The Proxy Intelligence And Other Mind Benders by AE van Vogt (book review).
Just when I thought I had all of AE van Vogt’s books, I came across this anthology, ‘The Proxy Intelligence And Other Mind Benders’, consisting of 6 stories and only one I recognise from before. The selection goes back to 1942–1968.
The first, ‘The Proxy Intelligence’, is a 63-page novelette. Steve Hanhardy is an average-intelligence handyman who takes a reporter to the meteorite home of Professor Ungarn and his daughter, Pat, not realising it was a trap, and he wakes up tied up, not even noticing that the ropes fall off when he goes to look for the Ungarns. This is all an elaborate plot by the vampire-like Dreeghs and other alien species in Earth-space. Although the ending fades, it is typical of van Vogt to draw you in to find out what is going on.
‘The Problem Professor’ is actually the story of Bob Merritt, an American trying to get funding and names of support for the next generation of the V2 to take a man into space. Right, and then I checked the story’s release date: 1949! If you ever wanted a science fiction story where the author really was ahead of their time, then show them this one.
‘Rebirth: Earth’ is one of two stories here that van Vogt wrote with his first wife, E. Mayne Hull. An aircraft with a bomb on board and likely to be a danger to its passengers as they try to work out who brought it there has different ramifications with a touch of time travel.
Now, ‘The Gryb’ (1940) is the one story I’ve read before and a notable classic. Thomas is a Martian senator with a mission to the five cities on the moon Europa, now with a breathable atmosphere. His pilot, Ray Bartlett, is intent on him not doing his mission and crashes them in the middle of nowhere. He’s happy to die with him but not murder. The only wildlife are the giraffe-like but much bigger called grass eaters, the prey of the gryb. As the temperature drops to -90°C at night (at least, I hope it’s centigrade), it waits for the grass eaters to thaw to attack for food. Two wandering humans would be no problem. During their walk, Thomas attempts to explain to Bartlett that his mission was to benefit Europa. This is still a superb story by an expert storycraftsman.
‘The Invisibility Gambit’ is the second story written with his first wife, E. Mayne Hull. I should point out that she also wrote independently of her husband, but back in the day, like with the Knuttners, it was easier to write in tandem to sell. Chris Delton assists a retiring explorer, Jim Rand, when he is being coerced to go on working.
‘The Star-Saint’ (1951) has a space colony with problems, and the arrival of Mark Rogan, without a spaceship, isn’t a story I would have ended the collection with, mostly because it’s the most confusing. Rogan should have been regarded as some sort of superhuman but isn’t played that way with the colony’s survival on the planet, and I’m still a little confused by it.
Two stories out of six that could have been better, but the rest are worth the interest. Van Vogt was extremely prolific and could write excellent stories and adapt to different markets.
GF Willmetts
July 2025
(pub: Paperback Library/Coronet, 1971. 206 page paperback. Price: varies. ISBN: 64512).
