "The
Mixed Men" in Astounding Science Fiction.
These separate plot lines cohere, just barely. Along
the way, readers encounter the recurring obsessions
that are trademarks of van Vogt's work. He wrote
a guide to hypnotism in 1956—but even if you
didn't know that, you might guess his interest in the
subject, based on the constant use of various
techniques of mind control that figure in his
stories. In The Mixed Men, Peter Maltby uses his
skill in hypnotism to get himself out of several
predicaments, but is, in turn, subjected to
brainwashing. In these pages, you also run into
van Vogt's obsession with weaponry and space
combatants, which are invariably presented as the
biggest and baddest in the universe. The Star
Cluster, the earth starship, is reminiscent of the
Space Beagle in van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space
Beagle—both of them anticipating the U.S.S.
Enterprise of the Star Trek television series.
In the final analysis, this book never rises above
escapist literature. But with Van Vogt, it's always
a great escape, and no one takes you farther—in
this instance, to the ends of the universe. His
characters may be hollow, and the dialogue straight
out a Roy Lichenstein cartoon balloon ("The fools!
They almost deserve death!"), but no author
maintains more relentless pacing, with new conflicts
and complications emerging every few paragraphs.
Yes, the pinball machine has been replaced by the
video game and the flipper superseded by the
mouse and the game controller. Even so, the zeal
of young readers for action and adventure remains
unsated in our own time, and the desire for fast-
paced stories has, if anything, increased in the age of
virtual entertainment. In such an environment, van
Vogt’s "too-much-ain't-enough" approach to
storytelling can hardly fall out of fashion, and I
would hardly be surprised if this book, and its
author, experience a revival at some point. Certainly
this is one pinball wizard who deserves a replay.
Ted Gioia's latest book is The Birth (and Death) of
the Cool.
During the period in which A.E. van Vogt was
writing this novel, electric pinball machines were
showing up in drugstores, taverns and arcades
throughout America, and the pinball flipper was
introduced. Now players
with fast flipper fingers could
keep the action going, with
lights blinking and bells ringing.
I like to think of van Vogt's
stories as the literary equivalent
of those postwar pinball
machines. The science fiction
writers of the Golden Age wrote
for an audience of teenage males
—or for those of older years
who still retained an adolescent's
fascination with the strange and fantastic. These
readers weren't looking for psychological insights
or Proustian prose. They wanted action and more
action, and van Vogt was the kind of writer who
delivered exactly that. In 1947, the same year the
first flipper appeared on a pinball machine, readers
polled by Gerry de la Ree picked van Vogt as their
favorite science fiction author. No one who
understood the tastes of the pulp fiction sci-fi
audience could have been the least bit surprised.
Like so many of A.E. van Vogt's novels, The Mixed
Men takes place in a time of political upheaval.
Interest groups vie for power. Age-old tensions
rise to the fore. The exploited minority aims to
turn the tables and seize control of government.
Alliances and counter-alliances tilt the balance,
and—invariably with this author—advanced
weapon systems eventually enter into the equation,
and tilt it some more.
That said, van Vogt's own political allegiances
usually come across as a helpless muddle, a
mixture of populist demagoguery and elitist
authoritarianism. In The Mixed Man, as in van
Vogt's better known novel Slan, he wants to have it
both ways. His heroes belong to an ostracized and
downtrodden group of outsiders—who are also
presented as a master race with grand ambitions of
conquest and dominance of its own. When it comes
to political ideology, most people either side with
winners or the losers—but leave it to van Vogt to
refuse to acknowledge that these two groups might
be different. If forced to summarize his own
allegiances, I would say that van Vogt sympathizes
with the underdog who dreams of becoming the
übermensch.
These superior outsiders, in this novel, are the so-
called 'mixed men'—a group who are the offspring
of normal humans and a group of robots
constructed from organic materials (known
respectively as non-Dellians and Dellians in van
Vogt's typically grandiose terminology). The mixed
men combine the best of these two species,
incorporating the advanced physical and mental
skills of the robots with the imagination and
creativity of humans. Yet their failed attempt to
seize power has led to reprisals, and the mixed men
have gone into hiding—although their hereditary
leader Peter Maltby leads a double life as a captain
in the space navy of the ruling power, known as the
government of the Fifty Suns.
The arrival of a huge spaceship from Earth
heightens the conflict between these groups. The
mixed men realize that they may gain some political
advantage by siding with the visitors, while the
Dellian and non-Dellian citizens hope to preserve
the status quo. Maltby has torn allegiances, and his
ties are further complicated when he falls in love
with the female commander of the terrestrial
mission, the imperious Lady Laurr.
As with so many of van Vogt's book, The Mixed
Men was what the author called a 'fix-up'—a novel
constructed from previously published shorter
works. The opening section of The Mixed Men
draws on "Concealment," a 1943 short story about
a starship on an intergalactic exploratory mission.
The next section of the book incorporates new
material written for the novel, but also published
separately as "Lost: Fifty Suns." The middle
portion of the novel recycles "The Storm," a
novelette from 1943, while the concluding section
was originally published as the 1945 novelette "The
Mixed Men" in Astounding Science Fiction.
These separate plot lines cohere, just barely. Along
the way, readers encounter the recurring obsessions
that are trademarks of van Vogt's work. He wrote
a guide to hypnotism in 1956—but even if you
didn't know that, you might guess his interest in the
subject, based on the constant use of various
techniques of mind control that figure in his
stories. In The Mixed Men, Peter Maltby uses his
skill in hypnotism to get himself out of several
predicaments, but is, in turn, subjected to
brainwashing. In these pages, you also run into
van Vogt's obsession with weaponry and space
combatants, which are invariably presented as the
biggest and baddest in the universe. The Star
Cluster, the earth starship, is reminiscent of the
Space Beagle in van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space
Beagle—both of them anticipating the U.S.S.
Enterprise of the Star Trek television series.
In the final analysis, this book never rises above
escapist literature. But with Van Vogt, it's always
a great escape, and no one takes you farther—in
this instance, to the ends of the universe. His
characters may be hollow, and the dialogue straight
out a Roy Lichenstein cartoon balloon ("The fools!
They almost deserve death!"), but no author
maintains more relentless pacing, with new conflicts
and complications emerging every few paragraphs.
Yes, the pinball machine has been replaced by the
video game and the flipper superseded by the
mouse and the game controller. Even so, the zeal
of young readers for action and adventure remains
unsated in our own time, and the desire for fast-
paced stories has, if anything, increased in the age of
virtual entertainment. In such an environment, van
Vogt’s "too-much-ain't-enough" approach to
storytelling can hardly fall out of fashion, and I
would hardly be surprised if this book, and its
author, experience a revival at some point. Certainly
this is one pinball wizard who deserves a replay.
Ted Gioia's latest book is The Birth (and Death) of
the Cool.
Check out our sister sites:
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literary works published
since 1985)
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(reviews of current books)
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literary works published
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(unconventional tales of
mystery and suspense)
| conceptual fiction |
| The Mixed Men By A. E. van Vogt |
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Conceptual Fiction:
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Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
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The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Saramago, José
Blindness
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
Samuel Delany's 70th birthday
The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Ted Gioia's web site
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
Big Dumb Object
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and
its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors, publicists
or other parties.
www.twitter.com/tedgioia
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Saramago, José
Blindness
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
Samuel Delany's 70th birthday
The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Ted Gioia's web site
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
Big Dumb Object
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and
its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors, publicists
or other parties.